The Tension Between Pain and Pleasure
“No pain no sale”
“People do more to avoid pain than pursue pleasure”
“We change our behavior when the pain of staying the same becomes greater than the pain of changing. Consequences give us the pain that motivates us to change.”
One thing I learnt early in my sales career is that “pain is a pointer on the path to profit.” Every sales person can relate to the rookie mistake of failing to find out the essential information early on in a sale. Chief among these is, “Does the client have a need?” Others, of course, include: “What’s their budget, timeline and who is the decision maker and/or what is the decision making process?”
The power of researching well before investing time with a client is often seen in increasing a rep’s strike rate. This means you can spend more time with less people and increase your sales. The secret lies in choosing to invest time ahead of contacting a client. Sales people are time-poor. The concept of investing time in researching before you see a client is often met with strong resistance. It feels like a backward step. “More admin!” is a common comeback comment to the very suggestion that researching well before contacting clients is best practice. Like learning to touch type for a competent two fingered typist, the feeling of ‘going backwards’ can be hard to overcome. Some thoughts to consider before you throw your hands up in despair proclaiming it is too hard:
A sales reps role, when taken from a customer’s perspective, is very simple - Add value. Be of service in a way that helps the customer to get what they want and need. The better prepared you are, the more value you can add. The research phase is the point where you ‘gear up’.
Research can cover a huge range of factors. Client trading history (especially important for Key Account Management visits), web reviews, social media posts, website posts, Google search and your own CRM are obvious starting points. One area that is often missed is taking time to understand common industry pain points that your client is possibly facing. There are historical pain points that come with being in the industry, pain points driven by current events (think Covid, shipping challenges, etc) and specific internal problems. The better you know these, the more you can plan your conversation to maximise your contact time. Knowing what the problems are; how they are often caused; and the impact of those problems, allows you to structure conversations to “sell backwards”. You can start by discussing impacts they might be experiencing, probe for likely causes and then highlight the pain points. The book Gap Selling by Keenan has a great Problem Identification Chart to help you and your team deeply understand your clients. Knowing what problems your clients are facing, the potential causes and consequences shows that you understand - you come prepared to add value. You set yourself up as a specialist, a reference point, a resource, a trusted advisor. This separates you from the rep in a rush - too busy to research, too busy to plan and too busy chasing their tail to understand their clients, and convert contact to closes.
Research unlocks high conversion rates - take the time and don’t cheat yourself or your clients by flying by the seat of your pants!
Here’s to your success
