As in the case of needs, most psychologists classify human motives into two categories-biological and social.

The biological motives are considered to be those which are natural, that is, within the bodily structure. These motives would include such things as hunger, thirst, and sex.

The social motives are considered to be those motives which have been acquired through environment and relations with other people. Here we are concerned primarily with the appeals to the social motives.

There is little agreement as to the exact classification of motives. To make classification even more difficult, the terms used vary in meaning with different people, so there is found to be some overlapping of motives. The following motives, nevertheless, are generally considered to be the most important:

I. Security

2. Social approval

3. Love and affection

4. Accumulation of wealth

5. Feeling of importance

6. "Live up to what other people expect."                   TOP

The motives that impel people to buy will vary in intensity from person to person and at different times within the same person. For example, prospects in general will act one way when economic conditions are good and in quite a different way in periods of depression, when cash is scarce and they lack the feeling of economic security.

An appeal to a group of motives might be successful in selling one prospect and yet fail miserably when selling another. Your job is to determine which motives are likely to exist in your prospect and then to try to determine which are the dominant ones. By constantly appealing to your prospect's dominant motives, sales and repeat sales are more likely to follow.

Let the prospect's buying motives help you sell. Knowing the buying motives that lead a prospect to action is of little value unless you can make consistent use of them in your selling interviews. People don't buy a product or service; they buy the satisfaction and benefits the product will give them. Seldom will a prospect buy an insurance policy just to have insurance-he buys because of the benefits insurance can give him.

 Buying motives, then, can be applied to the sale of personal insurance by developing a significant relationship between insurance and the prospect's needs! wants, and values. Since a prospect seldom buys on logic alone, this step must appeal to both the prospect's logic and emotion.

Let's look at some of the specific ways in which you can let your prospect's buying motives help you make your sale.

Security motive                   TOP

This is one of the most powerful of all the buying motives, and is particularly applicable to insurance selling. A prospect wants both physical and mental security. Physical security is represented by your prospect's need for clothes, food, and a roof over head. It is the security of good health, adequate rest, comfort, and relaxation. The desire for mental security is an equally important motivating force. Your prospect will go to great lengths to obtain peace of mind, happiness, and contentment. The future at best is uncertain and represents a fear to many people.

Through insurance you offer the best solution to the problem of replacing this fear and uncertainty. We live in a dollar economy. By guaranteeing dollars in the future, when they are needed the most, you are providing your prospect with the means to have the money for the physical security of food, clothing, shelter, freedom from work in old age! and medical care. By knowing that the future financial needs of the family are provided for, your prospect will have freedom from sorry and strain, and confidence in the future-both important to mental security. How do you use this strong motive of security in your selling? How do you weave it into your sales presentation?

This plan will give you peace of mind because your family will always have a nice home, clothes as good as the neighbors', and plenty of good food on the table. In addition, if you live, it will help you enjoy a dignified and carefree retirement.

This plan will help relieve you of future money worries. The Life Insurance Needs Analysis will have no financial hardships even if you are not here to protect them. No matter what happens they will be cared for. The values built up in this policy will always be ready to help you in an hour of need.

 Social approval motive

In classifying general buying motives, it was pointed out that there would inevitably be some overlapping of motives because the terms used mean slightly different things to different people. In appealing to a prospect's desire for social approval you are combining three closely related buying motives:

Your prospects, like most human beings, have an intense desire to be "wanted." They must feel needed by others and valuable as persons. They must have reassurance from the people whose judgment they respect. They want to believe that what they do will be approved by others. They want the consideration, regard, and even the admiration of their friends. As explained earlier in this chapter, most needs are fulfilled through other people. Most of your prospects have a definite desire to be with other people. Through affiliation with others, they seek recognition and attention.

These are all strong motives, and if you will learn to recognize them and use them! they can greatly strengthen your sales power.

People tend to seek preferred social status through their purchases, and they also try to conform to the existing patterns of behavior of their group. They ask themselves such questions as.

How do you weave this motive of social approval into your sales

presentation?

I recently had the privilege of working with your friend __________ Our Life Insurance Needs Analysis service was of great

value to him, and he felt you might be interested in seeing it.

We've introduced a service, The Life Insurance Needs Analysis, which has been of value to many men in this area...

Love and affection motive                   TOP

There is little that need be said about the motivating power of rove and affection. The love of a parent for a child is one of the most noble of all human characteristics. There is almost no limit to the sacrifices a father and mother will make when they are convinced it will benefit their children.

Poets and writers for centuries have extolled the power of love as a motivating force on young couples. What force, other than the love for one's mate, would make a young bachelor eagerly give up his carefree existence to become a husband and father with all of the worries and responsibilities of supporting a family?

The motive of love and affection is not restricted just to other persons, but also includes places and things. The motivating force of love for one's country or home has caused many people to give up willingly not only all they own, but even life itself.

It has frequently been said that the reason people buy insurance is that they love someone. Although there are many other reasons, certainly the motivation of love and affection is one of the most compelling, and one that you will want to recognize.

What better expression of love can you give to your family than to guarantee them the security of their own home, good food, and at least a few of the luxuries to which you have accustomed them?

 Should you be out of the picture, ____ your wife's love and affection for the children would be more critical than ever. With this plan you can guarantee that she wouldn't be forced to work. Instead she would have the time she needs to care for your children.

