Emotions and sales go hand in hand, despite the fact that most people would vastly prefer to deny that they aren’t perfectly rational in their purchases. Emotional appeals work surprisingly well in selling practically anything, and this is a fact that every salesman should know or be able to figure out in short order. However, there are various ways to appeal to someone’s emotions, not all of which work well with all products. At the same time, there are certain products that are best sold when tapping into emotional responses nobody would seriously expect to work. It defies logic, but humans have always been illogical by nature.

When dealing with old collectibles and toys, one of the best things to do is to tap into that sense of nostalgia. The older people are, the more they tend to reminisce about their younger years. For some people, this means watching cartoons like My Little Pony again. For others, it is about becoming a collector to try and recapture some of that old “magic” from their youth. Does the shop have a re-issue of an old toy that isn’t selling very well with the kids? Try and sell it to the collector and remind them that, while it isn’t exactly the same as the original version, it is as close as they’re going to get without breaking their budget.

Sports memorabilia can be interesting to sell. Again, sentimentality plays a part here, as does nostalgia. Some people will collect the cards and merchandise of the players that were famous in the games they grew up with. There is also a sizable market for the memorabilia associated with the “all-time greats” of various games – Michael Jordan and Wayne Gretzky merchandise still sells by the ton to basketball and hockey aficionados, respectively. There are also times when anger can be used to move some products. A lot of dedicated, hardcore fans of a team can be convinced to buy merchandise from a rival just for the chance to smash it to smithereens. It isn’t a regular thing, but it happens often enough.

There is, of course, the ever-popular appeal to someone’s vanity. Some people will buy something simply because it makes them look or feel superior to someone else. This works best on the “new rich,” but other people are prone to it too. There’s an old joke that says men are always eager to see who has the “bigger” item, whether it be houses, cars, computer storage capacity, or the breasts of their wives. Working a customer’s ego can do wonders for one’s sales records.