The Key to Inviting Visitors

Our friends at the Sandler Sales Institute describe PAIN as “the emotional attachment to intellectual need.” In other words, it is what drives us to make buying decisions, including whether or not to consider visiting a chapter or buying a BNI membership. PAIN can be categorized in one of three areas:

· Immediate problem
· Fear of future
· Gain or how can I make the buyer a hero

Immediate problem has a greater impact on the reason to buy than the other two.

Gain has the least amount of influence.

If your approach to inviting visitors involves selling "Gain", change your approach by asking more PAIN-related questions. Here are two examples:

EXAMPLE: "Would you like to have a larger network of trusted referral contacts for your clients to choose from?" (that’s Gain)

BETTER: "What happens when your clients must choose from a limited network of service providers and they can't rely on a referral from you?" (that's Pain)

EXAMPLE: “Would you like to meet some people who could get you more business?” (that’s Gain)

BETTER: “Some of my friends refer business to your competitors because they don’t know who you are. How come they know your competitors and not you?” (that’s Pain)

Understanding the types of PAIN will lead you to ask more effective questions. When you learn to uncover PAIN, you discover the emotional reasons for intellectual need…and that is what drives the decision-making process.