Free Stuff: Business Articles - Values and Lifestyles

In 1978 the Stanford Research Institute researched and founded Values and Life-styles (VALS). It is one of the first consumer segmentation systems based on psychographics. It measures attitudes and life-style characteristics. Use VALS to:

  • Identify who to target
  • Uncover what your target group buys and does
  • Locate where concentrations of your target group lives
  • Identify how best to communicate with your target group
  • Gain insight into why the target group acts the way it does

People pursue and acquire products, services, and experiences that provide satisfaction and give shape, substance, and character to their identities. They are motivated by one of three powerful self-orientations: principle, status, and action. Principle-oriented consumers are guided in their choices by abstract, idealized criteria, rather than by feelings, events, or desire for approval and opinions of others. Status-oriented consumers look for products and services that demonstrate the consumers' success to their peers. Action-oriented consumers are guided by a desire for social or physical activity, variety, and risk taking.

Actualizers- Actualizers are successful, sophisticated, active, "take-charge" people with high self-esteem and abundant resources. They are interested in growth and seek to develop, explore, and express themselves in a variety of ways--sometimes guided by principle, and sometimes by a desire to have an effect, to make a change. Image is important to Actualizers, not as evidence of status or power but as an expression of their taste, independence, and character. Actualizers are among the established and emerging leaders in business and government, yet they continue to seek challenges. They have a wide range of interests, are concerned with social issues, and are open to change. Their lives are characterized by richness and diversity. Their possessions and recreation reflect a cultivated taste for the finer things in life. They are more likely to have; Membership in Arts Association, Visited Art Museum in Past Year, Own Espresso/Cappuccino Maker, Foreign Travel in Past 3 years, Cruise Ship Vacation in Past 3 Years, Own Import/Foreign Car, Play Golf, Own Personal Computer at Home. These are the ultimate in Carriage Trade buyers. But they are some of the toughest to get as clients. You have to have a reputation as very artistic and even expensive. Referrals are very important. Many times these people buy small images and very expensive frames. Make sure you have an expensive enough product for these people.

Fulfilleds - Fulfilleds are mature, satisfied, comfortable, reflective people who value order, knowledge, and responsibility. Most are well-educated and in (or recently retired from) professional occupations. They are well-informed about world and national events and are alert to opportunities to broaden their knowledge. Content with their career, families, and station in life, their leisure activities tend to center around the home. Fulfilleds have a moderate respect for the status quo institutions of authority and social decorum, but are open-minded to new ideas and social change. Fulfilleds tend to base their decisions on firmly held principles and consequently appear calm and self-assured. While their incomes allow them many choices, Fulfilleds are conservative, practical consumers; they look for durability, functionality and value in the products they buy. They are more likely to; Have a Swimming Pool In-Ground, Membership in Church Board, Stayed in Ski Resort in Last 12 Months, Belong to a Book Club, Own Backpacking Equipment, Foreign Travel in Last 3 years. These are generally older clients. Some of these are from the Achievers, some from the Actualizers group. They have discretional income. They make good clients, repeat clients. They expect good value for their money.

Achievers - Achievers are successful career and work-oriented people who like to, and generally do, feel in control of their lives. They value consensus, predictability, and stability over risk, intimacy and self-discovery. They are deeply committed to work and family. Work provides them with a sense of duty, material rewards, and prestige. Their social lives reflect this focus and are structured around family, church, and career. Achievers live conventional lives, are politically conservative, and respect authority and the status quo. Image is important to them; they favor established, prestige products and services that demonstrate success to their peers. They are more likely to; Have Sun/Moon Roof in Car, Own Video Camera, Membership in PTA. These are the middle- and upper-middle income clients. They love their families and will buy large portraits. They will buy expensive portraits but you have to show good value. It may require good selling skills.

Experiencers - Experiencers are young, vital, enthusiastic, impulsive, and rebellious. They seek variety and excitement, savoring the new, the offbeat, and the risky. Still in the process of formulating life values and patterns of behavior, they quickly become enthusiastic about new possibilities but are equally quick to cool. At this stage in their lives, they are politically uncommitted, uninformed, and highly ambivalent about what they believe. Experiencers combine an abstract disdain for conformity with an outsider's awe of others' wealth, prestige, and power. Their energy finds an outlet in exercise, sports, outdoor recreation and social activities. Experiencers are avid consumers and spend much of their income on clothing, fast food, music, movies, and video. They are more likely to; Play Pool 10+ Days in Past Year, Attend Rock/Pop Concert in Past Year, Own Weight Training Equipment. Many high school seniors fall into this category. Also young adults. Usually not our best clients, they spend their money on other things, CDs, sporting goods, movies, etc.

Believers - Believers are conservative, conventional people with concrete beliefs based on traditional, established codes: family, church, community, and the nation. Many Believers express moral codes that are deeply rooted and literally interpreted. They follow established routines, organized in large part around home, family, and social or religious organizations to which they belong. As consumers, Believers are conservative and predictable, favoring American products and established brands. Their income, education, and energy are modest but sufficient to meet their needs. These people could be your clients on some of your low end products. They like nice things, but can't always afford it. They are good people that love their families, they just don't have the money needed to buy what they want.

Strivers - Strivers seek motivation, self-definition, and approval from the world around them. They are striving to find a secure place in life. Unsure of themselves and low on economic, social and psychological resources, Strivers are concerned about the opinions and approval of others. Money defines success for Strivers, who don't have enough of it, and often feel that life has given them a raw deal. Strivers are impulsive and easily bored. Many of them seek to be stylish. They emulate those who own more impressive possessions, but what they wish to obtain is often beyond their reach. These are not usually our clients.

Makers - Makers are practical people who have constructive skills and value self-sufficiency. They live within a traditional context of family, practical work, and physical recreation and have little interest in what lies outside that context. Makers experience the world by working on it--building a house, raising children, fixing a car, or canning vegetables--and have enough skill, income, and energy to carry out their projects successfully. They are unimpressed by material possessions other than those with a practical or functional purpose (such as tools, utility vehicles and fishing equipment.) These are not usually our clients, they like to do their own photography.

Strugglers - Struggler lives are constricted. Chronically poor, ill-educated, low-skilled, without strong social bonds, elderly and concerned about their health, they are often resigned and passive. Because they are limited by the need to meet the urgent needs of the present moment, they do not show a strong self-orientation. Their chief concerns are for security and safety. These are not usually our clients.

This information does not say anything about if people are good or bad, only their buying habits. Use this information to determine who are your clients. As you see, not everyone is your client.