The Truth About
why people buy
This Article Is Human Authored
By Jeff Payne
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I was on a Zoom call recently with colleagues about a client project. We were presenting a radical new approach to their lead magnet—a complete departure from what they’d been doing. Everyone on the call was excited. They’d spent months developing the content. The energy was there.
But here’s what I know from experience: excitement is easy. Execution is where belief gets tested.
The concept we presented wasn’t just different. It was uncomfortable. Their current call to action looks like everyone else’s in their industry. It’s safe. It’s forgettable. Seth Godin would call what we proposed a Purple Cow—something you don’t see every day. The problem with Purple Cows is they require you to abandon the security of the familiar.
MOST PEOPLE NEED VALIDATION
Most people can’t imagine beyond what they can see. They want validation before they act. They want proof of ROI before there’s anything to measure. I understand that impulse, but it’s still a risk either way. Doing nothing is a risk. Doing what everyone else does is a risk. At least with something new, you have a chance to stand out.
I’ve always been comfortable with the unknown. I’ve done this hundreds of times—maybe thousands. But I’ve learned that helping others see possibilities requires patience and iteration. You can’t hand someone certainty about an unproven idea. You can only help them build belief.
And belief is really what we’re talking about here. Not just belief in a marketing concept, but belief in the decision to buy anything at all.
This is one of the best written, most informative email newsletters I’ve ever read!
Thank you for sharing your expertise, and hope you’re doing well.
Beth Zimmerman
Founder, Executive Director
July 3, 2025
PEOPLE DON’T BUY BECAUSE THEY UNDERSTAND YOU
People don’t buy because they understand you. They buy because you understand them.
This is the fundamental truth most businesses get backwards. They spend all their energy explaining their features, their process, their credentials. None of that matters until the customer feels three things: You get their problem. You can solve it. You’ll actually deliver.
Everything else is noise.
When a prospect says “this is too expensive,” they’re not really talking about price. They’re telling you they don’t believe in the value. Price is never the problem. Belief is.
Here’s something I’ve learned to say in those moments: “You’re going to pay for this either way—with money or with time. Do you want a quality solution, or do you want trial and error, re-dos, and added stress?” That reframe isn’t manipulation. It’s clarity.
Most people think buyers make decisions with logic. They don’t. Neither do you. We all buy emotionally and then justify it with logic afterward. The mistake is selling emotion and stopping there. That’s why people back out. The feeling fades—it always does. Without logic to anchor the decision, buyers get scared and reverse course a few days later.
So you have to sell with logic first. Make a person feel certain that buying from you makes sense, and they’ll buy. Certainty doesn’t come from hype. It comes from clarity.
The Rules I Sell By
After thousands of sales conversations, here’s what I learned:
People buy when they’re ready to buy—not when you’re ready to sell. Resistance in that first encounter doesn’t mean rejection. It means their logical brain hasn’t caught up yet. Your job is to help them justify what they already want.
You have to bring value first. Real value, not a free whitepaper nobody reads. I recently talked to two animators about a project. Both were talented. But one said something that put his team ahead instantly: “Let us do the first one at no cost. That way you can see how we work and make your decision easier.” They understood the bigger picture and the value they could deliver. They were willing to invest in the relationship before asking me to invest in them. If you want a competitive advantage, deliver value until it costs you something. Otherwise, what makes you different from everyone else?
If they don’t gasp at the price, you didn’t go high enough. A gasp means they’re paying attention. It means the number registered. Price anchors create perceived value. Cheap solutions attract cheap customers you do not want.
For every dollar we spend with you we are putting at least 5 back into our pocket AFTER we subtract what we spent.
That’s an amazing cost/benefit that I have never received before in any of our previous marketing endeavors.
Daniel C Goodwin
Provident 1031
Chief Investment Strategist
July 4, 2025
Selling is coaching. You’re helping people make decisions that improve their situation. When you approach it that way, it stops feeling like persuasion and starts feeling like leadership.
Not everybody is your customer. Know who is customer. If you’re trying to win everyone, you’ll win no one.
“Not everybody is your customer.”
That client project I mentioned? We’re moving forward. Not because we eliminated all the risk—we didn’t. But because the team built enough belief to act anyway. That’s always the real threshold. Not certainty. Belief.
