As human beings, we often cringe at the idea of pain. Indeed, pain is usually a warning about bad things that are happening to us that we otherwise might not see, like a bug bite or a burst appendix. As sales representatives we are naturally inclined to avoid things that cause pain, as we believe they make our sale more difficult. However, I believe that we could learn something from another group who must learn to embrace the pain, weightlifters.
As a weightlifter, pain takes on an entirely new meaning. When you feel a burning in your biceps, you don’t immediately set down the barbell and call the doctor. You keep on lifting, why? Because by working on the pain point you become stronger. More pain means your muscles break down more, which means when they repair they will be even stronger than before. It’s also important to note that weightlifters pay attention to where the pain is on their body. If you want to work on your triceps, you don’t do leg exercises! You find exercises that work on your triceps.
In the same way salespeople should seek not only to find pain, but to diagnose where it is and why.
For example, say you are selling a refrigerator, and a client says it is too pricey. You dig after that pain and learn the client wants a cheaper fridge and doesn’t need all the spare space. So you sell them a minifridge! Not only do you solve your client’s immediate problem, but you learn that in the future you should show minifridges to those clients whose budgets are tighter. By paying close attention to not only the existence of pain, but the where and why, you have gained a permanent sales technique that will aid you in all your sales to come!
In short, we should learn from body builders and not just acknowledge pain but recognize where it is so that we can strengthen our position in that area later.
BoweryJE22 
Good stuff! I think it’s so important for salesman, and all people for that matter, to be ok with being uncomfortable. This applies to many areas of life, but with sales it is especially important because you have to experience difficult situations in order to be successful. The pain of sales is always a learning curve and will lead to better skills being harnessed.
I love this, very well put together. Pain is such a critical component to finding out what someone truly needs with their buying habits. Finding out the root of people’s pain and problems can not only make you a great salesman but also help you connect with people better and have empathy for others. The lifting analogy is amazing truly feeling the pain in the muscles is how you get stronger.
This is so well said! i think your lifting analogy applies great to the sales process. We aren’t trying to ignore or avoid pain, but find it and work at it until a solution is found. That pain point of the original problem is probably what makes the product or service so needed in the first place.
Being able to bounce back from the pain is something important to know, whether or not you are in sales. Knowing that you are more than what you think you are very important to know, especially in sales. Like you said, we must understand it in order to grow from it.