My first sales training happened in the back of a pickup from a crusty old chemical salesman named Jim Boyle. We were selling farm chemicals to farmers, the absolute toughest prospects on the planet. My training consisted of the words “pain and rescue.”
“Find their pain,” he’d tell me, “then rescue them with our chemicals.” What he was saying was that great salesmen understand how to find and talk about the pain that prospects are having because they don’t have your product.
The word pain is important and far better than needs, because people can manage around their needs, but will do almost anything to avoid further pain. When the prospect is experiencing pain, the great solution provider (the sales rep), rides in on his white horse and rescues him. Most good sales training is some version of this.
I was thinking about the Pain and Rescue idea this morning re: to the new stimulus bill being signed today by President Obama.
Everyone has been pummeling us with the pain of the economy downturn. We get it. All the bad news has us all confused, a bit angry, somewhat depressed, and searching for good news. We need to hear more about the rescue, how it is happening and coming to our business and town.
I have known for some time that positive actions, attitudes, and words are more uplifting and growth oriented than negative energy and thinking. And it is nearly axiomatic that good things happen first to positive people.
Do you agree? Don’t you think the constant barrage of negativity needs to be throttled back? Let’s do what we can to make this new stimulus plan work.
Over at US NEWS today, I explain how each one of us can start doing just that. For one thing, if I were KING, I would make each media outlet that trumpets a job layoff, go to www.linkup.com and showcase a company in the town who is now hiring.
No user commented in " Pain and Rescue "
Absolutely time to quit carping and complaining. This may be the best idea in the world or the worst – the stimulus, not your post
– but we need to get back to the realization that with concerted effort, we can turn this problem around. This is the point where we suffer a little difficulty and reinvent ourselves, emerging better out the other side.
That’s good training. My sales training focused on identifying needs, but when you change up the terminology like that, it sounds so much more urgent!
I would wager that we will see a big increase in the number of small businesses started over the next 12-18 months, partly out of need but mostly out of Americans seeing the opportunities and acting upon them. Providing a stimulus for people to start and grow their business would be a welcome part of a true stimulus package.