In business, we’re told to identify the problem we solve to appeal to the customers we serve. But focusing on the solution to the problem often results in skipping a crucial part of the sales process that makes your pitch more persuasive – letting your customer feel their pain.
 
In sales and marketing, we need to let our customers experience the pain and discomfort of the problem before we get them out of it. Why? Great question. Let’s look at the three reasons why discomfort is a key part of your sales process and your customers buying decision.
 

1. Discomfort tells your customer that they have a problem

 
While there is a select group of people that are highly motivated by pleasure and rewards, if we were to talk generally about the human race, most of us will move faster away from pain than towards pleasure. We don’t like to be in discomfort; in fact, we’ll do a lot to stay out of it. 
 
Emotional eating, retail therapy and big nights out are just a few of our methods of choice when it comes to numbing the pain and discomfort we feel. But to create change, to want a better way, we need to feel discomfort. Otherwise, we carry on in a blissful state of ignorance, unaware of a problem or unaware of how big it really is.
 
Discomfort is a key driver of change. It tells us something is wrong, and it needs to be fixed because this uncomfortable feeling has got to go. We don’t learn, grow, stretch or solve problems without dipping our toes into the pool of discomfort first. It gives us a reason for change and the motivation to make it.
 

2. Discomfort tells your customer that fixing this problem is a high priority 

 
Let’s get real here for a moment. There are loads of problems your customer faces daily. So, what makes the problem you solve more important than any other problem they are facing today? What makes your problem the problem they need to spend time, money and energy on right now?
 
Discomfort. Your customer’s level of discomfort is directly related to the level of priority they will place on their purchase decision. 
 
When your customer is in enough pain, they will come to you. Granted you need to do your marketing right so they can find you, but when they are in this state, they will be actively searching to resolve their issue. While this illustrates the need for discomfort in the buying process, these aren’t the customers we’re talking about right now.
 
We’re talking about the people who you want to buy your product or service that aren’t at that ‘please solve this painful problem for me right now’ buying stage. These are the customers you need to take supportively into a place of pain and discomfort, so they are motivated to get themselves out of it.
 

3. Discomfort makes your product or service a ‘want’ over a ‘need’

 
While having a product or service that is a ‘need’ sounds ideal, you actually want it to be a ‘want’. Think about it for a moment, you need water to hydrate your body, but you want that coffee to wake up. What is the stronger driver?
 
A ‘need’ is often born out of a sense of obligation, we know we need to do it, so we do it – or should I say eventually do it – and this is the key, there is rarely a sense of urgency with a ‘need’. A ‘want’ is born out of a desire to get closer to something or away from something. It is more time-sensitive, most times immediate, and there is a level of excitement or nervousness that drives you to act.
 

How to get your customer to feel discomfort – without shutting them down

 
There is a fine line between getting your customers to feel discomfort and pushing them into other big negative emotions like anger, guilt and shame, or negative thought patterns like I’m a failure. This is not the direction we want to take them in – nor is it a direction you want your brand to be associated with. 
 
I should also be clear that we don’t want to be unethical with this tactic or use it to manipulate people into buying. The art of persuasion, like many things, can be used for good or bad, so it is important to have the right intentions – and your customer’s best interests at heart.
 
What we want to do, as mentioned above, is to get your customers to a level of discomfort where they know that:
 
  1. There is a problem
  2. The problem needs to be fixed 
  3. They want to fix it
 
We do this by practising empathy, calling out the problem and vividly painting their current reality.
 
So, I want you to step into the shoes of your customer for a moment. For this exercise, imagine one specific client, it could be your ideal client or a past client you’ve loved to work with or that you felt was a great fit for your company, product or service. 
 
Now I want you to answer these questions with them in mind:
 
  • What is happening for your customer – or not happening for them? 
  • How is this problem hurting their life or business?
  • Where are their areas of frustration and inefficiency? 
  • What is this problem holding them back from being, doing or achieving?
  • What are the risks of leaving this problem unsolved? 
 
From these answers, you can now start to talk about the problem in a way your customer can relate. Be descriptive and practice emotional intelligence and compassion by calling out how it is likely making them feel – frustrated, tired, overwhelmed or concerned.
 
Now, I want you to notice that we’re not calling out those destructive, spiralling emotions mentioned earlier (anger, guilt or shame). The emotions I’ve mentioned are temporary emotional states that let us know a boundary has been pushed, that something isn’t right or that we are off-balance in an area of our life.
 
As a general rule, when I’m trying to get a customer to the state of discomfort we are talking about, I won’t talk about the problem longer than two paragraphs. These will be short paragraphs too – but persuasive ones. 
 
By the third paragraph, I transition into the ‘what if’ scenario or the ‘why you couldn’t resolve it before now’ approach to get the customer focusing on resolving the problem, not wallowing in it.
 
As you can see, getting your customer to a level of discomfort can be incredibly useful within sales and copywriting. But you do need to exercise caution. 
 
If you need help in bringing discomfort into your messaging, or you want us to look over how you’ve incorporated it into your marketing material, then get in touch, we’re always happy to help.