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Simple truth: Prospects become clients because they have a problem they want solved.
“As humans, our motivation to avoid pain and discomfort are hardwired in our brains,” says sales trainer Steve Johnson. “Because of this, the bigger and more painful the problems customers face, the easier it is to get their attention.”
Johnson worked at a SaaS company building the sales team and growing sales. He succeeded by being a heat-seeking missile for prospect pain. Today he consults on sales methodology and best practices to help other businesses turn pain into gain.
According to Johnson, getting attention is a simple two-step process.
Step one is to identify the two or three typical problems your customers have. What problems, if solved, would create the most value for them in terms of increasing revenue, decreasing costs, or reducing risks like legal liability or a cash crunch?
“As a vendor, you should be the subject matter expert in this area based on the common issues you solve for your clients,” says Johnson. “Once these key problems are identified, talk with a few existing clients to confirm what you believe. Often you’ll be surprised by what your clients tell you. In my experience, learning how clients use a vendor’s solution almost always improves the messaging and questions that get attention.”
Step two is to approach conversations from the customer’s perspective. Johnson advises that this can be hard to do because we naturally think of our view first, not necessarily how others see and feel about the same situation.
“Ideally, if you can, connect customer problems to the benefits of solving them before you propose your solution,” says Johnson. “If you’re in marketing, for instance, create messaging that talks to these key problems to get attention. For example, if your firm provides payroll services, instead of focusing on how long your company has been in business and how many clients you have, talk about how your prospects are exposed to government fines for inaccurate payroll and the time they would waste to correct errors.”
“If you’re in sales,” Johnson continues, “ask questions to clarify the problems they think they are having. Confirm what they think a good solution could be before proposing the right one. Ask questions like ‘Why do you feel this is the biggest problem you need to address right now?’ and ‘What have you and your team considered when thinking through the solutions to this problem?’ You’ll win more deals when a prospect shares their concept of a solution first and you connect it with the proposal. The result is that you capture their attention with their idea instead of trying to convince them by pushing your own.”
Here is the bottom line truth: if you want to make more revenues, solve bigger problems.
