Sales presentation: What is a pain point

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Unless your customer has a need to solve a problem, they are not going to buy a product. 

Customers sometimes buy things without thinking through what they actually need and often, there is an underlying reason , even if the buyer doesn’t bring it to the surface.

The trick is to identify these pain points but how?

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The best sales meetings are discussions

The goal is to get customers speaking about their organizations and the best way to do so is by asking open ended questions.

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What is a pain point?

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Some pain points include:

• Jealousy
• Utility bills
• Guilt about emissions and global warming

Customers seek out solar information within a day or two of receiving their bill but a lot of people still perceive solar to be expensive even though the financial benefits are clear.

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Feelings

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People want to keep up with the Joneses also called F.O.M.O.( Fear of missing out) and if someone gets solar, it’s a symbol of values, self-sufficiency, independence. 

It’s a vote of confidence in solar technology!

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Open ended questions

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Designed to encourage a full, meaningful answer using the subject's own knowledge and/or feelings.

It is the opposite of a closed-ended question, which encourages a short or single-word answer that restricts information flowing from the customer to the salesperson.

Remember, people prefer to hear themselves speak rather than to listen to you!

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Don’t call it an investment

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Most solar presentations talk in investment terms. 

“Invest in your business” or “solar is a smart investment” and IRR and NPV are other terms commonly used.

Problem is most company employees are not used to making investments.

​​They make short term operational decisions so you need to focus on short term operational expenses.

“You pay $10 at the moment but could pay $8. Would you like to switch and save $2

Investing usually outside their core competency

Can talk financial nitty gritty with the CFO or equivalent later on.

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Psychology is important

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Contrast life before and after solar in your presentations and make sure the customer perceives the differences. 

Keep people in “before” slides to neutral expressions and add a happy photo to your intro and “after” slides.

People consistently remember happy faces over neutral ones and psychologists show we register smiles faster than any other expression.

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Pictures better than words

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It works because pictures are more effective than words and is called Picture Superiority.

Pictures help create connections with your audience but do not spoon feed, let them interpret, thus building trust.

Use icons to show stats, don’t list them out because lists can be boring!

It works because we process visuals much faster than text

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Simple graphics

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Follow up description  with visual examples and this works for the same reason why buyers ask for test drives because no one is convinced until you see something for itself.

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Need to keep the design clean

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Clutter provokes anxiety and stress and causes our sense to work overtime on stimuli that aren’t important:

• People can only focus for eight seconds at a time
• This is because we bombard our minds with excessive visual stimuli
• Causes our sense to work overtime on stimuli that aren’t important

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Conclusion

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Identifying a customer’s pain points allows the salesperson to address these concerns directly and by using the power of visuals over text further creates a connection between what the customer needs and what is being offered.

If you’d like to see what Greenwood Solutions get up to in the real world of renewable energy, solar, battery storage and grid protection check out our industry and commercial pages:

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https://www.greenwoodsolutions.com.au/industry 

https://www.greenwoodsolutions.com.au/commercial

https://www.greenwoodsolutions.com.au/news

https://www.greenwoodsolutions.com.au/commercial/customer-stories