9 Reasons That People Buy (Or Not)

You might not know this about Napoleon Hill, but he trained over 30,000 salespeople during his lifetime.

Crazy, right?

And one of the things he actually wrote about quite a bit… was selling.

In fact, in his book, Secrets of Master Salesmanship, he outlines 9 basic motives that people have for buying — and I thought I’d share them with you today!

If you’re a marketer… or a business owner… or a salesperson…

Take notes! 🗒️

He writes, “Any salesman who sells anything, regardless of the field of selling in which he is engaged, makes use of one or more of these basic motives.”

1. The Emotion of Love — “The man who can recall who he used this motive to sell himself to the woman of his choice will have an excellent example of master salesmanship. And doubtlessly, he will remember that the mental attitude was positive with plenty of enthusiasm while he was presenting his sales talk.”

2. The Emotion of Sex — “The salesman who knows how to combine these two motivates and properly play upon them, sex and love, is well on the way to becoming a master salesman.”

3. The Desire For Monetary Gain — “It has been said that these three motivates practically rule the world. This statement is probably a gross underestimate of the truth.”

4. The Desire for Self Preservation — “This motive is the basis for the sale of many types of services or products intended to maintain sound physical health. It is the major motivating force which sends millions of people to doctors and serves to help market a great variety of medicine, vitamins, and health foods.”

5. The Desire For Freedom of Body & Mind — “This motive is the foundation on which all forms of entertainment are sold. It is the motive of major importance on which to base the sale of our American way of life, since the privileges of freedom is our greatest asset. It is also the basis for sales presentations of all labor saving devices in the homes, the office, the industrial plant, and elsewhere.”

6. The Desire For Self Expression — “This is the motive which enables the teacher of public speaking and dramatic expressions to thrive.”

7. The Desire For Perpetuation of Life After Death — “On this motive is founded practically all religious activity.”

8. The Emotion of Anger — “Master salesman sometimes use this motive in order to get action from a noncommittal type of prospective buyer who hesitates to either say yes or no. It is also widely used by politicians in selling themselves into public offices, by arousing the anger of people against their opponents.”

9. The Emotion of Fear — “This is the grandfather of all the motives which influence people in so many ways all throughout life. There are seven basic fears. Poverty. Ill health. Loss of love of someone. Criticism. Loss of liberty. Old age. Death.”

This gets to the core psychology of why people buy…

Which if you know me… you know I’m obsessed with that and have been since I was selling potato guns as a kid haha.

Save this email and review it before the next time you need to sell something! 🙂

- Russell Brunson

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