Finding Pain

To be a good salesperson, you must be good at identifying peoples’ pain points. Finding the pain in peoples’ lives, businesses, or situations helps you to sell better because it allows you to address their specific needs and determine whether or not you can truly help them. Now, you may be thinking: “Sydney, if I’m a salesperson for a specific service (for the sake of this discussion, we’ll say…pest control) would it not be obvious what the prospect’s pain is?” This is a fair point. Of course, if you are at a sales call with someone who has expressed interest in your services, you may assume that you know the extent of their pain. However, if you ASSUME, you make an A-…Well, you know the saying.

All this to say: assuming you know the full extent of someone’s pain shuts you off from finding the root cause and having a better understanding of them and how to serve them. Going with the same example, if you assume that someone’s only pain is a simple bug problem, you may miss the fact that they have a young child in the house who they are afraid may put the bugs in her mouth. This may be far-fetched, but it is a possibility. If you find that pain point and show the prospect that you truly care and want to help, they will feel more secure with you and will be more likely to choose your service.

Let’s draw a little parallel. One time, I was at a Mexican restaurant with my family and my dad and sister got into a small argument. After that, her entire mood was ruined for the rest of the dinner. We all assumed it was just from the argument, but upon further digging, we found out that it was because she was having boy problems. This practical example just shows how important it is to find the true reason for someone’s pain so you know how to help them best.