Determination (formation) of needs
Communication masters never sell goods!!! They identify customer needs, learn about problems, and then solve them with their product or service. Tricky move…? No, he's just professional. This is the same as pressing on a person’s pain point (not exactly a pretty comparison, but just to be clear, just great).
Therefore, the first thing to do at the meeting is to obtain information about the client, his needs, concerns and dissatisfaction from using competitors’ products and cooperation with similar organizations to yours. It doesn't have to be something global. Any clues are important here, even if it is a slight dissatisfaction with the current state of affairs.
Identifying customer needs is a very important stage of sales. The ability to identify needs will help you find an individual approach to each client. Without knowing our customers' needs, we will not be able to meet their expectations. If we fail to meet their expectations, we will naturally be unable to provide them with quality service. After all, we won’t even know what and how we should change or improve! Establishing customer needs is not always easy, but it is always necessary.
The purpose of this sales stage – identifying the true needs of a person, identifying his basic values, identifying needs that can be satisfied with the help of your product or service.
The point is that the customer does not buy the product or service on its own. The client buys a solution to his problems, satisfaction of his needs.
Remember: problems (difficulties, complications, dissatisfaction, etc.) of customers are the core of any sale. There is even a saying: people don’t just need good products - people need products that solve their problems. This is what customers are willing to pay money for. Not for quality. Not at a bargain price. Not for a discount. And for solving your problems (and I mean exactly those problems that the client himself considers such, and not those that may seem to you). And while you don’t know about the client’s concerns, you are far from making a sale. The client simply will not see the worthy and significant for him reasons why he should abandon the products he is currently purchasing from competitors and purchase your product. How convincing your arguments will be to him depends on how well you are aware of the client’s concerns and dissatisfaction.
No problems - no sales.
The same product can satisfy different needs. For example, a watch. One person buys them just to tell the time. For others, it is an element of image and an indicator of belonging to a certain social group.
If a client purchases something, it means he has updated need. Don’t think that when purchasing, only one need will be satisfied. Just one of them will prevail.
Based on these needs, we can formulate unique selling proposition for client. And to find out the needs there is the easiest way - ask the client questions.
At the beginning of the meeting, you should not immediately attack the client like a passing train with your product or service. This is ineffective and unprofessional. Offering benefits “blindly” is like shooting in the air. For targeted sales you need to know interests and needs of the client to offer exactly the benefits of the product that he needs.
Interests (motives for purchasing)– these are the reasons that determine why a client wants to purchase a particular product or service.
Before offering something and convincing of it (that is, immediately giving a lecture about the product), “probe” the client regarding his desire and ability to make a purchase.
I’ll tell you a secret: not a single client fully knows what exactly he wants to buy. It often happens that a client buys a product that costs much more than he expected before visiting the store.
Therefore, the seller’s task– listen to what the client wants, and sell him the product that is in stock and at a price favorable to the company. Moreover, we are not talking about deceiving the client at all, as it might seem at first glance. A sales consultant can direct the client’s attention to a more expensive product by talking about its competitive advantages (longer warranty, easier to care for, environmentally friendly, more prestigious, more convenient, longer lasting) compared to a cheaper one. But the choice in any case remains with the client.
Remember: only 20% of buyers know what they need (what product, at what price, for what purpose, and so on), the remaining 80% are in less certain states, they want something, but don’t know exactly what, some good thing , a product, you need to think about whether it is profitable to invest money in it.
Now we will look at how to find out (and create!) client needs.
Task: listen to the client and identify dominant needs. Ask questions, clarify the information received, retell it to make sure that you understood everything correctly.
Need - the need for something necessary to maintain the life of an individual, social group, society, an internal stimulator of activity. This is a definition from an economic dictionary.
Nowadays, among marketers and top managers you can often hear the phrases “we create needs” or “our goal is creating a need" Immortal examples are immediately given as illustrations. Xerox or Facebook.
On "creation of needs" some companies spend more every year than on the production of their goods or services. The budgets of the marketing departments of famous brands have long been inflated to unimaginable sizes and constitute the main item of their expenses. However, despite all the efforts and costs, there is no significant progress in the process of “creating needs” in the market. As well as among marketers, there is still no consensus on whether these needs can or cannot be created. And if possible, how to do it?
Debates on this issue have been going on for a long time and so far none of the parties has presented sufficiently serious and well-founded evidence that they are right.
Meanwhile, the slogan “bread and circuses” remains more relevant than ever to this day. People still prefer these two forms needs many others.
As a remark, I would like to note: the immortal Roman phrase “bread and circuses” well illustrates and conveys a person’s dependence on both “food for the stomach” and “food for the head.” She emphasizes the significance and importance of both of these factors for him; a person always needs them.
Food and entertainment always find their way consumer. Yes, they change their form - the TV and the podium replace the Colosseum, and the hamburger comes to replace rye bread, but their essence and purpose continue to be unchanged, as do the needs of the people that call them to life.
