February 22, 2018

After the fact

POP QUIZ:

What did you buy in the last 24 hours?

Take a minute to think about it...

Venti non-fat latte? Turkey sandwich? Tank of gas? Yoga pants?

Can you even remember what you bought?

How much of it did you really need?

Why didn’t you buy the cheapest option in each case?

If you think about this for a little while, I bet you’ll recognize that your buying decisions are extremely complicated.

Perhaps dozens of conscious and subconscious motivations go into buying something as inconsequential as pack of chewing gum.

If you think about this even more, I bet you’ll be forced to admit that your buying decisions are essentially irrational.

Sure, you might be able to list the reasons why you spent $150 on a pair of jeans, or a wristwatch, or a vacuum cleaner, or a camera bag, or a dart board, or a software program, or an online course, or a concert ticket, or a spa treatment, or a flower arrangement, or an oil change.

But this is “after the fact” rationalization. It’s you explaining to yourself why you’re happy with your purchase.

It’s not why you decided to buy.

You decided to buy based on how the idea of the purchase made you feel.

You could twist yourself up in knots protesting this, but don’t bother. You’d be wrong.

Buying decisions are emotional.

The sooner you stop laboring under the delusion that you’re making rational buying decisions, the sooner you will recognize that your buyers are not making rational buying decisions.

Which leads us to...

POP QUIZ 2:

How does the experience of working with you make your clients feel?

There’s no RIGHT answer to this question.

But there is AN answer to this question.

It’s important to know what that answer is.

Yours,

—J

P.S. A spot opened up in my guided mentoring program. If your revenue has plateaued and you’d like to press the fast forward button on your business, you might want to take a look at my guided mentoring -> https://jonathanstark.com/mentoring