Going to college is a personal decision that involves a lot of thought before joining. The choice to pursue a college education stems from the fact that college unlocks opportunities, which may not necessarily be available for high school graduates. By attending college, one gets to gain knowledge, skills, attitudes and experience important in life. Moreover, with college education, there are a variety of jobs and careers available for the students. Even more is that college education acts as an inspiration and challenge, seeing that a lot of technology in use today was a result of challenges the inventors found in college. Specific examples include Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, and Mark Zuckerberg. College offers the opportunity for students to explore the subjects of their interest in greater depth. Delving into the annals of such subjects gives students a wider knowledge base, creating proficiency in such subjects. Campus life is additionally a reflection of the world, and therefore provides the students with an opportunity to widen their experience, improve their social network, as well as sharpen skills such as leadership, writing, and performances in students’ governments, college media and drama respectively within the college environment.
In deciding to join ISU, there were both the relationship quality and the internal influence. Many of the successful people I have met were ISU alumni, a fact that points towards quality education and enough inspiration to face life and make something out of oneself. Moreover, I have been a great admirer of ISU and I have always hoped to find a place in the college to pursue my education. Relationship quality in this case refers to the connection between the consumer and the service provider, while the internal influence (personality of the consumer) is the individual differences among different consumers. Thus, the two were each 50 percent involved as inspiration for choice to join ISU for my college education.
The most expensive purchase outside my college education was my iPhone. Although it was expensive, the inspiration to make this purchase was informed by the value proposition that the company guarantees on its products. Thus, apart from the relationship quality created by Apple in its products, my penchant for quality and uniqueness drove my decision to purchase the iPhone. The need to be unique and own an expensive phone was the major driver towards the purchase. This made up 60 percent of my purchase decision. Therefore, the value proposition and close customer service made up the remaining 40 percent of my purchase decision.
From the paper, I have learnt of the necessity and the advantage that companies with a good relationship quality with their consumers have over their competitors. By creating a relationship quality, companies are able to get maximum profits from their customers. Even more is that such relationship creates customer loyalty; one of the most important competitive advantages a company can possess. Additionally, I have learnt of the power of the external influences on our personal decisions and choices in life. Such influences help in our decision-making process, and however much we may try to resist them, they still influence our personal decisions. More important however is that in making our purchases, it is important to have sobriety, thus even in the face of external influence, we should make such purchases according to their necessity and our financial capability, and not because we need to “fit in” in the society and among our peers. I am therefore planning to improve my personal purchases decisions, ensuring that they are hinged upon necessity and that they attttt6re within my means to avoid unnecessary debts.