On the other hand, there is the example of Xerox, the car Henry Ford, cellular communications, Facebook and many others. They show us how a person (seemingly out of nowhere, suddenly) begins to actively consume and use something new for himself (well, who could have spoken seriously twenty years ago about such a widespread distribution of cellular communications?).
This means that someone was still able to “create” need in these items and services? But how? Why was Xerox able to do this with its immortal copier, but not repeat its success with the computer? Why American Motors could make a Jeep, but couldn't make a car?
If the difference in approach and mistakes in promoting a product are as obvious as it seems in marketing textbooks, what is stopping us from replicating successful experience now? Why does the method work in some cases, but not in others under similar conditions? Is it possible to answer yes to the question about the possibility of creating new needs or is this a matter of chance?
Like many others, I tried to think about these matters and would like to present the results of my research in this article.
The expression itself “create need in a person in something” has always caused me a certain wariness. It’s as if whoever says he did this operation was able to get inside me with a soldering iron and pliers and fix something there. Not the most pleasant feeling.
However, what about the previously mentioned examples of Jeep, Xerox, Facebook?
What are needs and where do they come from?
In my opinion, everything needs It makes sense to divide it into two categories:
- “Real” needs or needs inherent to a person as an entity, as a living organism - hunger, thirst, and so on. These needs are present in everyone and can manifest themselves under certain conditions.
- Imposed needs or needs generated by external requirements of the environment - the requirement to have a passport, to wear a suit or school uniform to work. Such needs are somewhat similar to reflexes - they can be “developed” and cannot be found in any person.
With imposed needs everything is simple - if we have an apparatus of violence/pressure, we can “generate” such new needs. For example, saying “all documents must be written on stamp paper only” or “destroying” them, eliminating the mandatory requirement of school uniforms.
With real needs We Nothing we can't do it. We can only use them. Unless, of course, we consider the possibility of surgical intervention.
What then is the task? marketer? What does he actually do?
On my own marketer does not have the opportunity to create an imposed needs(but he simply cannot create a real one). No marketer could create and model the need for a small, economical car if the energy crisis and rising fuel prices had not caused the “imposed need to save gasoline.”
Marketer works with satisfaction chains needs or a sequence of actions (instructions) by following which the consumer will be able to satisfy his need for something. For example, in the simplest case, a chain is created in which a person’s need for water to satisfy thirst is associated with the purchase of Coca-Cola and its use for this purpose.
Task marketer is to build a new chain of satisfaction needs(imposed or real), and give rise to association between the fact of need satisfaction and this chain in a person's head. Our thinking is associative - and this method works.
In fact, it is not always necessary to create the entire chain; you can take an existing one and replace the required “link” (or several) in it with a new one - with the product or service you need. need wherein marketer must "create".
For example, in the thirst gratification chain, Coca-Cola can easily be replaced by Pepsi.
A chain can be “linked” to several needs: an Armani jacket is both prestige, clothing, and special clothing for the office or a manifestation of your style. On the one hand, this increases the attractiveness of the product/service for the consumer, on the other hand, it makes it difficult for a competitor to use such a chain.
Another interesting feature is that in the process of creating such chains, “side effects” are possible, when a product/service included in a value chain, an association with which has already been formed, can, due to its specificity, create another “imposed need.” Thus, the DVD player generates need in DVDs, and the printer creates the need for a cartridge.
Such “side effects” can be either accidental or intentional (as in the case of the same cartridges).
From this point of view, “predicting needs” is, rather, calculating and forecasting “side effects”, unless, of course, we consider the option when the predictor has information about the imminent emergence of a new “imposed needs».
What then did Xerox create? Was a need created in this case? It seems to me - no. Need in the exchange of information itself existed initially (man is a social animal). Xerox simply came up with a new chain and found a clever way to associate it with this need.
Well, Facebook is an advanced descendant of the old paper diary, in which friends could write their wishes and draw pictures. Only this diary is now more accessible and easy to use.
But a small car is the brainchild of an “imposed need” to save fuel. Just like an office suit, which is not bought because it is the ideal form of clothing, just like expensive prestigious cars are not sold need in a vehicle.
So, the answer to the question “is it possible to create needs? In general, the answer will be “no,” but the answer to the question “can a new need be imposed” will be “yes.” By creating a new chain linking an existing need to a new product, we can create demand for that product.
The concept presented in this material can be used in real business as another tool when developing marketing activities or when planning and managing a product line.
Moreover, checking an existing marketing strategy for this concept will allow you to identify its weaknesses at an early stage, more accurately understand who and why the solution being promoted to the market is intended for, and find new ways to increase its value for consumer.
5.1. Determining needs
5.2. Classifications of needs
5.3. Structural analysis of the needs system
In modern natural science, the term “need” has several meanings.
« Need- in the most general meaning of this word - an essential link in the system of relations of any acting subject, this is a certain need of the subject in a certain set of external conditions of his existence, a claim to external circumstances arising from his essential properties, nature. In this capacity, need acts as the cause of activity (more broadly, as the cause of all life activity). The etymology of this concept is such that it extends to the entire world of organic and social life, as if pointing to the natural connection between these two highest forms of movement of matter. It is this circumstance that explains the versatility of the concept of “need”.
