You probably don’t need to go any further than your closet to find the answer to that one. If you are a guy, how many pair of athletic shoes do you have in your closet right now? How many do you really need? And every woman, myself included, knows that you simply cannot have too many pairs of black pumps.
We buy what we WANT. I might really need a set of new tires, but I will probably wait until the very last minute to buy them. What I will run right out to buy now is that brand new whatchamacallit that I saw on TV that promised to make my life so much better, easier, efficient; or make me happier, more attractive, slimmer…you get the idea. We buy on emotions, and regardless of what we need, our brain is going to make purchasing decisions based on getting us what we want, not necessarily what we need.
I like to call the part of the brain involved in decision making the “I Want That Cortex”. I am not sure exactly where in the brain it is located, but I do know that mine can be very active. It is triggered by certain phrases, (i.e., a more youthful appearance frequently works on me); places (Bloomingdales comes to mind); and certain people I resonate with.
Wayne Dyer is one such person.
He is a master at activating this part of my brain. Last time I saw him speak from the stage he talked about achieving serenity, peace, prosperity and happiness; and how he had created this in his own life. He made it sound so amazing and so easy to achieve, that when his talk was over, I made a beeline to the sales table in the back of the room to buy whatever tools he had that would give me the outcome he talked about.
Now I know I want more serenity in my life, I want prosperity, peace, happiness and that whole thing. That’s what made me buy $200 of Wayne Dyer’s meditation CD’s. And when Dr. Dyer was talking, he was focused on the transformation I was going to get by using his method. He painted a picture of the outcome I would get by buying his products, and it sounded great.
It activated my I Want That Cortex like nobody’s business. I wanted it so much that I was ready to do whatever it would take to get it. Which is a good thing, because after I got the instruments of my salvation home, I realized that the task ahead of me was going to take some work.
What he did not do was focus on the process.
He did not say how I was going to get those things. In fact, if he had gotten up there and said that your life is going to change if you sit in a corner with your legs crossed and focus on your breathing, learn how to meditate and maybe light a little candle for 30 days every morning and every evening for 40 minutes; I would have run for the back of the room, and not because I wanted to buy the products…I would have been out the door.
So here is the point, sometimes we as practitioners are so busy focusing on the process, on what people need to do in order to achieve results, we neglect to focus on the outcome.
People do not buy the plane, they buy the destination.
I recently returned from a trip to Machu Picchu, in Peru. I live in Los Angeles. Now, I have always wanted to go to Machu Picchu. However, it is not so easy to get there, It actually took me a full 28 hours to get from my house to my hotel in the Sacred Valley.
Now, if my travel agent had focused on how many planes I would need to take, and taxis and transfers involved to get there, I may have stayed home, or perhaps gone to Maui. But my heart was set on Machu Picchu. I want to go to that magical special spiritual place that is like nowhere else on the planet. I bought the destination, not the Journey; and was willing to do whatever it took to get there, the desire was so strong in my heart to see the destination.
So when you are describing your programs, products and services to your patients either in person, or in your marketing materials; remember that people buy what they want not what they need, and they buy the destination, not the journey.
