Why Worry About the Pain of the Customer?

Bradley Gale and Robert Buzzell in The PIMS Principle stated, “…businesses with a superior product/service offering clearly outperform those with inferior quality.”

Does worrying about the customer’s pain really pay off?

The data from over 450 companies (in The PIMS Principle) shows that companies that care about quality and meeting customer needs have stronger customer loyalty (more repeat business) and are less vulnerable to pricing strategies (price wars). These companies can command higher prices for their products and services. They have lower marketing costs. A customer that buys from one of these companies is less likely to be challenged by management for making that decision. It is a “safe” decision.

Many companies collect pain points. We have seen lists of several hundred pain points within a division of a Fortune 500 company. How does this company decide which pain points to address? In most cases, the decisions are political, based upon who complains the loudest. Obviously, with a list of several hundred pain points, only a small percentage of these ever get attention. Much of the focus of this book is to help you decide what needs attention, how to select the appropriate issues and what strategies would address the most pain points where you have the most to gain.

As you progress through this book, realize that most customers respond to products and services that reduce their pain or their risk of pain. Do you remember the ads for headache and pain relievers from years ago? Some of these ads give you the impression that they are striving to create the headache that their product would then solve! Customers respond to pain in advertising. Any popular magazine illustrates this point. The ads, even in business magazines, often focus on one or more pain points and use the solution or reduction of pain as a key to the promotion of their product or service.

Keep in mind that the pain of the customer is the foundation of the Pain of the Customer and all of the processes described herein.

Six Ways To Prepare Your Business For Future Shift

Are you prepared for the coming shift in the economy that business futurists are predicting. Below are some tips from Scott Hamilton of Blue Velocity Partners. Join Scott and Henry DeVries for a free teleclass at 5 pm Pacific Time Tuesday October 9 by calling 712-945-1601 and then pin # 968996#.

Did you see this in the news? More than 100 homes in the upscale San Diego community of La Jolla were evacuated after a landslide about 60 yards wide pulled the earth from beneath a three-lane road and some of the multimillion-dollar homes that adorn it.

The Mayor of San Diego declared a state of emergency, asking California and the federal government to help the La Jolla community recover from the landslide.

Was this a surprise? No, cracks had appeared in the road for months. Officials warned for at least two weeks that the ground was shifting beneath the hillside community along Soledad Mountain Road.

How does this apply to your business? Please know this, there are serious cracks showing in the U.S. economy. A shift is about to happen in the world of business. You need to be able to make some hard decisions in the coming months.

According to futurist Joel Barker, it is a “leader’s responsibility to take care of the future.” Joel Barker was the first person to popularize the concept of paradigm shifts for the business world. He discovered that the concept of paradigms, which at that time was sequestered within the scientific discussion, could explain revolutionary change in all areas of human endeavor.
Barker says people shoot down good ideas because they assume that the future is merely an extension of the past. Many things we accept today once met substantial resistance from thoughtful people.

People resist change when they operate within old paradigms. These paradigms establish boundaries and provide the rules for success.

People tend to filter out information that doesn't fit the paradigm. Barker calls this the “Paradigm Effect.” This can block creative solutions to problems and the ability to see the future.

To illustrate, Barker tells stories of triumph and disaster resulting from paradigms. Here's one:
Question: What nation dominated the world of watch-making in 1968?
Answer: Switzerland, a country renowned for over a hundred years for watch-making excellence. In 1968, it held 65 per cent of the market.
Question: What nation dominates watch-making today?
Answer: Japan, a nation which, in 1968, held virtually no market share.
Reason: The introduction of the quartz watch.
Question: Who invented the quartz watch?
Answer: The Swiss. The Swiss were so certain that it was only a novelty, they showed it promiscuously at a trade show.

The Japanese came; they saw the idea; they conquered the market. The Swiss failed to see the potential because they had a financial and emotional investment in the old paradigm.
Barker says: “When a paradigm shifts, everybody goes back to zero. It doesn't matter how strong your reputation, or how big your market share, or how good you are at the old paradigm.”

Barker makes these key observations about paradigms:
1. Paradigms are common. They apply to all areas of our lives.
2. Paradigms are useful. They show us what is important.
3. A warning: Sometimes paradigms become THE paradigm — the only way to do something. Thereafter, any new idea is rejected out of hand. Barker calls this “paradigm paralysis.” It’s a terminal disease that has destroyed many a mammoth.
4. The people who create new paradigms are usually outsiders. They are not part of the established paradigm community. They need not be young, but they are people who are not invested in the old paradigm.
5. The paradigm pioneers must be courageous.
6. You can choose to change paradigms — to see the world anew.

