Pain Points and Rewards: How Your Prospect Thinks About Their Felt Needs

If sales were easy, everyone would be a great salesperson. But, as you know all too well, as people vary, so do results. 

Navigating the waters of other people's feelings can be a treacherous one—tugged and tossed by the waves and winds of life, finite resources, and demons from the deep.  

So, let’s break feelings down into some chartable coordinates: 

1. We know that our brain’s amygdala vigilantly scans for pain and pleasure in our environment, creating felt needs.
2. We know that immediate inputs of money, effort, and time are fuel sources to feed our current status. 
3. We know that long-term investments of money, effort, and time also fuel our societal rank—within ourselves, our loved ones, and the larger tribes that we value. 

When we are presented with an opportunity to serve a prospective client, the first thing we should wonder is, “What is this person feeling?” Are they looking to put out a fire or to elevate their status within themselves, amongst those that matter most, or in the eyes of their tribes?

They are about to invest money, effort, and time into changing their situation by removing a pain point, thereby elevating their status. This serves either their current status or their societal rank. 

Solutions with the best ROI of their money, effort, and time serve both. 

“People invest money, effort, and time into things to show the world who they are and why they matter.” 

What Lies Beneath? Understanding Underlying Felt Needs 

Below the surface of the ocean of our mind lies the subconscious. While sunny days and storms appear on the surface, there’s a cacophony of feelings traversing our subconscious. 

Feeling we’re not fully aware of. Feelings that rear their heads from time to time—breaking the surface. Feelings that drift. Feelings that swim together. Feelings that remain alone. Good feelings and bad. Dark feelings and feelings that hold a glimmer of light. Emotional and logical. Happy and sad. Big and small. 

But none more prominent than the feeling of identity. 

• Who am I? 
• Why do I matter?
• Where do I fit?
• How do others perceive me? 
• When will I be more?
• What must I do to get there?

As sellers, it’s essential to understand that both the surface-level pain points and rewards we seek to address are motivated by underlying, unconscious felt needs. What is most counterintuitive is the understanding that all investments of money, effort, and time are to serve one’s identity. 

What Are Pain Points?

The energy we receive from these feelings is the barometer of our lives, measuring our environmental and atmospheric pressure. This feeling determines how we are weathering life and a sense of our altitude amongst our tribes. 

A falling barometer indicates bad weather. Pain points are the specific problems or challenges that your customer has become aware of, just like bad weather. These are typically immediate, concrete issues that the customer can articulate. Pain points create an UNSAFE environment in the amygdala: 

• Unhappy
• Negative
• Stressful
• Anxious
• Frustrated
• Exhausted

The greater the pain, the faster the desired pain relief. When you don’t feel good, it’s like a storm. The bigger the storm, the more you have to do to weather it. 

Figure out where your prospect is in the storm, and you can help them weather it with your empathetic and competent solutions. The more convenience you deliver, the more likely they are to choose your solution over others. 

The lighter the storm, the less urgency they have to take big action. 

How big is their storm?

If all they see are looming storm clouds, you are better off shifting your message to rewards. 

• An old HVAC system breaks down on the first hot summer day vs. getting the ducts cleaned to maintain the system for a longer life.
• Eight gallons of water gushes on the floor every minute from a mainline water tank break vs. a leaky faucet that drips every two seconds.
• Faulty wiring that is crackling behind a wall vs. a plug that isn’t working anymore.

Pain points are the easy entry point of a sales conversion. Prospects come to you with these issues because they are tangible and pressing. Speed is your empathy. The questions you ask and your forward momentum are your competence. Your empathy and competence are what demonstrate your trustworthiness. 

The more convenient you are in providing pain relief before, during, and after the sale, the more likely the buyer will accept your medicine. 

What Are Rewards?

A rising barometer signals clear skies and favorable conditions. Rewards are the happy outcomes and emotional satisfactions that prospects associate with solving their problems, achieving their goals, and elevating their status, internally and externally. Heck, even a calm, windless day is better than fighting choppy waters and relentless rain.

Just as pain points create an UNSAFE environment in the amygdala, rewards generate a FREE space:

• Fulfilled: Feeling heard and understood, aligned with their purpose and vision.
• Relaxed: Getting back to a baseline of safety, stability, security, and balance. 
• Elevated: Experiencing a boost in their status, internally or externally.
• Empowered: Gaining or maintaining control over their choices, resources, or direction. 

Rewards serve as proof that the investment of money, effort, and time was worthwhile. They address a deeper sense of identity and allow the prospect to feel validated, seen, confident, connected, and understood. 

These are not just surface-level benefits—they’re tied to our deeper aspirations that resonate long after a transaction is made.

The greater the perceived reward, the more willing the prospect is to commit. Just as pain points create storms, rewards represent the sunny horizons prospects are trying to reach.