The more detailed meaning of this category is associated with the specification of ideas about the subject of activity, i.e. carrier of needs. The carrier can be:
biological organism;
human individual;
community of people (family, clan, tribe, people);
social group or social stratum (class, nation, estate, generation, professional group).
The specificity of the sociological analysis of the problem of needs lies in clarifying the relationships between the social subjects identified here. The intersection of the needs of these subjects, the coincidence between them, their unification, similarity and confrontation form a complex system. The measure of “materiality” or “spirituality” of needs, the degree of their generality, their “mundaneity” or “sublimity” are determined not only by the properties of the subject, but also by the subject of the need.
Need is a property of all living things, expressing the original initial form of its active, selective attitude to environmental conditions. The body's needs are dynamic, interchangeable, and cyclical. The needs of a living organism are biological needs, but we will be more interested in social needs. The peculiarity of need as an initial internal stimulus is that at this level the subject’s dependence on a certain range of external conditions is observed. By satisfying needs, external conditions move inward, conditions form a need, and it, in turn, is closed on these external conditions. The need is connected with human activity, and this connection is two-way: the need stimulates activity, but the activity itself becomes the subject of need. In addition, activity causes the formation of new needs, since it requires the means necessary for its implementation. Tools and means of labor become the object of needs.
The needs correspond to the spirit of the times, in some eras it is the spirit of entrepreneurship, in others - the spirit of despair and discontent, in others - the spirit of optimism, collectivism, and faith in the future. The concept of “need” summarizes the needs of people, their aspirations, claims that require constant satisfaction. Without satisfying these needs at the level set by cultural and historical standards, the life of society is impossible, social reproduction is impossible. With the development of production systems - means of transport, radio, television, telephone, etc. the needs for communication, movement, education, information, etc. become urgent. A society that does not care about the reproduction and development of human needs is degrading. The needs of an individual and other incentives for her behavior are formed not only under the influence of her social status, but also under the influence of her entire lifestyle, the spiritual culture of society, and the social psychology of various social groups.
All needs are classified depending on the criterion underlying the classification into various groups:
material - spiritual;
individual - group;
production - non-production;
rational - irrational;
current - expected;
real - ideal;
vital - secondary;
traditional - new;
permanent - temporary;
high - low.
Most often, needs are divided by origin into biogenic (primary) and social (secondary).
To the number primary include self-preservation needs, i.e. food, water, rest, sleep, warmth, maintaining health, reproduction, etc.
Secondary needs include the needs for self-affirmation, communication, various achievements, friendship, love, knowledge, self-development, creativity, and self-expression. All human needs (primary and secondary) are social in nature, the forms of their manifestation depend on the level of development of culture and society. The very “birth” of various human needs occurs in the process of socio-historical development. The more diverse a person’s activities, the richer his needs and the more complex the value system, since it is human needs that are the basis for the formation of his values.
The diversity of human needs is due to the versatility of human nature, as well as the diversity of conditions (natural and social) in which they manifest themselves. The difficulty and uncertainty of identifying stable groups of needs does not stop numerous researchers from searching for the most adequate classification of needs. But the motives and reasons with which different authors approach classification are completely different. Economists have some reasons, psychologists have some, and sociologists have some. As a result, each classification is original, but narrow-profile and not suitable for general use. For example, the Polish psychologist K. Obukhovsky counted 120 classifications. There are as many classifications as there are authors. P.M. Ershov in his book “Human Needs” considers two classifications of needs to be the most successful: F.M. Dostoevsky and Hegel.
Dostoevsky divided the many interests and needs of people to complicate their content into three groups:
1. Needs for material goods necessary to maintain life.
2. Cognition needs.
3. The needs of a worldwide unification of people.
Hegel divided needs into four groups:
1. Physical needs.
2. The needs of law, laws.
3. Religious needs.
4. Cognition needs.
The first group, according to Dostoevsky and Hegel, can be called vital needs; the third, according to Dostoevsky, and the second, according to Hegel, social. And the second, according to Dostoevsky, and the fourth, according to Hegel, are ideal.
subsistence needs (food, clothing, safety, belonging);
needs to achieve life goals (material, social, intellectual, spiritual).
For subsistence needs Two levels of satisfaction can be distinguished: minimal and basic. The minimum level of satisfaction of needs can be represented by the time that a particular individual spends on satisfying the needs for food, clothing, housing, and safety (it is generally accepted that these time expenditures are approximately equal to half of the waking time). For most people, the level of satisfaction of existence needs affects the structure of intellectual, social, and spiritual needs. After achieving the basic levels of satisfying the needs of existence, the needs to achieve goals are formed.
At the same time, such needs to achieve life goals, both material, are considered the norm for each population group if their level of satisfaction is equal to the basic level. When the basic level is exceeded, needs can act as luxury needs.
