Barry W Thornton Blog

I have a friend who used to be a great salesman and is now a virtual failure. He has confidence, will charge in, will persist, has energy, can say the right things, and still fails. I used to think the problem was an issue of fear, now closer observation and consideration makes me think the problem is more one of the misplaced need for acceptance. Needs and wants are very different drives. Emotions can drive needs, wants are intellect driven. The passion of need leads to comprise, the passion of want leads to structure. Needs limit perception, wants expand them.

Assuming that what I offer you has value to you, if I need to sell it to you and you won’t buy it, the need emotion overwhelms and generates desperation that stinks, you will smell it and dominate the situation thus control me.

If I want to sell you something and you won’t buy then I will likely go away, you will have to call me back thus we have parity, neither of us will dominate the situation and there is no control, just a transaction.

My friend’s need for acceptance has swamped out his wants, try as he might, he is a victim when he should be a participant. No sale is made.

Needs are irrational, wants aren’t.

Tags: emotions, fear, needs, sales, wants

This entry was posted on Monday, October 19th, 2009 at 9:12 am and is filed under Technolgy and business philosophy. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.