The Richer, Sexier, Happier Rule
The Richer, Sexier, Happier Rule says that people will only do something when they believe that the doing will make them richer, sexier or happier in some way. You cannot make people do things that they don't want to. You can build the best value, safest, most efficient car but if people don't like it they won't come.
To be fair my rule is not new. I adapted it pretty well wholesale from the classic W.I.I.F.M. What’s In It For Me? I like that concept but I got tired of having meetings where I would talk about WIIFM and receive blank looks. I had a stroke of something or other one day whilst being faced with a blank look and interpreted as “Richer, Sexier, Happier”. The client immediately looked happier and is using the concept to make himself richer (I still don’t find him sexy).
There is one other difference between my Richer, Sexier, Happier Rule and the standard WIIFM and that is the modern Gen Y based consumer is far more direct than in the time WIIFM got coined. It used to be that a consumer would purchase because you had done everything right for them. Now they don’t. They buy solely because they want to, even if they really like you, your company and your pet cat. Loyalty is not a big thing in casual consumers any more. A gentleman used to purchase all his outfits in one or two stores. Now a young bloke flits in and out of 20 stores to find a shirt. Having had success in a store before will earn them a look but no sale unless that shirt makes him believe he looks like (insert hero here).
Richer is because we now show our wealth on our sleeves, heads, feet, mobile phones, iPods, and on and on. This is important to us. Even those who make a point of eschewing the materialistic lifestyle still follow the style of the time for the tribe they choose to belong to. Looking rich is vital for most modern consumers. It is a very Gen Y thing but not really new. The intensity is. Paris Hilton is the flag bearer of the Richer thing (although I’m sure she gets someone else to carry that heavy flag for her).
Sexier is because we are also now very open about these things. Sex in the 50’s no doubt happened (as how else would the storks know which cabbage patches to dump babies in) but now it is everywhere. In many ways this is fine and good as we get more open to ourselves as we truly are. Sex is a big biological drive so we want everything that we do to make us better able to reproduce. We now tend to flaunt that very aggressively as well so Richer, Sexier. Madonna was a pioneer of the Sexier thing but now every dolly starlet is trying their hand at it with varying degrees of looking absurd.
Now to the vital part
Happier because while the first two focus on the modern trends and surface distractions I know that under all the pimped, designer accessories with labels larger than the object itself there lies the genuine human need to be completely happy. I don’t mean happy because I’m full of beer in front of my large screen tv whilst wearing Mossimo undies happy, but that harder to describe genuine joy of rightness and belonging type of happiness we all strive our whole lives for. It is harder to point to a role model here because people rarely become famous for being happy but I know deep down you know what I mean anyway.
Applying the Richer, Sexier, Happier Rule
So now we have a rule, what do we do with it? Create a new religion, topple governments, conquer outer space? If you like but I think it would be far more useful to look at the products and services that you make and the way that you sell them to see if they really stand the richer, sexier, happier test in the minds of your intended customers.
To do that you must be able to see things from someone else’s perspective. This is easy if you are exactly your type of customer. If you are a paper clip collector then you may be the best person in the world to build and sell a paper clip collection holder. If you are different from your customers then you simply need to study your customers. You could subject them to a 500 question survey (please don’t) or even better you could simply move amongst them like a biblical Jesus listening to their excitements and disappointments with your product. A Forum (or maybe a Blog) could be a saviour here (ooh the pun) or you could simply throw a pizza night and once they have a few wines in them then you may get amazing insight. In reality your salesman probably already know much of this information anyway so why not buy them pizza and let them tell you what they would find easy to sell to your customers (just watch they aren't being lazy - aren't lazy so you wouldn't have hired lazy staff right?).
By understanding what motivates your customers you can build them a more exciting product, serve them better and build web sites that show how naturally and obviously perfect you are to make them happier in their lives. They can’t help but want to shower you with praise. And let’s not forget cash.
If you want me to work with your business then please visit BRM Web Consulting
