STEP 2: Product Appeal

Catering to the Five Senses


Now that we have talked a little about needs, we need to talk about product appeal and how this dynamic ties in to meeting our basic needs. Whatever the idea given you, it must somehow appeal to any one or any combination of our five senses. All perception begins with the senses. We perceive internally as well as externally. For instance, our internal perception (proprioception) lets us know when we are tired or hungry. This means our physiology often dictates what we need and when we need it. Thus, an idea for a product or service is given by the Source and then given to men and women who will create something to meet the need. A tired body needs a bed to rest in, but the bed may take the form of any product for resting such as a hide-a-way bed, a waterbed, a futon, a hammock, air mattress or any other form of bedding that will make resting comfortable. A hotel along the interstate provides a good service combining the product (bed) and the place for the road weary traveler.

Our external perception or exeroception comes through our ability to see, hear, feel, smell and taste. Without these senses we would not be able to tell anything about our outside world. Thus, all products must appeal in some way to any one or any combination of our senses. Our senses help put flavor into our ideas. That is, the product must look good to us, feel good to us, taste good to us, sound good to us, smell good to us or provide us with some type of critical information or knowledge before we’ll buy it. Using the senses is the second step in the matrix of creating million ideas. When we added our knowledge of what appeals to our senses with our basic needs our matrix begins to take on form. We started our matrix with group (A)

A

Needs
Food
Clothing
Shelter
Relationship
Information

Now, let's throw in B

B
Senses
Taste
Touch
Sight
Smell
Hearing






A--------+---------- B

Food--------------------Taste
Clothing----------------Touch
Shelter------------------See
Relationship------------Smell
Information-------------Hear


Step 3 is coming up shortly.