How do you differentiate between a Want and a Need?

How do you differentiate between a Want and a Need and how does knowing the difference affect your sales and/or marketing efforts? -Community Mailbox

I thought we just went through this......

If I have a desire to join two pieces of wood, I now have a need created for a tool... now the choice is, do I want to nail it or screw it, or bolt it together. Whatever that desire it, I have created a need.

If I'm in the hardware store business, on the other hand, I might advertise joining wood pieces together and suggest we have the means, but will help you determine right way for you.

Aloha... :cool: -rattus58

As a follow up to the original question - if there is in fact a difference between a want and a need would it matter or make a difference to the salesperson? If so, how? -Community Mailbox

Now you're getting too deep for me.... but I'm not sure I take any specific action that I can identify different... sorta.. just roll with the flow.

Aloha... :cool: -rattus58

A want is one which makes you Sentimentally happy, but a need is one which makes you Emotionally happy. A want serves more your of Ego, but a need serves your Necessity. A want is ambigous, but a need is defnite. -sureshkumarg

i think want is our desire to get where as need is which we canot forego or we cannot survive like air & water -sudhir12192@icicipru

When you are ready to pay any amount for the product that is the want. But when you are just curious, and inquire about it, or are still reluctant to know that you cannot afford it, then that is desire. -pretty16

It would be my recommendation to anyone entering sales, or learning sales, to spend very little time trying to differentiate between "wants" and "needs." It's a red herring that surfaces too often in what passes for sales "training." -Ace Coldiron

One last probe into this topic... would you do anything different with a prospect who was motivated by Want (for instance framing content in terms of Potential Gain) versus a prospect who was motivated by Need (for instance framing content in terms of Potential Loss)? -Community Mailbox

As a facilitator--yes. Need could contain a very real urgency. As a salesperson, perhaps not. One of the reasons I suggested that salespeople don't lose sleep over the differentiation between need and want is that, in both cases, you really are selling yourself and your ability to get it done--and DONE RIGHT (with all that implies). That's where the focus should lie. -Ace Coldiron

When you say 'get it done' does that mean satisfy the want/need or does it mean something else? -Community Mailbox

It means that--yes. -Ace Coldiron

I am going to put a different spin on this if I may.
I do not want to buy tires yet at times I need to buy tires and at this time I want to buy the right tires for safety.

I am not overly concerned about wants until the client and I can discover needs or uses the client may enjoy. -rich34232

Easy really.

You can make someone 'want' something (called selling I believe) but you can't 'make' someone 'need' something.

I know that the above looks very simple and easy to understand.

But don't be fooled by its apparent simplicity. -helisell

Maybe I can help.

The human mind has only one need. That is, the perpetual need to express the authentic identity that forms the sense of individual self over time. Everything else is a desire or want.

At this point someone always mentions Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs. After all everyone NEEDS air, food, and water at the bare minimum. The answer is yes--provided you want to live. That is an option and unfortunately many choose not to live. Being alive is not a necessity given it is a choice.

Fredrick Nietzsche, a 19th century philosopher recognized that men in war deliberately placed themselves in physical danger often knowing they were about to die. For them, choosing to die with honor trumped any other consideration.

In sales, if you accommodate the clients single need of self expression you most likely have a sale. Perceived wants and needs are fluid which is why we often change our minds but we can never change our identity of self.

All too often the customer is buying what we never thought we were selling. This is the symptom of operating from a single model. -John Voris

In my experience when it comes to Wants and Needs I have observed some very interesting times.

How do I differentiate the difference between a Want and a Need? It depends on whether my prospect is a business owner and is buying to make a profit or the end consumer looking to buy based on having the money to do so.

Business owners want to improve their bottom line and will buy accordingly. End consumers want to buy based on their impulse wants at the expense at time of what they really need.

From the perspective of a salesman ... I want to do the right thing for my client and need to make sales. How do I differentiate between the two? By making sure the products I am selling will add value to my clients business or end consumer's lives.

So I will not sell a product just for the money. It has to meet my core values, my belief system and add value to my clients wants and / or needs.

Be good to yourself, look after your clients wants and / or needs and more importantly look after your wants and needs.

