What do People Buy?

by

John Stephen Mauldin, MLA (not AI-assisted)

All right reserved, copyright © 2025

Suppose you knew what people buy.

Not what color or styles will be in vogue for the next season, but what people buy universally. What people buy, period!

With that knowledge, you could become remarkably wealthy and influential. Your understanding of people's motivation to buy would be in demand by every corporate board room around the world.

So, let's begin by asking a simple question: have you ever met a salesperson?

What an inane question, you might say. You might tell stories of a used car man who sold you an overpriced lemon, an insurance man who sold you a worthless policy, or a door-to-door salesperson who sold you a vacuum cleaner that fell apart the first time you used it. I suggest that those were reprehensible thieves, not sales professionals.

The Oxford English Dictionary defines a sale as "the transfer of property for money or credit." Implicit within that definition is a bona fide exchange of equal value, and based on that notion of a sale, perhaps you have met only a few legitimate salespeople, for a true sale is an act of good faith.

Ironically, those who swindle others under the guise of selling usually fail and become impoverished. Cutting corners and misrepresenting their product or service to make a fast buck eventually makes the least money.

By contrast, the selling professional values the welfare of his customers, so his career is an expression of goodwill. Over time, he will make a fortune by building a reputation of trustworthiness. Thus, rather than those who are out to get rich quick, it is the honest seller who thinks in long-range goals who is the true profiteer. The ancient story of the tortoise and the hare teaches us that "steady plodding brings prosperity."

In addition to how we think, we project integrity by the way we dress. If we wear neat, clean, quality clothing and use excellent personal grooming, we begin to express the appearance of honesty; if we care enough about ourselves to dress well, others unconsciously assume we will care about them. However, eye contact, excellent posture, and positive body language enhance that mixture. Yet the crowning effect is a warm, genuine smile.

So, over time, among a broad base of buyers, the foremost thing the general public buys is integrity.

A vivacious yet gentlemanly demeanor accented by physical fitness and athleticism are also powerful selling tools—it tells buyers you know what you're doing and where you're going in life. Buyers will be drawn along with you and, depending on your strength of character, might become a satellite of your orbital influence. Why? Because we are magnetized unconsciously and biologically to life.

For instance, let's imagine that the decision-maker in a critical purchase is presented with two proposals: an outstanding solution from a physically weak seller with an anemic appearance; the other proposal is less impressive but from a star quarterback that the decision-maker saw make a winning touchdown in a crucial game. Unless the decision-maker possesses a profoundly choleric personality, he will be tempted to award the star quarterback with the order because of his charisma. 

So, the second thing people buy is energy.

Now, we come to a curious reason people buy—to ease the imbalance of the human predicament with solutions that stop or reduce pain. A healthy balance of the mind and body, known as homeostasis, is the sometimes elusive equilibrium we all strive to maintain.

Think of a tightrope walker who momentarily loses his balance. Is his mind on anything but not plunging to his death? Will he do anything—literally anything—to keep from falling? Will he frantically grab or reach for anything to maintain the precious balance that keeps him from certain death?

Many people buy as though they were tightrope walkers, grabbing, reaching for anything that gives them a temporary yet false feeling of balance. Shopping sprees are an example, especially when one's credit cards are already at their limits. In less dramatic cases, we buy things on a whim; however, the principle is the same: we do so for a sense of balance, in other words, to feel good about ourselves. Those are cases of emotional buying.

Of course, even the most cerebral buying decisions made by a logically-based board of directors are an attempt to move the pieces on life's chessboard to our advantage and, therefore, maintain or regain our balance. After all, homeostasis is our place of survival.

So, what do people buy? Integrity, energy, and personal balance.