Even Technical People Buy on Emotion

Composed in Kitchener, Ontario, Canada--

Recently, I spoke at a Canadian Optimist District conference for a terrific gentleman named Mark Kerr. 

Early adopters of the new are annoyed with Apple for lowering the price of the iPphone by $200 within only ten weeks of the product's debut.  People who rush out to buy new Apple products are big Mac fans and huge cheerleaders for the company.  They were treated rudely, but perhaps their biggest problem is lack of good judgment.

These folks should be embarrassed for camping out at retail stores the night before, tripping over themselves to obtain a product that was guaranteed to be cheaper and better within a few months.

No matter.  This sort of behavior is proof that people often make purchase decisions based on emotion rather than reason.  The iPhone example proves the maxim is true even for technical people who purchase technical products.

Television commercials for the iPhone are slick and fun.  The versions I've seen don't give a single specification about a product that is essentially a computer. 

When I deliver sales training, I always remind audiences that people seldom make purchase decisions based solely on price.  This is even true for technical products.