Prime example : I was offered a role to head a team of lead generators. The money offered was awesome which is what we need, yet the working conditions do not meets my wants.

In this case ... My wants are more powerful than my needs.

An example of a client that comes to mind ... I need to improve my child's education but want to subscribe to a television package.

I will leave that for you to think through!

Chris -teknacool

This is an important post and I hope people recognize it as such. If you're lucky, it asks the question "Is Mr. Voris correct in what he said?" The value of of what he has said lies in the fact that it can make us think. The Maslow thing always bored me, and I have said on my blog that differentiating between wants and needs can be a red herring for sales people.

Voris here adds great insight congruent with everything SalesPractice is intended to be. Think about. Agree. Disagree. But give yourself a big boost to your career--THINK! -Gary A Boye

Very well said. Prospects constantly confuse the two as do sales people. These concepts are always lumped together as observables and linguistic interpretations.

When these distinctions are attempted, the sales rep begins anchoring his or her sales approach to what is believed to be a solid true need when in fact it was only a fickle and very temporary want.

I agree also that this is a vacuous concern with many other important sales essentials that need to be taught. I say vacuous because current traditional sales training does not offer the tools to correctly make the distinction so why bring it to the attention of others. -John Voris

Hello John. For my own clarity, would you please elaborate on what you mean by, "...the perpetual need to express the authentic identity that forms the sense of individual self over time."? Thank you. thmbp2; -Jeff Blackwell

Research shows:

Synthetic Identity (socially based persona)

You are very different than when when you were 20 years old.

That is easy to grasp: we all change by learning, engaging in relationships and having a variety of experiences that contribute to our over all maturation over time. However, these changes are tethered to a fundamental identity we want displayed to the public as a Synthetic Identity.

Without this flexible capacity we could not meet the unforeseeable challenges in daily life as we mature in time.

Authentic Identity (personally based virtue)

You are no different than when you were 20 years old.

This is also easy to grasp: we all have a sense of self that never changes through time; it is a consistent way of being that enables us to have relationships with others; friends, wives and husbands, can rely on our stable internal drive. How else could we hold a job if everyday you were completely someone else with different wants and desires?

Without this stable perspective, we could never complete a goal or even decide on any one profession--we would always be changing.

__________________________________________________ _

We all feel these two aspects of ourselves.

We look in the mirror and wonder how we got so old because we can recall the feeling of being a teenager. That is why, "the more things change the more they stay the same."

We are all driven by this single drive which is to express our Authentic Identity. And it is this Identity that constantly needs validation, verification and purpose, all done through conforming symbols of meaning.

__________________________________________________

So, in your house there are "things" (symbols of meaning) that conforms to your unique Authentic Identity.

This expression is saying; I am alive; I have value; I matter; and I make a difference.

In fact, SalesPractice is one of many symbols that conform to your Authentic Identity. If it did not--you would not be here.

There is much more to this. In fact, I offer seminars on learning how to "read" the conforming symbols of their clients to find their Authentic motivation.

It is complex and this is a brief explanation. If you have any other questions, don't hesitate to ask. -John Voris

I keep a journal where I jot down thoughts as they come to me. Earlier today as I was cleaning house and thinking about "Relationship" the following thought came to mind and made it into my journal:
One might say that your post and my journal entry are "same, same but different". ;wi -Jeff Blackwell

a want, you can live without,
a need, you can live without. -AfricanVoice

Jeff,

I congratulate you on not only "talking the walk" but "walking the talk."

Yes they are the same in spirit--where it counts.

thmbp2; -John Voris

You have a need for a vehicle, you want a BMW 745IL; but if you can't afford it, then a Ford Focus will have to do for now. You've satisfied your need with the Ford. When you you're able to afford a BMW, then you will have satisfied your wants. -DanKhan

WANT may not compel purchase. NEED will compel purchase. NEEDS are for basics. WANT is for luxury. Whatever that you are selling, does that party NEED it or is it your assumption that there is a NEED.
So long as that party lives in the WANT stage, there is no urgency or NEED to commit. However if that party is in the NEED stage, they would fathom every possible way to commit and own.
WANT and NEED may appear same, but are really different. -Thiruselvam K