The Importance of Properly Pinpointing Prospects’ Pains

In the Sandler Method for sales, one of the most important areas of concern is identifying the pain points of the prospects. Not only does this allow you to discern whether your product or service is going to be of interest to your prospect, but also how they would like it delivered and the way they want to to be used.

My own father, an entrepreneur who has started a variety of businesses, has a story that illustrates this point. Recently, he bid a job repairing a roof. My father is an excellent tradesman who performs his work to a very high standard, which often means that he takes longer than others to finish jobs. His bid was reasonable, but the prospect ended up selecting a different company, which asked a higher price, simply because they promised to be finished in one day, a time frame which could not allow for high standards.

This happened because my father incorrectly identified the prospect’s pain point. While he did need his roof fixed, and like everyone else would like it done well and cheaply, it was most important to him, for whatever reason, that he had it done quickly. This primary pain point outweighed all other considerations.

This is relevant to several of the Sandler Rules, but most notably Three and Thirteen; No Mutual Mystification and No Mind-Reading. The prospect wanted one thing and my father thought he wanted something else (which, notably, are the things my father wants when he is looking to hire someone; something we should watch out for in ourselves!). When selling, we have to be sure of what the prospect wants, or we can never deliver it.