A
good
prospect will have some unresolved business or personal issues. Trainers commonly call this the prospect’s
“pain.”
It’s the difference between the prospect’s current reality (situation) and tomorrow’s expectations - the difference between what they have and what they want. If the gap is wide enough, they will take action. If it’s not, they will decide to live with the problem.
Motivation typically falls into one of three categories. They want to…
- Resolve
a pressing business or personal problem (pain).
- Achieve
something that would improve their situation (gain).
- Avoid
something that has the potential to damage them (fear).
Curiosity is not a motivator!
If none of these are present, you do not have a prospect.
They will not invest in your product or service because there would not be a benefit to do so. Politely disengage from these folks quickly as they will do nothing but waste your time. Two other important characteristics of motivation are that’s it’s always
personal
, and must be
important
enough to take action. If there is no personal motivation…if your prospect is not impacted personally by the problem…there is no reason to do anything. That will seldom be the case, but if it is, you will need to find the person(s) who
is
impacted by the problem.
Motivation always relates to one (or more) of the following issues:
- Time –
(will resolving the problem give me or my staff enough extra time to do other things?)
- Money –
(will it save me significant money or create significant additional revenue?)
- Security –
(will it provide me with more financial, personal, or job security?)
- Status –
(will it improve my status with my peers and my superiors?)
Problems always fall into one of two general categories:
- Business (or personal) problems
– (our sales are off; we need to improve our company’s image; we need to fund our retirement better; etc.)
- Product or process problems
– (we need to decrease the backorder rate on our widgets; our current accounting system is not geared up to meet our growing revenue; etc.)
Self-Study Assignment:
Review the top five prospects you are currently working with. Determine for each what their motivation is (resolve, achieve, or avoid), which issue(s) it relates to (time, money, etc.), and which category the problem falls into. This will give you much greater insight into why they might buy from you.