I believe we have two powerful urges in our lives. Two powerful motivators that cause our every action. Those two driving forces choices are:
- Our need to avoid pain
- Our desire to gain pleasure
Every action we take is a result of one of those two choices. Think about it!
And this is not just an important insight into our daily lives but also into those of our customers. You see, our customers also make decisions based on “moving away from pain” or “moving toward pleasure.” In our businesses if we can understand and tap in to people’s pain and pleasure motivators we can influence them to take action (buy that item, enroll in that conference…).
In order to avoid pain (rejection) we will avoid making a cold call to a prospect, but on the flip side we will sit and watch a movie because of the pleasure we expect to get from it.
However, not all people react to the same situations with the same motivation. One person may walk to work because he enjoys the exercise. Another may walk because they are afraid of driving a car. One person may read several newspapers a day because they enjoy current affairs. Another might read the same papers because he doesn’t want to miss out on information or for people to think of him as uneducated. He’s not so much seeking pleasure but avoiding pain.
Find out what motivates your customers and you are one step closer to helping them avoid pain or gain pleasure.