You can share the most innovative products and the most polished presentations, but prospects make their decisions based on psychology more than logic. When it comes to psychology, pain is one of the most powerful forces. Everybody wants to resolve pain or avoid it in the first place. When you know how to connect your promo solution to these pain points, you can transform your conversations.
Best-selling author and sales expert John Rosso contributed a post for the Sandler blog that covers the psychology of pain. He says it’s critical to understand the emotional pain points your prospects face. Why? Because nobody wakes up urgently needing to talk to you about promo. What moves them, he says, is pain — the kind where something has to change. Your job is to find the pain, connect to it and get prospects to talk about it. How do you do that? We share Rosso’s guidance from the Sandler blog in this issue of PromoPro Daily.
Pain overrides pleasure. People are hardwired to avoid pain. They’ll go further to avoid pain than gain something. Yet many sales reps still lead with features, benefits and best-case scenarios. Rosso says when you talk about sunshine and rainbows before someone even feels the rain, you lose emotional engagement.
Pain is the bond. Emotional pain isn’t just a motivator, the post says, but a bonding agent. When a prospect shares their pain with you, they’re not just giving you insight but handing you trust and being vulnerable. According to Rosso, if you get good enough at helping people discover and articulate their pain, you don’t have to sell them anything. You can guide them to relief.
You have to dig deeper. Say things like, “Tell me about that” and “What happens if nothing changes.” These aren’t magic words but are powerful when delivered with real person-to-person intention, the post says. When you dig deeper, you’re inviting the prospect to get real. You’re helping them visualize the implications of staying stuck.
Make it emotional, not just intellectual. When a prospect says, “Yeah, what we’re doing now isn’t working,” you should keep the conversation going. Say, “Tell me how you know it isn’t working. What happened?” Rosso says that’s how you get them to the emotional layer and how you get the real story. It’s also how you get them to feel the experience again.
Your promo solution isn’t the hero. Remember that the prospect is the hero of the story, Rosso says. They’re battling lost time, inefficiency, chaos or something else. Your job is to be the trusted guide who knows what’s at stake. Rosso says you win by helping them connect the dots between their pain and the cost of inaction.
Psychology plays an important role in sales. When you step into the role of a trusted promo pro and help your prospects confront their challenges, you shift from selling to serving. That’s how uncovering pain doesn’t just close deals but builds long-term partnerships.
Compiled by Audrey Sellers
Source: John Rosso is a nationally recognized expert in business development, executive sales consulting and sales productivity training. He is also a best-selling author.