Social needs can also be divided into two groups:
predominantly egoistic (need for fame, power, recognition, respect, etc.);
predominantly altruistic (the need for charity, love for children, parents, and other people.
Intellectual needs- these are the needs for knowledge and creativity.
Spiritual Needs- the need for spiritual improvement, faith, truth, truth.
The listed needs to achieve life goals usually manifest themselves either as a desire for greater satisfaction of the needs of existence (the need for luxury, recognition, fame), or as the emergence of new groups of needs (for knowledge, creativity, spiritual improvement).
This means that these needs can dominate with equal intensity for different categories of people. At the same time, existence needs have two levels, and the basic levels of satisfaction of existence needs can have significant individual and group differences. It should be noted once again that the needs to achieve life goals become dominant at the basic level of satisfying the needs of existence. Within the limits of the needs of existence, the traditional hierarchy of needs (physiological, security, affiliation) can be the same for all people only within the limits of the minimum level of their satisfaction.
Structural analysis is closely related to consideration of the composition of the needs system, the main elements of which are types, groups, and blocks of needs. Science faces the important task of cataloging human needs. Some scientists present this cataloging as differentiated into two or more complementary subsystems, built on the “vertical - horizontal” principle. A system deployed in a vertical plane includes the needs at all stages of human phylogenesis, and a horizontal one includes the full set of needs of a particular subject at a given point in time. The most common need diagrams are based on the principle of origin. There are either two groups of needs - natural(lower, primary, somatic, biogenic, viscerogenic, physical) and social(higher, secondary, sociogenic, artificial), or three - natural, natural-social, public (social); or five, if social needs are divided into economic, intellectual And actually social.
Often in classifications social needs are not identified as a separate class. I.V. Bestuzhev-Lada proposed a branched scheme of the basis for dividing needs. I.V. Bestuzhev-Lada classifies needs according to their types:
By genesis (origin) - biogenic and sociogenic:
According to the sphere of life of society - material and spiritual;
According to the sphere of life activity of the individual - physiological, intellectual, social;
According to the subject of needs - universal, group, individual;
In relation to social values - rational and irrational (reasonable and unreasonable);
By degree of distribution - global and local;
By duration of action - permanent and temporary;
If possible, satisfaction - real and unreal;
According to the degree of urgency - vital and secondary;
According to the degree of development - undeveloped, normal, excessive;
By time of appearance - traditional, new, current, foreseeable.
The main or first criteria in this classification are the genetic criterion and the next most important spheres of life of society and the individual. The second-order criterion is the subject of need. The rest are classified as third-order criteria.
There are attempts to build a structure of needs based on the minimum number of needs necessary for normal human functioning.
For example, K. Obukhovsky identified the following types of needs characteristic of people of a certain cultural level:
1) the need for self-preservation;
2) the need for reproduction;
3) needs that ensure proper personal development:
educational;
emotional contact;
the meaning of life.
On the basis of these general needs, groups of individual needs function, reflecting the characteristics of their carriers and their personal experience. But at the same time, K. Obukhovsky’s scheme does not identify “floors” of needs and cannot serve as the basis for constructing their hierarchy.
So, G.L. Smirnov showed that any typology of social needs should be linked to the main characteristics of the laws of social development. Taking as a criterion the need to preserve and develop the social organism and the specifics of the implementation of this need through the image and living conditions of the individual in the history of society, two levels can be distinguished in the system of social needs of the individual: the level of existence needs (basic) - lowest level and the level of needs for comprehensive development - highest level.
Based on the needs of the life process of an individual, sublevels of needs can be distinguished, taking into account the time and scope of their implementation, as well as dominance.
There are several such needs:
the need for self-preservation and socialization (maintaining the vital functions of the body, education, training);
the need for work and self-affirmation (acquisition of a profession, social status, participation in the life of the team);
the need to procreate and streamline family life (love, marriage, family, children);
the need for self-improvement, development and self-expression (self-education, creativity, physical education and sports);
the need for communication and movement.
The first two necessities are the basis of lower-level needs, and the need for self-improvement, development, self-expression is the basis of higher-level needs.
The need to procreate and streamline intimate life is an intermediate connection between levels.
The need for communication and movement is subordinated to other needs and manifests itself in the form of corresponding needs at all levels. They can be called cross-cutting in relation to the system of needs.
There are five sublevels of needs associated with the hierarchy of needs:
Basic human needs
First- household needs, needs for social guarantees and provision, needs for the development and assimilation of social values.
In the first sublevel, it is possible to identify sets of needs:
a) in consumer goods and services (the need for housing, housekeeping, food, wardrobe, rest, movement);
b) in the functioning of social institutions that ensure the implementation of the rights and responsibilities of citizens - the need for social guarantees and social security (social insurance, education, health care, etc.);
c) in participation in public organizations (the need for belonging).
