Having recently completed our summer vacation, I’m a self-proclaimed expert about emotional money. What I’m referring to is the effect being on a “vacation” has on your pocket book and what are the factors in our mind that make us spend more freely.

Let me give an example. When I’m at home I don’t go out to eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner on the same day while also buying snacks, taking a harbor cruise on a whim or buy $40 worth of ponchos you use once to take a ride that may get you wet. Maybe that’s an extreme example, but it’s things that happened while I was on vacation.

So, what changed in my mind to make the guy that cringes on buying a new shirt so footloose and fancy-free? Best I can figure is, and I’m not a psychiatrist, but it’s the “emotions”.

I wanted everyone to be happy and feel satisfied that we had the best trip we could have. I wanted to provide experiences for my kids that they would remember the rest of their lives. I really wanted for my son to get the Darth Vader hat, my daughter to get the Mickey Mouse earrings, and of course, everyone needs ice cream and Dole whips. And you know what…we had a great time and have the pictures to prove it and remember it by.

Have you ever watched Say Yes to the Dress? My wife watches it all time, so therefore I do too. Women drop thousands of dollars on a dress they wear once. The dress shop builds a buying experience around these high dollar dresses that families and friends come to so that they can hear her say yes…to the dress. They have changing rooms and then another room for the families and friends to pick apart the dress as the bride stands on a pedestal for everyone to see.

Sure, they could go look at the dress racks themselves, but they want to describe their perfect dress to a professional and have them search. They want a seamstress to place darts and provide a custom experience. And for this entire experience, they are willing to pay more.

Ever had the mission to find your child the perfect gift or gifts for Christmas? Do they need it? Not necessarily. But you want the jaw dropping experience of surprising your child with a something that maybe they didn’t expect or even something that even makes your kids cry in appreciation. You’d spend more to provide that wouldn’t you?

I give all of these examples to ask the question: How does your business capture your customer’s emotions to give them warm feelings about your product?

Yours doesn’t even have to be a large purchase. I spent $4 on a cup of coffee today and it was worth it. I was greeted warmly, provided a product that met my specification in a timely manner, and then provided a location with free wifi to work in. The smells and ambiance I have found are conducive for writing and working plus I feel really cool working out of a Starbucks every once in awhile.

Think about the environment you create around your products.

• Is it a fun experience looking at your products?
• What are things that you can change to make it fun or to increase the perceived value?
• How do you greet customers online, on social media, in person?
• How does your physical location look?
• Would you want to be there if you didn’t work there?

This is the point where I always like to say we can help…but truthfully, all we can do is guide you. And we’ll be happy to do that. But in the end, to increase your customer’s perceived value of your products and develop a positive emotion purchasing experience – there must be a culture shift that starts at the top.

It can start right now, today – contact us and let’s get it started.