Selling to Human Motivations
| Most business people make the mistake of thinking they should look for a product to sell when they should be looking for a market to sell to. Here are some basic criteria to keep in mind when choosing a customer niche. First of all, products don't buy from youpeople do. That means first focus on a target market of people and what human needs you are going to fill. Another way to look at it is finding a pain in the marketplace and curing it. What negative aspect of the marketplace in terms of a product or service can you identify? Then offer a solution.
Second, make sure it's your target customer's passion, not yours. The target market you choose, the human need you will fill, must be passionate about the problem you are going to solve or the need you are going to fill and back that passion up with good money to pay for your solution. There are all kinds of people who are passionate about a variety of subjects but are unwilling to spend money on them. In other words, money talks, baloney walks. Another way to look at customer passion is shopper motivation. That is, what motivates a shopper to buy? Different shoppers are motivated by differentthings, even at different times. When trying to choose a product or service to sell, keep the following human motivators in mind:
If the Internet is known for anything, it's information. That's where the Internet shines. And the need for information is a great human motivator. The Internet is like the Library of Congress multiplied millions of times. But it's also a vast information storehouse that is hard to navigate. Provide a ready source of information that meets a shopper's needs, and you can turn that shopper into a customer. Economics is a strong motivator. It goes without saying that commerce on the Net is a fast growing segment. After all, if you didn't believe that, you wouldn't be reading this book! And what is the economic motivator? A quality product at a fair price, a nice selection, and a secure and convenient way to buy. All these and more would entice a shopper to open his wallet and buy from your online store. Entertainment is another motivator. We all love to be entertained. We'll even pay for it if we feel the value is there. So think about ways of selling entertainment products and services to the online shopper. Tip: Go to the Horse's Mouth Check out the many discussion boards, message boards, and blogs on the Web and ask your target market what they need or what problems they would like to be solved. Yahoo! Groups at groups.yahoo.com is a great place to start. Type your target market into the search window on the Yahoo! Groups home page and see what groups show up. Then visit their message boards and read what they say. Take the keyword "Kid Toys," for example. Type that into the search window and you'll see dozens of different discussion groups that focus on kid's toys. Ask the group what "needs" they see in their toy category. What do people buy and why? What do they want to buy but can't? What do they buy and don't like? What are they buying a lot of? What's trendy and in vogue? Finally, human interaction is a strong motivational force. The opportunity to hobnob with those of similar interests can be turned into a profitable business. Think about community sites that provide live chat or ways for people to meet one another. Fill the need to interact and you can build an effective business on it. |
EAN: 2147483647
Pages: 149