APES, Why People Buy

Let’s get real, monkeys don’t make you money, right? Could you really use apes to increase your income? APES is an acronym of 4 reasons why people buy things.

Appearance.

Performance.

Economical.

Security and Safety.

Pick any product people buy and you’ll see these are their motives. APES! *If you want a phone because it looks good, that’s appearance.*If you buy the phone because it’s a new version and faster, that’s performance.*If you buy a phone because you get a better deal on your calls and texts, that is an economical decision.*If you buy a new phone because your old one is failing you, you’ve dropped it in the toilet too many times, that is security—you want dependability.

Your customers will have APES with possibly one of the motives supporting their main motive. Maybe it’s primarily for appearance but they also want performance. Every day people spend money to improve their APES.

APES is the why: why are they shopping? If your customer didn’t want to improve their situation in some way, they wouldn’t be shopping.

The question then is what do they want and why do they want it? You have to find out what they want and what they will pay for today, not just what they want. What is the dominant buying motive? APES. A motive is a desire that causes a person to act. You should be looking for the commanding thing that causes your buyer to act. Be clear on this before you demonstrate your product and close. Always have APES on your mind!