To make a problem feel real, don't just state it—paint a vivid picture. Specify *who* feels the pain (e.g., "lawyers at insurance defense firms"), *when* it happens ("closing on a new building"), and use emotional words ("frustrated," "ridiculous") to describe the feeling. This makes the problem tangible and urgent.
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Instead of only showing your solution, ask the prospect to share their screen and walk through their current workflow. This "reverse demo" vividly exposes flaws in their system, making the need for your solution painfully obvious to everyone on the call, as evidenced by a crashing Excel file.
A benefit like "accelerate monthly close" is not a problem. To make it compelling for a cold call, reverse-engineer the underlying pain by asking why a prospect would care. The answer—"monthly close takes too long because of manual error cleanup"—reveals the actual problem you should lead your pitch with.
Simply promising a desired outcome feels like a generic 'win the lottery' pitch. By first articulating the audience's specific pain points in detail, you demonstrate deep understanding. This makes them feel seen and validates you as a credible expert who can actually deliver the solution.
Most pitches fail by leading with the solution. Instead, spend the majority of your time vividly describing a triggering problem the prospect likely faces. If you nail the problem, the solution becomes self-evident and requires minimal explanation, making the prospect feel understood and more receptive.
True urgency comes from implicating pain, not just identifying it. By asking the customer "who suffers and what suffers if you do nothing?", you tie the problem to their personal job measures and company revenue, giving you leverage to re-engage them.
Pitching a solution's features is ineffective because a product's value is meaningless without the context of a problem it solves. Buyers don't care about your "titanium coating" until they understand it solves their problem of "scrubbing egg crust off the pan." Start with the pain to make them care about your solution.
To move beyond metrics and access the emotional resonance of a problem, ask prospects about the specific moment they realized something had to change. This question prompts them to tell a story, often involving senior leadership, which reveals the true business impact and urgency.
Effective marketing focuses on pain, not promise. If you can describe a prospect's struggles with excruciating detail, they will implicitly trust that you know the solution, often before you present your offer. The pain is the pitch.
Move beyond just identifying a problem by asking for the specific story or "magic moment" the prospect realized it needed to be fixed. This uncovers the emotional context and visceral details of their pain, which is far more powerful for building a business case.
In the first minute of a cold call, resist the urge to pitch your product. Instead, lead with a 'reverse pitch' that focuses entirely on the prospect's potential problems. This approach is three times more effective than using solution-focused language, as it speaks to what the buyer actually cares about.
