More Steps 35-37

Wednesday, November 08, 2006
By Walt F.J. Goodridge
Special to the Saipan Tribune


The only way to take control of your life, raise your standard of living and move beyond merely surviving is to create your own unique product or service that you offer to increasing numbers of people in exchange for the things of value that you desire. This simple formula applies to countries as well as people. A self-sufficient economy has its own products or services of value to export to the world. Similarly, a self-sufficient individual has something of value to exchange in the global marketplace. That thing of value is based on your natural talent, skill, or interest—in other words, your passion!

The following is a continuing excerpt from a previously unreleased book entitled The 100 Steps Necessary for Business Success by Walt F.J. Goodridge. It is provided exclusively to Saipan Tribune readers!

STEP 35: REPACKAGE for success.


It’s said that you only have to be 10 percent different from the competition to be perceived as radically innovative. Of course, it’s hard to quantify a 10 percent difference between two slices of pizza. But the point is that many seemingly new products are simply the repackaging of things that already exist. It’s easier than you think to create your own product, if you think in terms of repackaging.

One company simply added a brand name to MSG (Monosodium Glutamate) and called it seasoning salt. Once company added fragrance to talc Mg3Si4O10(OH)2 and call it baby powder. One savvy entrepreneur called a slinky wire machine coil by a catchy name and a new toy sensation was born! All examples of repackaging existing items.

One of my most popular creations was a music industry calendar that I developed a few years ago. At the time, I was Wouldn’t it be cool to have a wall calendar of all the important music industry events conveniently accessible and always visible? Now, the information I needed for the calendar already existed and was published on a week-to-week basis in the “events” section of a popular music industry magazine. It’s a fact of the industry that most of the popular events are recurring, and usually planned years in advance. So, I visited the publisher’s offices and purchased all the issues from the previous year. Since each event listing also displayed a contact number, I was able to call the organizers of all the events to determine the when, where and how much of the coming year’s event. I compiled all the information, sent it off to the printing company, and voilá, a new product was created, in all its repackaged glory!

STEP 36: UNDERSTAND why people buy.


Everyone on the planet is seeking something. Everyone on the planet is a potential customer. Therefore, all customers you will ever encounter are seeking something. Once you understand the nature of what people are seeking, you will possess the secret of why people buy. In short, all of humanity is in search of

1. affection
2. acceptance
3. assurance
4. confidence
5. companionship
6. convenience
7. praise
8. recognition
9. hope
10. guidance
11. knowledge
12. security
13. self-actualization
14. spiritual well-being
15. spiritual guidance
16. peace of mind
17. food and drink
18. shelter
19. strength
20. direction
21. entertainment
22. healing
23. pleasure
24. self-improvement

STEP 37: CATER to emotions.

Humans are emotional creatures. When it comes to purchase decisions, people decide emotionally, and then seek to justify based on reason. Yes, emotion is what moves people to action. People are moved to action by many emotions. From my experience people are ultimately moved either by fear or love, or a combination of both. In very broad terms you can think of all action as stemming from either a “fear of loss” (the avoidance of pain) or a “love of self & others” (the pursuit of pleasure). Scientists, behavioral experts and psychologists have all proven that people tend to do more to avoid losing something than they would to gain something. A very famous investment consultant put it into quite clear terms when she asked a crowd she was addressing whether they would work harder to save $15,000 or to avoid losing $15,000 they had. Most responded that they would act more aggressively to avoid the loss! Fear provides a very powerful incentive for most people. Note how many advertisements include words like, “limited time only”, “don’t miss out”, “act now, or else...”.

But whether it’s love, fear, sympathy, sadness, or anger, it is our emotional attachment to a particular thing which influences our desire to buy it, get it, have it, own it and keep it.

Advertisers who link happy feelings to cigarettes, sex to drinking alcohol, sadness and sympathy to giving to a charity, love to trying a long distance service are all using the power of emotion in moving people to action.

But even though people are similar in many respects, they are also quite different in many areas. It pays, therefore, to know a bit about the different personalities of people you will encounter.

Next time in the 100 Steps, we’ll discuss Steps 38 to 40.

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Until next week, remember, success is a journey, not a destination!

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