Marketing From The Heart: Issue # 26

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Marketing From The Heart: Issue # 26
Copyright © Zerald Communications Corporation 2002
http://www.zerald.com
All Rights Reserved.

By Tom St. Louis - Canada’s Marketing Wizard

September 27, 2002
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Using Pain to Build Profit

Dear Subscriber:

This issue of Marketing From the Heart concerns perhaps
the most important lever you will ever use in your
marketing and selling - PAIN!

Pain is your best friend. If you do not know how to
create and deepen pain in others, you will never be
able to help all the people you wish to serve.

I have been delivering this message in seminars
for years and there's usually quite a bit of
resistance from "nice people" who think it sounds
too harsh. But I refuse to sugarcoat it. Pain really
is your best friend.

Why?

Because people are far more motivated to move away
from what's hurting them than they are to move
towards something that could benefit them. There
are countless wonderful things I could choose
to do at any time. But if I'm in pain, one thing
suddenly becomes my top priority. And that top
priority is always the thing that is causing
me pain.

Let me tell you a story which illustrates the
principle beautifully.

THE FARMER AND THE DOG

Once upon a time a man stopped to talk to a
farmer on the side of a dusty old road. Soon
after their conversation began, he noticed the
farmer's dog was moaning in pain. So he turned
to the farmer and asked what was wrong with the
dog. "He's sitting on a nail", said the farmer.

"Why doesn't he get off the nail?" asked the man.

"Because it doesn't hurt enough yet!" said the
farmer.

I don't know where I first heard that story, but
it illustrates perfectly an extremely important
principle of human motivation.

Think of all the "nails" you are currently sitting on:

* Maybe you should exercise every morning
* Maybe you should meditate for half an hour each day
* Maybe you should call your mother more often
* Maybe you should see a nutritionist about the
optimum diet for your unique health needs
* Maybe a massage would help to reduce your stress
* Maybe you should go out alone with your spouse at
least once a week
* Maybe there's a piece of software you could buy to
improve your business processes
* Maybe you need a vacation

Maybe, maybe, maybe, but you haven't taken action
because it doesn't hurt enough yet!

Now look at the areas where you ARE taking action.
In every case, didn’t you say to yourself one day:
"Enough is enough!"

The pain helped you get off the nail, didn't it?

I know that a lot of people like to say: "There's
far too much negativity in the world. I want to
send out only positive messages!" The only problem
is that you are robbing yourself of the chance to
deliver your wonderful benefits if you aren't
working with what really motivates people.

If you have too many proposals "out there"; if your
closing ratio is a problem; if your prospects don't
make up their mind fast enough - it's because you
don't know how to use their pain.

The funny thing is that, far from being perceived
as a negative, people will deeply appreciate and
respect you when you learn how to put them in pain
and deepen it to the point where they must take
action. To be entirely accurate, that's what an
expert is. An expert is someone who knows how to
put you in pain.

Your product or service is probably just one of the
many good things your prospect might decide to buy -
but what's the rush? To become your prospect's top
priority, you must become a master of pain.

All the best until next time, when we will explore
how to create pain in your marketing and selling
processes.

Tom St. Louis

P.S. If this issue of Marketing From The Heart has
been inspiring, useful or thought-provoking, please
take a moment and forward it to your friends and
associates.

P.P.S. If you have a particular marketing challenge
or question, feel free to forward it to
questions@zerald.com. Your question may be featured
in an upcoming issue.

Go to issue #27

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