Figure out where your prospect’s aspirations lie, and you can help them envision those sunny skies with your empathetic and competent solutions. The more tangible the rewards you promise, the more compelling your solution becomes.

“The more aligned the rewards are with their identity, the greater their willingness to invest in themselves with whatever you sell.”

What does their sunny sky look like?

If all they see are opportunities for brighter days, you are better off emphasizing the rewards.

• Responsibility smart: They stand for energy-efficient HVAC systems that not only saves money but also the environment vs. continuing to rely on an outdated, dirty old energy hog. 
• They deserve better: a tankless water heater that provides consistent hot water and reduces energy consumption vs. sticking with an inadequate hot water tank that’s already on its last leg. 
• Future-proofing value: Smart home electrical upgrades that offer convenient safety while preparing for technology advancement vs. settling for unreliable basic functionality.

When prospects associate your solution with their ability to feel free, fulfilled, relaxed, elevated, and empowered, you’re no longer just solving problems or selling stuff—you’re helping them achieve their best version of themselves.

Situational awareness is your empathy. Expertly curating solutions that meet their underlying felt needs is your competence. Together, they build trustworthiness.

Without the urgency of pain on your side, tying the value to their identity and making it so darn convenient, you’ll make it impossible to say no. 

“You bond with others in the face of adversity, but loyalty lives with the rewards you continue to deliver.”

You Need to Read Between the Lines

If you hope to make a stronger connection with your prospects, convert more appointment opportunities on the first visit, and close more sales as a whole, then you need to meet people where they’re at. 

• Find what hurts. 
• Figure out how bad it hurts right now. 
• Give them their medicine. 

The medicine for acute pain is short-term and relieves immediate pain. The medicine for their desire to elevate their identity is knowing they made a good buying decision, making them look good and feel good. 

Sometimes, what hurts are not the symptoms they are talking about. Sometimes, the pain they feel about a bad buying decision affects their current choices. 

For example, someone who got roped into a bad car purchase and has to find a way out of it struggles to follow the good advice of a well-intentioned salesperson. When you understand this is the root cause of pain, you can heal the wound, not just treat the pain. 

Surviving vs. Thriving Mindsets

In residential home services, the reward of working with you will require patience and a high duty of care for the relationship. 

Not all people will see your services as anything more than transactional. In fact, 65% of the time, you are cast in the light of depleting their resources. You are a necessary burden, not a welcome solution. This sentiment aligns with Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, where 65% of people strive for belonging, identity, and security. 

To some extent, you can influence their perspective of you. When you show up relationally, you are treated more relationally by half the planet. When you show up transactionally, you are treated transactionally. 

In many cases, however, you are dealing with a person living with a survival mindset. Nothing you’ll do is going to change how they look at you when you meet. For these people, everything is a storm. No amount of relational, aspirational salesmanship will change their mind. In fact, it will turn them off as it feels suspiciously untrustworthy. 

When you meet a survivor, you need to meet them in survival mode. Join them on the battlefield, shoulder-to-shoulder, and fight the good fight together. Trust takes time. They’re watching you to reveal your true self. 

Relieving Pain Points and Delivering Rewards 

The most effective solutions acknowledge both the storm and the sunny sky. Recognize where your prospect is in their journey—are they overwhelmed by the storm, or are they reaching for something better?

1. Lead with Empathetic Competence:
   
   • Understand their immediate pain points and offer swift, competent relief.
   • Example: “We’ll have your water shut off in minutes and your mainline repaired in hours.”
2. Connect to Rewards:
   
   • Highlight the long-term benefits and emotional satisfaction they’ll gain.
   • Example: “Since you have to change out your hot water tank anyway, should we go ahead and put in the endless hot water tankless system.”
3. Tie Solutions to Identity:
   
   • Show how your offering helps them become the person they want to be.
   • Example: “Now you don’t have to worry that anyone in the family won’t get a hot shower in the morning, and you never have to worry about 40 gallons of water unexpectedly on your floor ever again.”

Reading the Barometer

A skilled navigator doesn’t just react to storms or wait for calm waters—they read the barometer, anticipate what’s coming, and guide the ship accordingly. Selling is no different. By understanding the pain points and rewards that are driving your prospects at the moment they call, you can steer them toward safer harbors and sunnier skies.

When the pressure drops, meet them in their storm. Offer immediate relief with empathetic and competent solutions that show you’re ready to weather it alongside them. When the barometer rises, help them chart a course to the rewards they seek—not just solving problems but achieving a vision of themselves they’ve always wanted.

Every sale is a journey. Whether it’s braving rough seas or sailing toward the horizon, your empathy is their compass, your competence is your sturdy ship, to trust the course you’ve charted. 

Meet your prospects where they are, guide them where they want to go, and ensure their voyage is smooth sailing all the way.

“When you become the navigator they didn’t know they needed, they remain loyal and true.”