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Psychology Of Selling; II

There was a buzzing in the room, the kind that comes from many voices speaking with whispered enthusiasm. Anyone walking by the room would have thought there was some type of covert operation being planned.

Heads bent, brows furrowed and pencils flew across paper, scratching furiously. Ads were being rewritten.

It's funny how one small noise can freeze a room. All heads lifted in synch, eyes turned to the front of the room at the sound of "Groucho" turning the paper on the flipchart.

He uncapped his felt marker with a flourish and wrote boldly on the flipchart; "Advertising is all about Unleashing Desire!"

He pointed his marker at a slouching Elvis type in the second row. Wagging his eyebrows and rolling his eyes in true Groucho fashion, he drawled "What is it YOU desire?" .

After the laughter subsided, the instructor surveyed the room, arms crossed on his chest. "Seriously. What do you think are the two things that people desire most?" he asked. Someone chuckled.

A tentative voice from the back of the room suggested, "Money?" The instructor paced the room thoughtfully. "Anyone agree?" he asked. A few voices mumbled in agreement.

"What's the first thing you'd do if you won a million dollars? he asked. He pointed at students at random. "Pay off bills," "Quit my job," "Go on vacation," "A new car."

"Do you suppose," he asked "that people don't really want money itself? That maybe they really want what money represents to them?"

The instructor paced the room silently for a moment. He looked out the window and combed a hand through his hair.

Turning, brows furrowed, and asked; "Did you know that all your wants and all your needs stem from two primal desires? Gut level, deeply instinctive primal desires."

You could have heard a pin drop. Elvis was actually looking curious.

Striding to the front of the room, he underlined the words on the flipchart. "Advertising is all about Unleashing Desire".

Carefully, he printed underneath it;
"Our primal desires are to experience pleasure & to avoid pain."

Tapping the marker on the flipchart for emphasis he stated clearly; "Every   single   thing   humans    do   - stems from one of our primal desires."

He went on to explain that if an ad focuses on primal desires, it is more successful than if it just talks about product features. And that an ad that elicits emotion based on a primal desire is one powerhouse of an ad!

He explained that "Stop the pain" sells better than than "The best headache remedy". That "You can afford the house of your dreams" is better than "Affordable mortgages".

He asked us to open the newspaper and find six ads that did not address a primal need. And rewrite them so they do.

Do you want to write ads that sell? Really sell? Look for ads that don't address a primal desire. Attach each ad to a piece of paper. Underneath the ad, rewrite it so it addresses a primal desire.

When you've done a few dozen of those, you'll start to see a difference in the oddest place. Your sales.

See, if your ads don't cut it, people will assume your product doesn't either. But wait... that's a subconscious parallel assumption, and that's the topic for the NEXT issue!

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