During the President’s Club meeting last week we were thinking about how to help people get in touch with the compelling, personal reasons they might have for buying from us. As we considered ways to help people get in touch with their “pain”, someone said: “Lots of people don’t want to think about what keeps them up at night. They would rather stay in denial believing that they have nothing that bothers them at all.” People might find it uncomfortable to talk about what’s keeping them up at night, but that will pale in comparison to how they will respect us when they invite us to provide the solution that allows them to sleep.
One of the other sales people in the training session suggested we could use the 30 second commercial to help put the prospect in touch with the pains they might be feeling (or desperately not feel). As the rest of the group started looking at their own 30 second commercials, they discovered that much of what they are saying when they introduce what they do is more about problem-solving than it is about personal pain.
We all agreed that it is only personal pain that provides the compelling, emotional reasons prospects buy from us. What we learned from rewriting our 30 second commercials, and the role-playing we did is, that we can save time in our sales process if we mention the personal, emotional pains we have taken away from clients who bought from us in the past. Here are two different approaches:
My name is Jeff Pankoff, I’m with the Sandler Sales Minneapolis. We work with business owners who are frustrated by sales people who are not picking up the phone. We work with CEOs of companies who are upset because sales revenues are down and they don’t know how to fix it. And we work with sales managers who are sick and tired of hiring sales people who look good on paper and sound good in interviews, but who do not sell in the first 90 days. Are any of these issues for you?
On the other hand, how much more quickly would I get a prospect emotionally involved if I talked about personal pains we have removed?
My name is Jeff Pankoff. I’m with the Sandler Sales Minneapolis. We work with business owners who are overwhelmed by the fear that they will go out of business because sales people are not developing new business fast enough, and they don’t know what to do to fix it. We work with company CEOs who are struggling with a board, or investor group, who has told them that they must hit their sales revenue targets in the next year or else. We work with sales managers who must hire sales managers immediately, but find themselves paralyzed because they have no room for a single mistake or mis-hire. You’re not dealing with these issues are you?
It’s always good to go back and ensure your 30 second commercial uncovers pain. That with lots of practice will make you more productive.
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