Second- labor needs and self-affirmation needs (the need for work, profession, qualifications, career advancement, communication in a professional environment, a normal moral and psychological climate in the team, status, an active life position, the need for confidence in the future).
Third- needs related to intimate life and family formation (family needs). This level of needs provides the connection between the first, second, fourth and fifth levels.
Higher needs
These needs ensure the comprehensive development of a person. Among them are:
Fourth- cultural and leisure needs of a passive nature:
a) cognitive needs;
b) needs for artistic reading;
c) needs for communication with art;
d) needs for play, etc.
Fifth- cultural and leisure needs of an active nature:
a) the need for creativity;
b) the need for initiative;
c) the need for self-expression;
d) socio-political and moral needs.
The core of the highest level needs is the need for comprehensive development and self-actualization. The top of the hierarchy is a group of needs associated with the individual’s need to understand himself, his life through the true meaning of existence.
The need for communication does not form an independent sublevel.
A similar approach to the structural analysis of human needs can be traced to S.S. Korneenkov, who divided the needs as follows:
by genesis-
a) innate (sexual, needs for food, drink, procreation, protection, freedom, research, etc.);
b) socially acquired (cultural, aesthetic, moral, etc.);
according to reasonableness-
a) reasonable (contributing to goodness and creation);
b) unreasonable (leading to destruction, disease, hatred);
by territorial basis-
a) global;
b) regional;
c) local;
by time of satisfaction-
a) current;
b) nearest;
c) promising;
by social nature-
a) progressive and reactionary;
b) main and secondary;
c) historically transient and stable.
You can highlight the needs of men and women, children and adults, healthy and sick people, extroverts and introverts, etc. But as the starting point for his classification, Korneenkov chose the modes that make up a person: individual, subject, personality, individuality, universality - or trimerism: bodily, mental, spiritual being. The proposed division of needs is based on the proposition that man is the measure of all things and the cause that gives rise to all kinds of needs. A person has the body of an animal, but he can escape the influence of the needs of his animal essence, the animal soul, thanks to free will and spirituality. Man is a rational being, endowed with individuality and self-awareness, which regulate his behavior. Depending on the degree of development of consciousness, the emphasis of a person’s volitional efforts shifts towards the development and satisfaction of higher needs, which, in turn, harmonizes the needs of the earthly level.
Another typology of needs, authored by Henry Murray, is also of interest. This typology is based not only on the needs themselves, but also on the availability of certain goods necessary to satisfy them. Moreover under good not only goods and services are understood, but also various socio-psychological factors (love, joy, prestige, etc.). In G. Murray’s personology, needs are classified according to four bases:
Primary and secondary,
Positive and negative,
Explicit and latent
Conscious and unconscious.
On this basis, G. Murray derives 20 needs, which are shown in the table. These needs exist in three states:
refractory, when no stimulus contributes to the awakening of a need;
suggestible when the need is passive, but can be excited;
active, when a need determines an individual's behavior.
In general, all needs interact and influence each other. G. Murray accepts the position about the hierarchy of needs, but introduces the concept dominance in relation to those needs that “not being satisfied, begin to dominate with the greatest force.” A minimum satisfaction of dominant needs is necessary before others can take effect. In cases where different needs are realized in the same behavior of an individual, G. Murray speaks of shifting needs. Another important type of relationship between needs is described by the concept subsidies. A subsidizing need - one that serves to satisfy another, is only an instrument for satisfying another.
In addition, for more predictable behavior of the individual, Murray examines not only the needs themselves, but also the environment in which the individual operates (“presses” that make it easier or more difficult to achieve the goal). As a result, a complex system of motives is formed. When needs are actualized, the individual finds himself in tension, and satisfying the need leads to its reduction. Satisfaction is largely a consequence of need states and their behavioral consequences. An individual can associate specific objects with certain needs (due to experience) and on this basis, ways of approaching a given object or ways of avoiding it are formed. The interaction between all determinants (needs, their relationships, life style) constitutes the deep basis of an individual’s behavior. A need always presupposes the occurrence of some state, i.e. values that should be taken into account when analyzing the motivation for a particular behavior.
Values and corresponding benefits, according to G. Murray, constitute well-being.
There are also various classifications of human needs, which are based on the dependence of the organism (or personality) on some objects or on the needs it experiences. So, A.N. Leontiev (1956) divided needs into objective and functional. Pieron identifies twenty types of fundamental physiological and psychophysiological needs, which, in his opinion, create the basis for any motivated behavior:
hedonic (hedone - pleasure);
research attention, novelty;
seeking communication and mutual assistance;
competitive, etc.
In domestic psychology, needs are divided into:
material (need for food, clothing, housing);
spiritual (the need for knowledge of the environment and oneself, creativity, aesthetic pleasures, etc.);
social (need for communication, work, social activities, recognition by other people, etc.).
Material needs are called primary; they underlie human life and were formed in the process of phylogenetic, socio-historical development of man. They constitute its generic properties. The entire history of man's struggle with nature was primarily a struggle to satisfy material needs.
