Fostering Obsession

Much like chronic, physical pain, the attention that prospects and clients pay to chronic business pain oscillates. It moves up & down. It comes and goes.

Most of the time they’ll repress that pain. When they feel it, they’ll try to ignore it, just learn to live with it, so they can get things done in their day.

But, on those days when the pain is high enough, they may search out a potential solution online or actually respond to our email or phone call.

When we get that opportunity to finally talk to them, chances are high we’ll uncover their chronic pain.

At that point our job needs to be this simple: Convert their oscillating attention to the pain (and hope of a solution) into an obsession to remedy the pain. Unless we do that, nothing will happen.   

So how do you do that?

By keying in on the impact of that pain going unresolved for them personally. Have them describe what that pain feels like. Ask them how it impacts their mood, their productivity, their teamwork, their problem-solving, and any other parts of their job. Have them describe all of that in great detail.

And then you ask them if anyone else they work with has expressed those same feelings. What have they said?

The more they verbalize what they’re feeling and what others have said, the greater the probability that they’ll see how all that discomfort is related. And that the problem goes beyond them.

When you then switch gears and focus on the benefits of the problem being solved, and they again verbalize how that would make them feel, an image emerges.

Actually two images.

One is the negative situation and all the negative consequences that go with it. And the other is what life will be like once the problem is solved and how that will feel.

The more vivid those pictures are, the greater the chance for obsession. Instead of oscillating attention to the problem, their mind now ping-pongs between those negative & positive pictures and the feelings that both of them evoke.

And that obsession is what leads to sales.

Have a great week!

Bob

P.S. Do you have any chronic pain in your business world? The topic could make for an interesting article. Just send me an email describing it to: [email protected]. Thanks.