In a recent Marketing Seminar that I attended, we were taught that Motivation occurs on three levels:

  • Physical – “I have to buy this”
  • Intellectual – “It’s a good idea to buy this”
  • Emotional – “I want to buy this”

They stated that Emotional was the highest and most compelling factor that drives a person to make a purchase/decision. Second was Intellectual, which was strong but not always strong enough, and finally, Physical being the weakest influencer.

I applied this theory when prioritizing a recent purchase. I have a 2000 Mitsubishi Eclipse that I’ve had since college. After about 2 and a half years the black paint started disengaging in the Arizona heat and the dealership would not warranty it because I was already over 60,000 miles. But, it has nice chrome rims on it and still runs good, so we keep it around as a second vehicle.

Well in addition, the air conditioning compressor went out so the A/C isn’t working, it has low profile tires which are starting to get sun rotted, and the color is now two-tone with the top half of the car down to the primer and the bottom half still blank. So my motivating factors are:  Physical – “I have to get my A/C fixed so I can survive the AZ summer”, Intellectual – “It’s a good idea get new tires before I have a blow out”, and Emotional – “I want to get it painted so it doesn’t look like a jalopy”.

Humm… I tried to apply the “Motivating Factor Rule” which would prioritize as:  paint, tires, A/C compressor – but I just can’t! It’s the first week of June and already over 100 degrees here! I have to get the A/C fixed so I don’t pass out, then get new tires so I don’t have a blow out, then maybe one day I will finally get it painted so I will actually want to drive it!

Can you apply the “Motivating Factor Rule” to recent decision that you’ve had to make? Did you prove the rule true or break the rule like I did? 

Lara Smith