NEED vs WANT

I have a funny thing happen this morning.

We need a conference phone to be connected to our VOIP system in the conference room. I contacted our VOIP guy – and said “I need a price on a phone” and meanwhile, went in search of on the internet. I found the one we need, a 7936 by CISCO, then went searching for prices. I found the prices pretty steady around $750 – but then located a Refurb (perfect for what we need!) at $380.

I asked the VOIP guy “will this work”. He tells me there’s a new Cisco 7938 available now. I looked at it – and quickly realized it didn’t make much difference to us – since we use this thing about 3 or 4 times per week – and really don’t need much more than what we selected.

I asked “Is it worth paying twice as much”? This was a more loaded question than he might have realized, but I asked it anyway. His response was “You drive a very nice sports car – that you don’t NEED… but you have it anyway. This is the same thing”. A pretty good answer, but… he didn’t realize this.

We humans are very complex creatures. The fact is – for something we NEED – a Conference phone, food, supplies, even a “regular” car – we will pay as little as possible. However, if we want something – we’ll spend more and get the one we REALLY want.

Understanding the difference has been something that Business people have worked towards for years. That’s why you’ve seen million $ bra’s at Victoria’s Secret, and Bling iphone cases costing 10s of thousands.

It also falls in line with what I’ve said recently about gear costing too much.

Companies now are buying what they NEED but manufacturers are still trying to appeal to what those buyers may WANT… bad timing on that!

Marcel