Pain versus Possibility
When people make decisions, they are either moving toward pleasure, or away from pain.
People make decisions intellectually, but they buy emotionally.
-- David H. Sandler
No pessimist ever discovered the secrets of the stars, or sailed to an uncharted land, or opened a new heaven to
the human spirit.
-- Helen Keller
Men can starve from a lack of self-realization as much as they can from a lack of bread.
-- Richard Wright
Dear Friend,
Please help me figure something out.
Let me set the stage. Then I'll present some questions for you to consider.
The Pain
If you're in sales, you probably have heard that you need to get your prospect to experience their "pain."
Once they are in touch with that discomfort, you can reveal how your product or service can eliminate it.
Your product or service is the solution that will let them sleep at night knowing their worries are handled.
Two examples
The pain of April 15th: My tax returns are due and I have neither the time nor the expertise to prepare
them... and if I don't!!! Oh, my. But in rides the tax preparer or CPA, who, with sword in hand, says,
"Ah Ha! Just hand it all to me and I'll take care of it." Whew! That's a load off. I'll
pay you anything, just do it!
Another example: I pay a pretty low rate for the hosting of my internet site, but I've heard from
others that the company's customer service is poor. My business needs my website to be up 100% of the time.
If it isn't, not only do I lose sales, but I lose prospective long-time customers to my competitors. Even
though I've never suffered a loss, my worry about this possibility keeps me up at night (I hate being up at night!).
When I finish telling you what's keeping me up at night, you tell me that your customer service has been rated
among the top five percent and you have triple redundancy in all systems. Sold! You've answered my
pain.
You get the picture, right? Ok. Now let's look at:
Pleasure
In sales, it seems that pleasure is almost the other side of pain. For example: That new car gives you pleasure
(especially compared to that old clunker!). That ice cream will taste so good (and I can't stand the thought
of being deprived). Etc. There's also a time-sensitive nature to it, as well. It's pleasure
now or soon... not sometime in the distant future.
No Pain
You didn't know this about me, but I own a mid-sized manufacturing plant which is doing very well. The employees
are happy and the teams are functioning well. Profits are up, and the business is well-positioned in its
niche market. There is no obvious pain, no significant worries, and, to top it off, everyone at every level
is getting a large bonus this year. As the owner, I'm tickled pink with what I do in the business. And
to top it all off, the balance between my work and non-work time is simply perfect and I have no burning need
for more money.
Possibility
And yet... I love to tinker, to refine, and to experiment. I like working with people just to see what's
possible. And I love to excel. It's just part of being me. It's what makes me feel fulfilled.
OK. So here are the questions I've been leading up to. Please feel free to answer any or all that
you wish and e-mail your answers to me at coach@stevereiter.com
- Is it possible to sell me something without dredging up or manufacturing pain or luring me with pleasure?
- Is the pursuit of "What's Possible" marketable in it's own right?
- What is there you can sell me?
- How would you go about it?
- If you were me in my situation, what would you be looking for?
- Tell me about a time when you have been at the top of your form. What [service, interaction, support,
etc.] did you find valuable or would you have found valuable at the time?
- What other thoughts do you have that don't neatly answer these questions?
I very much look forward to reading your answers.
New Year's Resolutions Revisited
You may recall that the topic of the January 7 Coaching Letter was Completion
and Creation, which provided alternatives to New Year's Resolutions. Last week, the cartoon Rhymes
with Orange by Hillary Price, dealt with these resolutions. I thought I'd try to share it with you.
Entitled "New Year's Resolutions...," it contains two panels. The first panel, labeled "How
the amateurs do it...," shows a middle-aged man proclaiming to his partner, "This year I will exercise
5 times a week and regain the body I had at 22!"
The second panel, labeled "How the pros do it...," shows a man reading a book, saying to his partner,
"This year I will eat less pineapple." His partner replies, "Do you like pineapple?"
to which he says, "Not particularly."
Who will get the farthest? Who's the happiest? I don't know... it's just a cartoon! In real life,
though, the former would need a lot of support and some help framing realistic goals. The latter... well, let's
just hope he's reading a good book.
Cheers.
Steve
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