Mrs. Harris wonders why her Jim gets such a bang out of driving a small ball around a four mile golf course. Jim is baffled because Mary feels she has to have a new hat for every affair they attend. And Dave Watson tries to understand the motives which lead his potential customers to buy the Sunset short-wave radio he is selling.
Every day each of us endeavors to understand why people act the way they do. Reasons which move others to do unusual things often do not seem to make sense to us.
Let us take a look at one of the most commonplace motives that of hunger, as a first step toward trying to understand more complex motives, especially buying motives that result in sales.
A newborn baby is mainly occupied with satisfying his need for food. He cries wriggles clench his hands, seeking something to satisfy his hunger. His crying brings his mother and food. Once his hunger is satisfied, his behavior changes. His original need and the drive to get food have been satisfied.
After a few months the baby develops other needs besides food, water, air, rest, and avoiding pain. The child now cries if he is left alone. He has acquired the need for his mother’s presence, her attention, and her coddling approval. He now feels a social need as well as persistent physical needs.
As the child grows, he matures. He becomes a social animal. He lives among other people. He acquires a sense of belonging and seeks the respect of others. He wants to be accepted by his own kind, to have companionship. Later still, he wants to find a sexual partner.
While some social needs are learned, others are closely related to inherited tendencies.
Up in the North woods, five miles from camp, an Indian guide at the end of a day’s hunt will lead his party through the dark back to camp and the evening meal. Now you and I usually find our way along a certain route by recognized or remembered landmarks by noting a fork of the road at a schoolhouse or the second traffic light in a village. But the Indian finds his way back by an inherited trait made keen by training and the ever-present challenge for survival.
Even today, after his long trek from savagery to what is known as civilization man retains elemental drives: (I) the urge to preserve life and well-being, (2) the urge to provide for the continuance of the race, and (3) the urge to belong to a social unit and keep that unit together.
It is difficult to list the many complex social needs that have arisen from these three basic driving urges. As a creative salesman, you are principally interested in people’s needs and their resulting drives, called buying motives. These driving forces emerge as the individual matures.
Drives arise from the urge to satisfy a need or avoid pain or anxiety, and they are associated with emotions, pleasant or unpleasant. All drives are flooded with feeling. The individual is aroused to activity. He seeks something. He feels frustrated if he is opposed or kept from getting his desire.