Spiritual and social needs reflect the social nature of a person, his socialization. Although the material needs of a person have become socialized (for example, a person eats food after a long process of preparing it).
P.V. Simonov (1987) divides needs into three groups:
vital - preservation and development;
social - preservation, development, “for oneself”, “for others”;
ideal - conservation and development.
Moreover, the needs “for oneself” are recognized by the subject as rights belonging to him, while the needs “for others” are recognized as perceived responsibilities.
Psychologists also talk about needs:
conservation and development (growth);
to be different from others, unique, irreplaceable (i.e. the need associated with the formation and preservation of one’s own “I”);
need for avoidance;
in new impressions.
There is also a group of neurotic needs, the failure of which can lead to neurotic disorders:
in justice.
in sympathy and approval;
in power and prestige;
in possession and dependence;
in information;
Above we cited K. Horney’s classification of neurotic needs when considering her view of man and his needs.
G. Allport (1953) and A. Maslow (1970) distinguish between “needs” and “growth needs”.
Perhaps the most harmonious is the classification of needs by A. Maslow.
A. Maslow proceeded from a hierarchy of needs, depending on the phase of development of the individual and the priority ranking of needs.
According to his theory, a person, before “moving to the next category (hierarchy) of needs, must try to satisfy the dominant needs (needs of a lower hierarchy). Satisfying lower-order needs allows higher-order needs to motivate and influence human behavior. The intensity (urgency) of already satisfied needs is weakened, and the urgency of higher-order needs increases. There is an evolution of the structure of needs depending on the level of development of the individual as he moves from the general goal of providing a minimum living standard to higher-order goals related to style and quality of life.
Functional needs - These are fundamental (life) needs. Once satisfied, they cease to be the dominant factors of motivation and no longer influence the individual’s behavior.
Security needs - These are the needs for physical and psychological safety.
Social needs- the need for mutual assistance, belonging, a sense of community.
Esteem needs- this is self-respect, personal dignity, self-confidence, competence, recognition, and the presence of significant social status.
Self-actualization needs- this is self-realization, personal development. In real life, all categories (types) of needs coexist, and one or another category (type) of needs acquires greater importance depending on the characteristics of the individual or in accordance with the circumstances in which the individual finds himself at a given time.
Speaking about the dominance of certain hierarchies of needs, A. Maslow did not at all mean the need for their complete satisfaction. Moreover, the sequence of needs outlined by A. Maslow (functional, safety, social, self-esteem and self-actualization) is not necessary for all people. Biographies of outstanding creative personalities prove the individualization of the structure and hierarchy of needs. For many of them, the needs for creativity and self-actualization are dominant not after satisfaction of lower-order needs (physiological, safety), but when the basic needs for food, housing, safety, etc., in fact, have not yet been satisfied or satisfied on the “brink of survival.” Although, of course, satisfying the needs of existence (of a lower order) at some basic level - the necessary level of formation of all other needs.
Thus, an analysis of the above classifications of needs shows that the diversity of human needs cannot be represented in the form of a strict hierarchy.
If the hierarchy of needs based on biological instincts is visible and understandable, then the hierarchy of mental and spiritual needs is more dynamic. Combined together, these needs create the phenomenon of man. And although in most cases the emotional and mental dominate a person and hold priority, a person as a spiritual being must become the master of his body, emotions and thoughts. Having considered the main approaches to a person and his needs, we can move on to characterizing the characteristics of the functioning of the service sector in the context of meeting needs.
Questions and tasks for self-test:
1. Characterize the groups of needs taking into account the criteria that form the basis of the classification.
2. Describe the primary and secondary needs of a person.
3. Give a classification of needs according to Hegel and Dostoevsky, make a comparison.
4. Describe the structural analysis of the needs system.
5. Describe the basic needs of a person.
6. Describe the highest human needs.
7. Classification of needs by S.O. Korneenkova.
8. Explain G. Murray’s classification of needs.
9. Classification of needs according to A. Maslow.
10. Reveal the essence of the I.V. Bestuzhev-Lada classification.
26.05.2015
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1. Why aren’t sales happening? 2. When does the client object? 3. Step 1. We identify the visitor’s desire to buy and form buyer selection criteria
4. Step 2. Activation and/or creation of needs 5. Factors influencing buyer behavior 6. How to take part in a three-week online sales intensive “Ace of Furniture Sales” |
I continue the series of useful materials on how to make your salespeople experts in furniture sales. I practically tested the effectiveness of everything I’m talking about, spending a total of several thousand hours at real furniture retail outlets.
Why are there no sales?
Surely you are wondering why a large percentage of sales are lost from sales consultants in your furniture showroom? Today we'll talk about how to awaken a buyer's desire to buy"Here and now"
Usually everyone complains that they often get irritated, don’t listen, talk back, argue. And the seller considers himself a professional when he manages to “fight off” all the buyer’s objections.
It doesn't even occur to him that can be sold without causing objections or irritation to the client.
When does a client object?
