The Importance of Connecting Pain Points and Benefits

If you want to capture the attention of your ideal customer and grow revenue for your business, you need to distinguish yourself from your competitors. This is why unique value propositions are so important. But if you want your ideal customer to listen and care about your unique value propositions, make sure your benefits align with their pain points.  

If you promote benefits that don’t address any of their problems, they won’t listen. And why should they? Remember – people don’t buy products or services. Instead, they buy solutions to their problems. So when it comes to sales, the person who most effectively explains how they can solve the problem is likely to win the business.  

But most businesses fail to make as many sales as they could because they don’t spend enough time listening to their customers identify their real problems. Instead, they often confuse a need with a problem and begin selling when their potential client indicates a NEED for their service.

So, what’s the difference between a need and a problem? I classify a need as what prompts someone to do a Google search for a particular product or service.

I NEED a financial advisor.

Whereas, a problem is much more personal and emotional. Problems elicit various feelings, including fear, frustration, anger, and being overwhelmed. And when you address your ideal client’s pain points – instead of just their need - you will connect with them on a deeper level. Your ideal customer will think you understand them and that your solution was made specifically to solve their problem. Addressing a need is much too general, and any of your competitors could fit the bill. But you want to distinguish yourself because you’re better.

Suppose I’m a financial advisor and hear that someone is looking for one and I begin immediately trying to sell myself by talking about all the ways I’m different from my competition. But I've failed to take the time to LISTEN to what matters most to them in selecting an advisor, so I've no idea which benefit/s will resonate.

Perhaps they currently have one and don’t like the job they’re doing. WHY NOT?

OR

They’ve never worked with one despite knowing they probably should. WHY NOT?

I can’t begin to effectively sell my product or service until I answer WHY NOT? The answer to “why not” is the first step in discovering their actual pain points. These are the reasons they’re either looking for a new advisor or searching for the first time. When I rattle off all my benefits without knowing their true pain points, I’m blindly throwing darts just hoping I hit the bullseye and say something that matters to them.

Never underestimate the value of listening. When clients have a problem, even if you do have the right solution, sometimes they just want a moment to express how they feel. Listening is an opportunity to learn. You can glean valuable information when you sit back and listen. Not only can you determine what’s their biggest pain and offer a value proposition that connects, but you may learn some additional information along the way to provide some creative, outside-the-box solutions that further differentiate you from your competition. And when we listen to our clients’ problems, it can lead to identifying new product and service offers.

Unique value propositions differentiate you from your competition. But they must align with your ideal customer’s true pain points for them to have an impact. Taking the time to discover the real pain points your potential customer is experiencing allows you to position yourself in a way that genuinely connects and helps. Which for many small business owners, is why they started their business in the first place.