The best salespeople are like good doctors – they’re pain detectives.

Imagine walking into a doctor’s office and the doctor immediately tells you that you need an MRI. Why? Because they just got this amazing new machine!

You’d probably be confused because the doctor hadn’t taken the time to diagnose your pain and determine whether or not you actually need an MRI. But now consider this, if you came with a pain in your shoulder, the doctor poked and prodded, and then suggested an MRI based on a diagnosis, you’d be much more receptive.

People take action in response to pain. Especially if someone diagnoses that pain and gives them hope in a solution.

‘But Nathan,’ you say, ‘don’t people buy things that they love? Or, to prevent a problem from happening?’

Yes. Occasionally. To illustrate the difference, Americans spend $30 billion a year on vitamins and supplements for pain prevention, but $400 billion on prescription drugs to address pain after it occurs. That’s 13x more spent on fixing pain than preventing it.

So, why in sales, do we always want to lead with our product? Or service? Before you even think about those things, you need to understand your prospect and their pain. Studies have shown that prospects care 3x more about your knowledge of them than they do about your knowledge of your offering.

What problems are they facing, and what solutions are they looking for? By understanding what your customer wants fixed, you can position your offer as the solution to that pain.

Sell medicine, not a vitamin. Sell the solution to their pain, not your fancy MRI machine.