Accumulate wealth motive                   TOP

Although similar in many respects! the desire for security and the desire to accumulate wealth are two separate motivating forces. In some cases the desire to accumulate wealth is motivated by the desire for security. These people strive for wealth, not just for the sake of having wealth, but because wealth to them represents the means to security.

 On the other hand, there are examples of people in almost every community who, in spite of having accumulated more wealth than they could possibly need for the security of themselves and their families, are working harder than ever to continue to accumulate more wealth. Such action results not from just one motive, but from the interaction of many motives. We can presume, then, that other motives, such as the desire to excel and ego recognition, also have their effect. However, just the desire to accumulate wealth in itself is a powerful motivating force. This characteristic is also demonstrated in the desire to gain an advantage, to make a profit, and in the pride of ownership. This desire to accumulate is shown by the number of people who are collectors of stamps, antiques, old cars, or coins. Certainly the appeal to this motive is one that can be used frequently.

By completing your plan which provides for your family's needs upon your death, you are accumulating benefits which may be used for emergencies or business opportunities.

This valuable contract is one of the finest pieces of private property you can own. It will be a substantial possession.

With this plan you will own more than a piece of paper; you will own all the things we said it would do for The Life Insurance Needs Analysis.

"Feeling of importance" motive

Many psychologists believe that the desire to feel important is one of the most powerful of all motivating forces. We all want to be appreciated as unique individuals. We love to feel important! and we like to have people around us who give us this feeling of importance.                   TOP

There are hundreds of examples you can see every day of the importance of this motive. The child who "shows off" in front of company, the wife who spends the better part of a day preparing an outstanding dinner lust so that she can enjoy the praise of her family, a man not used to public speaking who will go through the ordeal of preparing and delivering an after dinner talk so that he can he considered a person of influence these are just a few of the many examples of the need for a feeling of importance.

 A bellboy who makes a point of calling you by name as he shows you to your hotel room! the clothing salesman who compliments you on your good taste, the head waiter who makes a fuss over you when you enter the dining room, and the airline that actually rolls out a red carpet for the passengers on certain luxury flights, have learned that it is lust good business to make the customer feel important.

Your prospect's need to feel important is a powerful force that can work either for or against you. To wound a person's ego or to take away the feeling of importance is a sure way to lose friends and alienate people. For example, people nearly always feel that their actions are logical. Therefore any criticism will usually be resented as a reflection on their motives.

By appealing to your prospects' ego, and feeling of importance, you are placing them on a pedestal. You are appealing to a wish to accomplish something worthwhile, to be recognized for achievements, to be useful to someone, and to be held in high esteem. These are all wrapped up Ln this powerful need for importance

______, only people with character buy life insurance to provide for their families the way you are with this The Life Insurance Needs Analysis plan. You can he sure that your family will hold you in high esteem for the foresight you have shown in purchasing this plan.

As a father, you are a very important part of your children's lives. This plan assures that, even it you are not here, they will be able to have all of the advantages that you want for them.

"Live up to what others expect" motive                   TOP

In a child, this motive can be expressed as "hero worship." In adults, the motive of riving up to what others expect is a desire to conform to group demands. There is a fear of being conspicuous and of being the object of ridicule. As a result there is an urge to be one of a group, to follow the crowd by doing what it does. This is often nothing more than "keeping up with the Joneses."

Although many outstanding sales representatives make good use of this motive, it is not as widely used as perhaps it should be. The use of testimonials is a practical way to put this motive to work for you If other people are buying insurance from you, and "it is the thing to do," then there is that extra motive for your prospect also to buy from you.

 This motive is also important in developing "nests" or related prospect groups. If you are the "insurance pro" for your prospects' co-workers or friends, then there is a certain amount of group acceptance in doing business with you. One of the benefits of a Referred Lead prospect is that you have the advantage of this extra power of motivation.

My clients include many of your friends and neighbors (or the fellows at the Blank Manufacturing Company or the top business leaders of our town).

 You probably know many of these people personally. (Show appropriate list of your policy owners in your Presentation Book.)

We have introduced a service which has proven to be of value to other people in positions similar to yours and which might be valuable to you.

Prospecting-A people activity

In most cases, you will find prospects who love their families and have a high measure of self-respect. On the other hand, you must condition you self to meeting many prospects with negative attitudes and an unwillingness to accept financial responsibility This is all just part of the job of being a sales representative.

As you go about your daily work of finding, meeting, studying, and interviewing prospects for your insurance subject, keep a few additional facts in mind:

1. Your prospect's own problems are of paramount importance. An emergency in the next county won't cause as much personal concern as a cut on the finger. Be sure you relate everything you say to your prospect.

2. Your sales talk must never be over the prospect's head; if it is, your ideas will not be understood. Conversely, nothing is more fatal in attempting to gain the prospects' confidence, good will, and signature than to "talk down" to them or below their mental capacity.

3. Finally, as you look at this intricate human being your prospect consider that personal motivations are the positive drives that can stimulate individuals to action. They may also have a strong tendency! however, for inaction because of a natural resistance to change. They may prefer seeking an easy way out, escaping from the hard facts of life, or they may lack the will power to continue a savings program. This set of contradictions within the same individual is what makes the jab of the sales representative such a fascinating one.

As you continue your study of your prospects, you will want to make a determined effort to constantly sharpen your powers of observation and communication. In this way you will be able to seek out the dominating motive or motives of your prospects.