The 7 Core Human Drives That Your Small Business Product Must Serve

You are in business to sell something. You are hoping that people will want to give you money in exchange for what you are selling.

That won't likely happen unless what you are selling serves one of the seven core human drives of all humanity.

People are, at the core, the same all over the world. They want the same seven basic things. The only difference is in variations of culture, taste, color, size, delivery, approach, and so on, of those seven things. Yet they all want the same seven things.

You can say that almost all human needs, wants, and desires are connected to these seven basic things. That is why it is important that what you are selling connects and relates to these seven things, or you will have very little chance of making any sales.

What are those seven things?

1. To feel. We all want to feel something. Anything. Emotion. Any emotion, whether it is positive or negative, is better than no emotion at all. We live our entire lives driven by emotion. Whatever you are selling should deliberately make people feel something.

2. To defend and protect. We like to protect ourselves, our loved ones, our things, our country, our ideas, our feelings, our honor, and more. We are instinctively driven to protect. If you can connect whatever you are selling with this instinct of protection, you will have raised your chances of making more sales.

3. To bond, love and feel loved. This one is easy. We all want to belong. We all want to feel that someone loves us. And we love to love. If you can connect whatever you are selling with this core human drive, you will have again raised your chances of making more sales.

4. To acquire, possess, and collect. This drive is so manic that it dictates entire economies. Consumerism. Sometimes we even take it too far. People just want to have stuff. People want to posses not just things, but even other people. We feel safe, important even, when we collect, acquire, and posses. If you can connect what you are selling with this natural instinct, you will have raised your chances of making more sales.

5. To learn or satisfy curiosity. We are curious. We are nosy. And we love to know. That is why you buy books, watch TV, and use the Internet so much. You can't help yourself. Again, if you can connect what you are selling with this core drive of all humanity, you will have raised your chances of making more sales.

6. To seek status. People go to extraordinary lengths for the sake of status. They build empires, kill each other, study for that doctorate that takes forever to complete, marry from certain families and not others, wear brands, and much, much more. Society is an invisible ladder. That ladder is called status. Everybody is trying, in one way or another, in one area of life or another, to climb that ladder and be higher than other people. Of course, some people care about financial status, while others don't. Others care about artistic status while others don't. We don't all care about the same kind of status, but we all care about some kind of status. If you can find out what kind of status is important to your target customers and connect what you are selling with that status, you will have improved your chances of making a sale.

7. To avoid pain, discomfort or hustle. Another easy one. We don't want pain, we don't want discomfort, and we don't want to be bothered or to struggle. What kind of pain, discomfort or hustle is your product saving people?

So now we can summarize the strategy. Connect to as many of these drives as possible, and then do a good job of telling your customer how your product connects to those drives. That's it.