Joy of joys.
I’m bouncing with excitement today.
Because someone…I think it’s him next door…just walked off with my garden hose!
(Okay, I don’t know it’s him, but…well, he looks the sort, doesn’t he?)
But anyway – it’s good news. Great news. Because now I can buy that new one I saw on telly last week.
Sexy, it is. All blue and slinky. The kinda hose that says “Screw You” to the street when you’re rinsing down the Volvo.
Ooh, I’m getting all giddy now, just thinking about it.
So…you’re asking…why did I wait?
If this hose is so fandabbydocious, why hang about till the old one went walkies?
Well – that’s what we do, innit? We wait till we have to do it.
See, we might WANT something. Want it badly. But there’s that little sentry squatting there in the left hand side of the brain, and it wants to rationalise every buying decision.
Man, that sentry is a right old git. He wouldn’t let me buy a new hose while I had a perfectly good (if tatty) one sat there in the garden.
But now? Ha! He’s powerless. Because I don’t just WANT it – I NEED it.
Ain’t nothing he can do about that. The new hose is good as mine.
So what can you take from this?
Well, I’m not saying “Go round to people’s houses and nick their stuff so you can sell them an upgrade!”
I’m not that guy.
No, I’m saying this:
Sometimes, as buyers, we have to validate the ‘want’. As the saying goes – buy with the heart, justify with the head.
So give us that validation, and the floodgates gonna open…
Validate, how?
Easy example: show me I’m making do – putting up with second best.
Like “7 Signs That Your Mattress is Past its Prime”. Or “Is It Time Your PC Went to Silicon Heaven?”. Or “Has Your Microwave Started Making This Weird Noise?”.
If I WANT a new mattress, PC, microwave, hosepipe, whatever…but the inner sentry’s saying ‘NO’…I’m gonna read that stuff.
Because I want you to show me that it’s okay to splash the cash!
As a species, we’re odd like that. Even in prosperous times. (And the tougher things get for folks, the more they’ll look to justify. Think on…)
So – help your customers get over their buying guilt, and they’ll bombard you with riches.
Just another little tip to get you through the day…