businesstimesnow 
Over the weekend I went to the County Fair. It wasn’t very crowded this year. Between the lingering impact of the recession and the fact that the temperature was lower than usual here on the Gulf in Florida, buyers were scarce.
I particularly like going through the indoor part of the fair because you get to see all the unusual knickknacks and odds-and-ends people are selling. It also always offers you a great lesson in salesmanship.
The County Fair: A Lesson in Salesmanship
For instance, of the hundred or so displays people had set up, roughly 40% of them were selling homemade arts and crafts and home-business types of ideas. There were signs you hang up in your living room or outside on your deck (I bought one that said “The Man Cave,” to hang on the wall in my office)… decorative license plates… things you put on display in your living room… candles you can buy and then resell… and things like dips and chips and all kinds of snacks you could order. Most of these booths weren’t very busy. They had a steady stream of one or two customers, but that’s about it.
Unusual Products at the Fair: What’s Selling and What’s Not
Then you had larger items like wild-looking shower stalls… big flag poles to mount outside in front of your home… furniture and chairs that vibrate… and hand-painted bar stools. They even had loads of jewelry dealers there selling everything from costume stuff to fancy belt buckles, and gold and silver, too. These booths were all virtually empty. But by FAR, the two most crowded booths were the two different booths selling teeth-whitening.
The Secret Behind the Crowded Teeth-Whitening Booths
The teeth-whitening sections had twelve to fifteen dental chairs all laid out in a circle, and for $35 bucks you could sit in one and get your teeth whitened, right there on the spot. None of these chairs were empty for very long. People were pretty much rushing into these two stations as if they were wet, and getting inside sheltered them from the rain or something.
I’m sure this is a lot cheaper than you can do this for at a dentist, but there again, I doubt one treatment would last very long. But the point is, and this is something most entrepreneurs don’t think about often enough… people spend money on the things they WANT to buy, and not necessarily the things they “need” to buy. Or the things you think they need to buy or the things you think they should buy.
People Buy What They Want, Not What They Need
And if you go back as far as 1937, to Napoleon Hill’s “Think And Grow Rich,” Hill talked about the “seven major positive emotions.” The emotion of “desire” is listed in there. The desire to be wanted by others has always been a huge emotional trigger, and selling into this desire is almost a no-lose proposition.
The Emotional Trigger of Desire in Sales
So it’s not surprising that selling something that makes you more attractive is going to be such a hit with the crowds. This is exactly what happened with these dental whitening treatments.
Remember, just because you make something, or just because you think it’s cute… doesn’t mean someone’s going to buy it. And this is the problem so many businesses have — they just aren’t selling things that are in high demand.
Why Some Businesses Fail to Sell What People Want
In this situation, no matter HOW good your marketing is, you are pretty much doomed. If you want to make a lot of money, the formula’s easy. You just need to sell things people want to buy. Makes sense if you think about it, right? But omit the “thinking” part and, well… you know where this ends up going, don’t you?
The Simple Formula for Making Money in Business
The key takeaway here is simple: if you want to succeed, focus on selling what people actually want to buy, not just what you think is a good idea. It may sound too obvious, but far too many businesses fail because they miss the point of fulfilling a true customer desire. Find the demand, and your sales will follow.
Conclusion
In the end, the success of a business lies in understanding the needs and desires of the customer. By focusing on products that fulfill emotional desires — like the teeth-whitening treatments — entrepreneurs can ensure they are not just selling products, but offering solutions to what people really want.
So, remember: it’s not just about what you’re selling, but how well you understand the desires of your target audience.