Want to learn more? Then attend the teleclass on October 9 for free or attend this $35 workshop with Scott Hamilton October 12 in Irvine, CA:
Forecasting the Future—Joel Barker’s Strategic Exploration Business Tools
October 12, 2007
Irvine, CA
8:30am-12noon
Continental Breakfast Served
How to:
—Reduce uncertainty in your plans
—Improve the Accuracy of your Forecasts
—Achieve Consistently Better Results
Presenting the Implications Wheel® and the Strategy Matrix ® (Bonus presentation of John Kotter’s workshop—Leading Bold Change based on his bestselling business book Our Iceberg Is Melting is included.)
Key learning points addressed in this session include:
Learn how to reduce uncertainty, out-innovate and out-maneuver the competition by forecasting the implications of your decisions before they occur.
Powerful software allows you to rapidly identify positive and negative potential outcomes—even identify sources of stakeholder conflict
The Strategy Matrix uncovers the intended impacts that exist in all strategic plans
Forecasts the effect of your strategy or a competitor's innovation on your plans
Identify and remove obstacles that prevent people from taking action
You will identify additional forces that will increase or decrease the likelihood of being able to achieve true change
To Register For This Event:
The registration fee is $35 and includes continental breakfast and a catered lunch.
Click here to pay with Visa, Mastercard or American Express.
Or call toll free at (888) 857-9722.
Session held near the John Wayne Airport in Irvine, CA.
2091 Business Center Drive, Suite 230, Irvine 92612
Chris and Henry are both members of Blue Velocity Partners, a regional team of senior level consultants whose mission is to help organizations move into new spaces, take on tough decisions and navigate change. While we recognize the importance of great strategy, this is to no avail if the window of opportunity closes or the execution is flawed.

Turn Pain Into Blockbuster Marketing

Did you know that psychologists and sociologists have repeatedly found that people are more motivated to avoid pain than to seek pleasure?

For instance, in an attempt to explain how and why some individuals with pain develop a chronic pain syndrome, in 1983 Lethem et al. introduced a so-called 'fear-avoidance' model. The central concept of their model is fear of pain. 'Confrontation' and 'avoidance' are postulated as the two extreme responses to this fear, of which the former leads to the reduction of fear over time. The latter, however, leads to the maintenance or exacerbation of fear, possibly generating a phobic state. In the last decade, an increasing number of investigations have corroborated and refined the fear-avoidance model.

Another example is that microeconomic theory maintains that purchases are driven by a combination of consumer preference and price. Knutson et al. of Stanford University investigated how people weigh these factors and use pain to make purchasing decisions. These researchers demonstrated that separate parts of the brain are activated when people are confronted with financial gains versus financial losses. The study shows that distinct brain regions are triggered when consumers are offered products they wish to buy (a potential gain) and when they are offered the products' prices (representing a potential loss). The results of their study (“Neural Predictors of Purchases,” Neuron Magazine, January 2007) show that consumers are trading off the hoped for gain of making a purchase against an immediate pain: the pain of paying money.

Your target market experiences its own unique frustrations and pains. The secret to maximizing your attraction factor is to articulate the worries, frustrations and concerns that you solve. As the old adage states, “People don’t care what you know, until they know that you care.” Truly identifying your market’s predicament tells them that you understand and empathize with them.

Here are some ad headlines from companies who understand the power of pain:

“What if your labeling printer makes 12,000 errors a minute?” – Zurich American Insurance

“Here’s to road warriors with spines of steel and delicate backs” -- Courtyard by Marriott

“Nickeled and dimed? I feel like I’m being quartered.” -- Charles Schwab

“Is your cholesterol out of whack? – Crestor by AstraZeneca

“There’s more at risk than your reputation.” – Electro-Federation of Canada

“We can’t keep it from getting knocked around, but we can keep it from getting knocked out” – Tecra A8 Notebook Computer by Toshiba

“Unburden your back.” Kensington Notebook Computer Cases

“When bad vacations happen to good people.”—Travel Guard International

If you are a business who struggles with marketing, you are not alone. Many companies are tired of the rejection, frustration and mystery of marketing.

There is a better way to attract customers. The secret is to turn their pain into your gain. Start by asking customers about their pains. Then gather information on how to solve those worries, frustrations and concerns.

Let us ask you this (now be honest): Do you really understand the problems of your prospects and customers? Or do you just think you know? Make no doubt about it, the stakes are high. Wrong marketing messages will cost you potential customers and lead to more struggles and frustration.

So here’s how to become a new customer magnet. Each group of prospects experiences its own unique frustrations and pains. What’s the secret to crafting a marketing message that will maximize your attraction factor? Ask them (or have someone ask for you) about their pains. Start by asking a sample about their ideal business, and then segue into problems. Listen carefully to the exact words they use (you will want to mimic them in your marketing messages).

When you interview some current, past and potential customers about the pains you solve, here are 10 questions you should always ask:


Describe for me the “ideal” experience with a ____________ (your product or service). How do most compare to this ideal?
Describe for me a recent time that the experience was less than ideal.
What are the three most important aspects of doing business with a___________.
If I said a __________ was a good value, what would that mean to you?
In what ways does dealing with a _________ cost you besides money (time, hassle, effort, etc.)?
What is the biggest pain about working with a _________.
Would you recommend a _________ to a friend or colleague? Why, or why not?
How does working with a _________ help you make money?
What does a _________ do really well?
If you had the opportunity to work with a ________ again, would you? Why, or why not?