How to get people to hand their money over to you

Apparently, it’s a secret
I would think that what I’m about to tell you is obvious. However, based on interactions with a lot of companies and individuals, I believe most people have no clue what it takes to get people to give you their money (i.e. buy what you’re selling).

I don’t want YOU to be clueless. I want smart readers who make fat bank roll…so I’m going to let you in on this secret.

Once I tell you what it is, it will seem so obvious that you’ll wonder how you ever missed it. In fact, it’s so simple I’m guessing that many of you will reject it’s validity because it’s NOT more complex.

The secret I’m going to tell you is the one thing for which people are willing to part with their money.

Yes, I said “one”.

Believe it or not, people only buy one thing.

The answer is not “solving a problem”
You’ve probably heard that you should create a product or service that solves a problem. I say that there is something more that lies at the root of even that. While solving a problem is a good start, it’s not the one thing that people buy.

One of the reasons that I ranted in last week’s post (about all the launches in May) is that most of them never tried to sell me the one thing I’m willing to buy. They tried to use scarcity tactics. They tried to scare me in to thinking that I’ll miss out on their product. Some even tried to tell me they’d solve my problems without ever asking what they were.

But almost none of them tried to sell me the one thing.

So what is this “one thing”?
Don’t worry, I’m not going to drag you through an entire post and then tell you.

The secret one thing that people buy is this: Happiness.

“Happiness?” you say.

Yes, happiness.

Need convincing?
I understand that might be anti-climactic to some of you and that you may not be ready to jump on this wagon 100% just yet.

Check these out though:

• Snickers isn’t selling a solution to the problem of hunger; “Snickers satisfies”. (Almost the same exact word as happiness!)
• AT&T didn’t sell verbal communication over long distances; they gave you the ability to “reach out and touch someone”. (Aww…warm happy thoughts.)
• L’Oreal didn’t market face paint; they told you to buy it “because you’re worth it”. (I’m happy when it’s all about me!)
• McDonald’s might be clogging my arteries and making me fatter; but they sell the promise that I’ll be saying “I’m lovin it!” the whole time! (OMIGOSH I would be so happy with some french fries right now!)

Good marketers know what people want. Screw the products and even the problems! We’re only willing to part with our money if it brings us happiness.

For those of you saying that we sometimes buy out of necessity and not happiness, allow me to retort. These are the two main areas people try and bring up with me with that argument:

1. Food - We have enough knowledge about eating right and exercise that all of us could write our own books about the topic. Yet when presented with the option to buy healthy food (either at the restaurant or the grocery store), we rarely pick based on logic. Either we buy the garbage because we want it to make us happy or we buy the healthy stuff in hopes that our bodies and futures are happier. Either way, we buy because our choice in purchase leads to happiness. We’re really happy when we can enjoy the healthy, because we’ve got the best of both worlds. Explains why yummy health food usually costs more; more happiness means we’ll part with more money.
2. Transportation - Think we buy vehicles for the sole purpose of getting us from point A to point B as reliably as possible? Not a chance! If that were true, we would all be driving the cheapest possible (yet most reliable) cars for our size needs. Once again, our actions betray a thought pattern that we aren’t aware of. Why buy Lexus and not Honda? Hummers instead of mini-vans? Because once we have determined the options within our monetary range that allow for our size needs (kids, no kids, single, etc), we buy what will make us happiest. Either we go for the prestige in hopes that those we look to for our value will think better of us or we buy cheaply in hopes that our money will be better spent elsewhere (not on health food, though). The choice is based on what we think will make us happiest long term.

Necessity my foot! Like it or not, happiness is the name of the game. It’s fine if people disagree with me, but they’re not going to convince me otherwise.

Now for all of you who DO agree, this means one thing…

Opportunity!
Let me say that I am not talking about scamming people to rob them of their money. Rather, I am talking about providing something of value that people will be happy to use.

You should only create something that brings with it the hope of happiness to your customers since it’s the only thing they’re going to part with their money for anyways!

Then, once you’ve created this something, market it THAT way. THAT is how you do a launch! Scarcity (false OR true), scare tactics, and all the other gimmicks fall short of the power of providing happiness to someone. I will seek to create my marketing around the promise of happiness because I want my products and services to actually deliver happiness to someone while also providing them with real value.

Smart businesses know that selling happiness is how to get us to part with our hard earned cash. It’s much smarter (and easier) than trying to sell a product.

What happiness are you selling?

We all sell something, even if it is ourselves via a resume. Are you consciously targeting happiness as the factor when trying to market yourself or your products? Would love to hear about it!