When he is presented with something that is not entirely satisfactory. Often one gets the impression that sellers are trying to “sell” the entire assortment of the store to the buyer, without stopping to talk about different product lines.
The client listens out of politeness, turns and leaves.
So what is it:
Was the buyer the wrong one today?
Or, after all, the seller does not know how to work?
Product presentation is not the first step towards a client, but how many sellers act towards the buyer with this in mind? It seems clear that before presenting something, you need to find out why the buyer came to your store. This is not a trivial clarification of the size of the product, its configuration, and “what amount do you expect.” This is not such a simple stage as it seems at first glance, it requires preparation and... the delicacy of the seller. Maybe that's why they skip it?
Clarifying the client's needs- this is the next stage in the sales chain after establishing contact with him.
I don’t like the word “need,” which is ingrained in the name of one of the sales stages; it’s kind of faceless. Agree, working with the client’s needs is a phrase about nothing. I prefer to say this: – working with the desires of the buyer, with his “wants”, with the criteria for his choice.
I divide this stage into 2 steps:
Finding out these same “wants”
Their activation or creation
Step 1. We identify the visitor’s desire to buy and form buyer selection criteria
What your seller should know
Most often, sellers ignore identifying buyer needs and managing these needs. Simply because they don't know how to do it.
Sales aces masterfully ask the right questions, forming the right picture in a person’s head.
Let’s say a client has a 120 cm deep niche in his apartment. He wants to put a light-colored wardrobe in a modern style there.
Such a broad concept as a “modern-style cabinet” can accommodate at least half of your store’s assortment.
What does it achieve? ace of furniture sales with your questions:
1. Clarifies the buyer’s situation and forms his position, gradually leading him to the desired solution:
Which room requires a closet, and what size?
What clothes will you keep in your closet: both summer and winter? Will it have long fur coats and coats? .... Then you can’t do without a barbell
Should the closet be divided into male and female halves?
Will children's clothes be stored in the closet? ...You can provide shelves/drawers that the child himself can reach. He'll get used to things...
Where do you put your laundry? It’s better to install drawers; it will be more convenient to put things in them.
By asking questions and offering solutions, you gradually help the buyer create the desired image of the product in his head: a 4-door wardrobe, with a rod for outerwear, shelves for a child, a compartment for bed linen, drawers, etc. and so on.
During such a conversation, the buyer feels the seller’s care and desire to help him make the right choice, and not “push” something...
With this approach, the purchase is more likely to happen.
2. Guides the buyer's thinking
Where is your vacuum cleaner/ironing board currently located?
Do you have enough space for flowers (photos)? ...You can then attach a corner section to the closet with shelves for flowers (place photographs on them).
By asking such questions, the seller shows the buyer that he has taken into account all the details and will not miss anything when designing the cabinet. And the buyer is imbued with even greater confidence in him, gaining confidence that it is in this place that he will purchase the product that he needs.
Is it possible to refuse or object to your own decision?!
We get a concrete, formed goal from an abstract dream.
“We like to buy, and we don’t like to be sold to,” says popular wisdom. This is why self-service stores are in such demand. But not all goods can be bought without a seller: a person who knows the assortment and the pitfalls in this area of life can choose an air conditioner that is suitable in terms of power, design a kitchen, or select a car’s equipment.
Thanks to the previous questions, we learned a lot about buyer's wishes. To master all types of questions (open, alternative, closed, clarifying, guiding, stimulating), you need to gain knowledge and practice using it in an environment favorable to this. And then start using it at work.
What are the criteria for choosing a buyer? How do they differ from technical requests (size, material, color)?
At what point in the conversation is it better to present the product? What are the differences in the presentation of beds, mattresses, kitchens, wardrobes, sofas?
How present furniture correctly in terms of needs and purchasing motives.
Funnel of questions. How to ask challenging questions for sales of additional goods or for complex interior solution.
Step 2. Activation and/or creation of needs.
Since the era of total shortage remained in the last century, the buyer took a different position - “I have everything,” his needs were fulfilled. Why change a cozy sofa, a familiar phone and a reliable car if you are already used to them and they serve you well?! The fear of the unknown stops buyers from unnecessary spending of money. Especially now, in a crisis. But fortunately for the market, we are constantly striving to improve our “today” and exchange good for better.
Is it possible that a buyer will not need to purchase a new model?! Purely theoretically “Yes”. But, fortunately, this happens quite rarely. After all, most people strive to live easily, comfortably and beautifully, making their today more pleasant than “it was yesterday.” Therefore, the line for a new tablet model or a dress from a prestigious designer will never thin out.
But what if assortment of your furniture showroom Doesn't it amaze you with innovations in every collection? How to make ordinary furniture (which is sold by another hundred competitors) attractive to your client?
The art of creating needs will help your seller make your store and product unique in the eyes of the buyer.
As an example, I’ll tell you a story about I.V. Stalin and the Pobeda car.
