Power, Affiliation and Achivement
by Perry Belcher on May 19, 2009
in Marketing Triggers
Ever wonder what really motivates your customers, at least those customers that are seeking success? Here’s the answer. There are only three real motivators that drive people toward positive action. The emotional tri-fecta…
#1 Power. We all want to be more powerful. Men want to rule the world. Women want more independence and even kids seek power over their playmates and sometimes their parents.
#2 Affiliation. We all wanna hang out with the cool kids. Why? Because we know by the people who hang around us were we really belong in life. The better our friends the better we are it’s really that simple.
#3 Achivement. Ever have a day when you felt you acomplished nothing all day? Sucked huh? We all want to achive things, it’s hard wired in us.
So what’s my point. Your products need to benefit your customers in all three ways to be home runs. Yes, you can achive limited success touching on one or two of these points but you are capping yourself out without the trifecta
Go ahead, try it!
Agree? Disagree? Tell me below. I want to hear from you…
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You forgot sex. Would that be power or affiliation? Or I guess it could even be achievement depending how you look at it. You know, it kind of combines all three. Maybe that’s why sex sells…
Hey Carl, You right…all three kinda point there too. – Perry
I agree with you about the trifecta. But how do you close a sale using those motivators? I am looking for terminology.
Love your website. I bookmarked it as a valuable resource.
Perry I think your right on target. Realizing all individuals are coming from different places based upon the history from which they have lived, at our core we all want to reach for more.
We truly aspire to become better than our current circumstances no matter where we are in the food chain of civilization.
To not want more, or be more is a signal we have given up on ourselves. Unfortantely, the vast majority have done that very thing.
As an example, Trump is an icon we love to hate. Not for any specific reason really, other than the power, affiliates, and achievements we see in him, that remains absent in us.
Power on dude, your on your way…..
Perry, I couldn’t agree more! great perspective.
Perry–
As usual u’ve trigger thought and action! Awesome!
May I offer even one level deeper that may help us to change the presentation of our “services” to satisfy these emotional motivators.
1. Power >> Control. Most want to have control of their lives, stresses, frustrations, abundance which would then possibly give them the power to make better decisions
2. Affiliation >> Belonging or Connection. Hanging out is the first step, but really feeling like you belong or have connected with “the” kids is what I believe we ALL seek, want AND need! Hanging isn’t enough!
3. Achievement >> Difference. Making a difference in our world is really the achievement everyone is looking for. No matter how I define my world…I would like to know I made a difference with my achievements.
Thanks!
It’s fascinating to me that what works for ‘customers’ also works for ‘donors’(I work with a non-profit).
Of course, this about doubles my reading list!
Great post, though. Thanks!
What about ‘making a significant contribution’ ? – which is more altruistic than ‘achievement’ & seems missing from your list.
There’s an interesting book called Driven by Paul Lawrence and Nitin Nohria which attempts to establish a sociological and evolutionary foundation for 4 fundamental human drives. Your motivations hit three of them right on the head:
Power = the drive to acquire
Affiliation = the drive to bond
Achievement = the drive to learn (to a degree, achievement can also be an acquisition drive)
The fourth drive the book establishes is the drive to defend, which is where fear plays in as a motivational technique. I definitely prefer using the other three; they’re more constructive.
It’s an interesting read for anyone interested in digging deeper into the research for why these motivational techniques work well.