Most of us would agree that part of the reason that most people struggle in the area of personal finance and money is because they buy things that they don’t need. I’m also sure that we all would agree that the advertisement industry is geared toward making people purchase things they don’t need. The next time you watch Tell-lies-vision, make note of how many commercials you see, and then calculate the percentage of them that are advertising something that you need!
There are those who have a serious problem with these big time advertising corporations that “prey” on the innocent. Then there are others who feel that they are in business like everyone else and that it is the customers’ job not to be foolish.
I won’t get into it either way, but as a financial person, it is my job to point out some things to consumers that may help them understand what is going on.
One of the biggest purchases that people make in their lives outside of a house is a car. And I could do an entire article on just purchasing one. Cars can be very cheap, or, on the other hand… they can cost a lot of money. But, in order to make the best decision on what car you should buy, you first have to analyze and pinpoint the purpose of what a car is for. If you don’t know why you should be buying a car, then how can you buy the right one!
Many people overlook this. So we must first do a little research. A quick search to an internet dictionary, www.allwords.com, can lead us to an answer. According to All Words, a car is, “A vehicle that moves independently, steered by a driver mostly for personal transportation.”
Therefore, the purpose of a car is to transport a person from one place to another. This can come in handy, because for most people, it would be very difficult to walk everywhere they had to go. Now cars may do a lot of different things, but the most important thing is transportation.
What is the purpuse of bringing up the definition of a car? The purpose of a car is NOT to sit and eat dinner while watching TV or a DVD and all of these other things that make cars cost an arm and a leg.
Features or Benefits
When I first got into the financial services industry, I was taught sales. One of the things that you are taught is that in order to be a good salesperson you have to know the difference between a feature and a benefit. Why is this?
You see, for the vast majority of people, if given a choice between buying a regular TV for $50 and buying a $70 TV that can toast one slice of bread every 10 minutes, would choose the $50 TV. While the $70 TV may have more “features” to it than the regular TV, it certainly doesn’t have more “benefits.” Most people already have a toaster that can make two to four slices in a few minutes. So as a person in sales, you have to know how to sell benefits rather than features because you will go broke trying to sell $70 TV/Toasters (unless of course you can convince them that the toaster is a “benefit”).
For the most part, the only person who would pay an extra $20 for a TV that slow cooks toast is:
1. A person who is crazy,
2. An individual who is SO RICH, that $20 is a grain of salt to them (many of them still won’t do it), or
3. An individual who has low self esteem and wants to “look” like #2″ in front of everybody, since their own being is just not good enough to impress the right people.
So the big wigs who study human behavior know how to take this to the next level. They know how to move society towards numbers #1 & #3 with imagery and distractions to the point in which you will make irrational purchasing decisions that are based on “features” instead of “benefits.” This will ultimately keep you from reaching #2. And since most people’s self worth is based on status, which is based on the amount of money a person has, if a person can never reach #2, then they will always be trapped inside #3… And THAT may even make them do #1!
To read the conclusion of this article, you can go to A Good New Years Resolution. You can also subscribe to the free monthly online newsletter and get valuable information on personal finance.
Read important knowledge in the sphere of parenting classes – please make sure to study this web page. The times have come when concise information is really within one click, use this possibility.
