Paint the Portrait of Pain

It is well studied that most people will go to great lengths to avoid pain. In this case, I don't necessarily mean "pain" literally. Pain could be a problem that people would want to avoid. It could be a significant loss that would result from a specific action or inaction. It could be financial and it could be social. For now, we'll use "pain" to mean anything that a person would like to avoid in order to avoid a negative consequence.

In sales, the idea of pain avoidance is a powerful tool. Currently, gold dealers are promoting the pain of a falling dollar because gold will not likely ever lose its value. Put your money in gold, they say, and not only will you get a great return, but your money will not be worthless when things get worse. Who wants their money to be worthless? Nobody. And these companies tell you to buy gold in order to avoid the pain of a worthless dollar (they may be right by the way).

Doctors know all about this principle too. When you're seeing the doctor and all you have to pay is your copay, what do you think you would say if the doctor asked you, "would you like to get blood work to rule out a life-threatening illness?" Hmm. . . let me think about it. OK - go ahead since it could save my life.

What pain do your customers suffer when they don't buy from you? What pain do they suffer when they go to your competition. In my medical office, when an injured worker goes to the competition, he finds himself back at work with an injured back. That's literal pain. Some of them go to doctors who don't understand workers comp rules, so they don't get their forms filled out correctly and they get fired from their jobs. When I tell them how we solve these problems, they wouldn't consider going to the competition and I don't blame them.

Personal trainers have a captive audience of gym members who experience various levels of pain - from being overweight and unhealthy to being almost as strong as the next guy. When they paint the picture of an ineffective workout being performed in a gym that they are paying a monthly fee to belong to, and show prospects the success of their past clients, they not only paint the portrait of pain, but they paint the portrait of solution at the same time. Powerful.

You have to figure out how your customers experience pain if you want to be able to solve their problems and promote those solutions to future prospects. Customers who want economic cars likely have the pain of a long, expensive drive to work. So, hybrid dealers sell them an inexpensive car that gets 40 or more miles to the gallon. Problem solved. Lawn care guys go door-to-door leaving business cards at the houses with the worst yards. They assume that the home-owner doesn't enjoy doing his own yard or it would look nice like the neighbors. They fix the pain by offering a service that other people want to avoid. During "tax season," firms promote the avoidance of scary IRS audits. Who wants that kind of pain? Nobody, so these companies make a ton of money by using (at least partially) fear avoidance.

To attract more customers and prevent your existing customers from going to the competition, you must identify their areas of pain, solve their problems, and promote the ways in which you solve their problems. Paint the portrait of pain and then paint the solution through advertising and promotions.