The Generalissimo considered the car project, which already had the working title “Motherland”. Stalin didn't like the name. He asked just one question: “How much do you plan to sell your Motherland?” The creators of the car unanimously decided to rename it. Mind you, without any objections. So, Pobeda came off the production line.
Stalin's authority is not disputed, but pay attention to something else. How subtly, how brilliantly he led the designers to a different name. He didn't fight their objections because he didn't have to. He showed them the fact from a different angle.
Your sellers and buyers should do the same.
83% of buyers, coming to the store, have only a vague idea of the product they are looking for.
Therefore, if your sellers learn to activate or create needs for a product, which the buyer has not yet thought about, they will be able to use it in their work.
Factors influencing buyer behavior
We can influence buyer behavior if we create a need that he might not have thought about yet! But, again, only with delicate questions, so that the client himself remembers a situation when, in a seemingly familiar environment, he was missing something, something didn’t quite suit him.
“Do your clothes have enough space in this closet now? Are you planning to buy more? “- and the customer suddenly realizes how tired she is of rummaging through a crowded and uncomfortable closet in the morning, and we awaken in her with such a question a “dormant” desire to live more comfortably.
I will teach you how to create needs very soon at the Training Program for Professional Furniture Sellers - send your showroom administrators and salespeople to this effective program, and they will start selling more with new skills and abilities.
In what order should you ask questions to best identify customer needs?
How to ask problematic questions to sell an additional product or for a comprehensive interior solution.
How to determine the moment when you can move on to product presentation.
If you are not yet familiar with the program and conditions of participation in the Training Program for Professional Furniture Sellers, then all the information.
Have you already decided to participate in the training? Then fill out the application below.
How to participate in the Online Furniture Sales Professional Training Program:
Alena Kot, senior manager of MMKTs, is in touch:
“Send your application for participation right now by filling out the form below. I will call you within the next business day to clarify the number of participants you are sending to the Program and the most convenient form of payment for you. And I will be happy to answer all your questions"
Fill out the form and reserve a place for your company to participate
Reserve your place, because... Spaces may run out quickly.
Training one seller will cost you only 97 rubles. in a day!
Enter your details - a manager will call you back within the next working day and answer your questions. Book your seats, because... they can run out quickly.
- 10.1. Formation of needs in the process of personality formation.
- 10.2. Need satisfaction and mental reflection.
- 10.3. Control, manipulation, regulation
needs.
- 10.4. Forms and methods of influencing needs.
- 10.5. Formation of needs in the conditions of scientific and technological progress.
- 10.6. Formation of social needs as a socio-economic process.
Formation of needs in the process of personality development
The development of personality in the process of its formation takes place heterochronically and cyclically. Heterochrony in personality development is that individual components of the personality structure, such as emotions, needs and consciousness, do not all develop simultaneously, synchronously, during the life course, but either ahead of or behind each other. For example, an emotionally charged desire for monastic achievements at an early age may outstrip the development of general religious consciousness.
Cyclicity in personality development is not a simple completed period, which would mean the repeated return of any ability to its starting point, but a period that occurs each time at a new, higher level. Thus, in the example we have given, the early manifested tendency towards monasticism turns in subsequent periods of life into a ladder of spiritual ascent, which occurs cyclically. Cycles can be separate periods of life, marked by new spiritual achievements. Each person knows from his own experience that, for example, the meaning of holidays located in the annual circle changes in one’s perception throughout one’s entire life - from childhood to adulthood and beyond. All this means that values of an increasing order become the subject of the individual’s needs. At the same time, the general trend in the development of needs is its transition from external, earthly and transitory goods to internal, spiritual and eternal goods.
The needs of a child and the needs of an adult differ significantly. The child's needs are characterized by a simplified structure, less variety and are characterized by instability and weakness of control over impulses, drives and desires on the part of consciousness. Approximately the same characteristics can be noted for the needs of adolescents. However, the needs of adolescents are significantly
dramatized form, they are tense and require immediate satisfaction. The needs of adolescents and young adults are more complex, more subtly differentiated and, to a lesser extent than those of adults, are subject to the control of consciousness. A characteristic feature of the needs of children, adolescents and young adults is emotional instability, which manifests itself in the so-called instinct of the moment. The instinct of the moment is such a personality orientation when “close” motivation predominates and “distant” motivation is poorly developed. This inability to foresee the long-term consequences of one's actions and the tendency to have no other guide than immediate impulses doom the personality to constantly remain in a low and primitive state. The instinct of the moment manifests itself not only in children, but also in adults. The lower the level of personality development, the more susceptible it is to temptation by the instinct of the moment.
In the process of development and formation of personality, the transformation of primary and primitive needs into needs of an increasingly higher order occurs. The formation of higher needs occurs along an ascending line. Against the backdrop of the fading of previous needs that once existed, for example, games and hobbies, new, more relevant and significant needs are being formed. Higher needs modify in their development the worldview and entire life structure of the individual and impart to him that degree of universalism, internal transformation and integrity, which constitutes the integral designation of all moral achievements of the individual on his path to perfection.