Find the pain, then sit in it

Find the pain, then sit in it

Most reps hear the first problem a prospect names and immediately start solving it. That is a reflex worth killing. The first answer is almost never the real problem, it is the symptom the prospect happens to have words for. Your job is to go past it.

The way past it is layered questions that move from surface to root. Start with the current state: "Walk me through how you handle this today." Then the friction: "Where does that break down?" Then the cost: "What does that breakage actually cost you, in time, money or missed revenue?" Each question peels a layer. By the third or fourth, you are no longer talking about a feature, you are talking about something that keeps them up at night.

When you hit real pain, resist the urge to rescue them. Sit in it. Ask "and what happens if that does not change?" Let them articulate the consequence in their own words. People do not buy because they understand the problem intellectually, they buy because they feel the weight of it. Your questions are what make that weight real.

Quantify wherever you can. "It is a hassle" is not a reason to spend money. "It costs us roughly two days a week of a senior person's time, so call it forty thousand a year" is. Push gently for numbers, and if they do not have them, help them estimate. A problem with a price tag is a problem with a budget.

The discipline here is patience. The deal you lose is usually the one where you solved the symptom and never found the thing underneath it. Slow down, go one layer deeper than feels comfortable, and let them do the talking.

INTERVIEW EWOUD: Share a discovery call where the stated problem turned out to be a symptom of something much bigger. What question unlocked the real pain?