Brooke,
I just joined Self Coaching Scholars and I’m finding it very useful for me personally and for my business. I am a franchise consultant; basically a recruiter for franchises. I find senior level executives and retired military officers who want to explore business ownership and consider franchising as an alternative, then I match them a franchise that makes good sense for them. A sales technique that we are taught in our industry, and I suspect in other high ticket sales industries, is to see if our prospects are in “enough pain” to buy what you are selling. Many sales training programs teach this technique, and we say that if someone isn’t ready to buy, they are not enough pain. I was just listened to your most recent Q&A podcast which had the topic of doing something, like changing a job, to make you happy, and that doing it to be happy or happier shouldn’t be the reason. I totally understood what you were saying, and that sort of makes me feel that there is a motivation gap that sales people are missing. We think we need to help people find the pain to buy something to be happier. But your podcast made the point that we shouldn’t make changes just to be happier. I truly want to help my clients experience business ownership as a way of life, and in many ways I become a life coach for my clients. I want to figure out how I can guide them, not so they will be happy, but because they want to, but it just doesn’t jive with the “find the pain” sales technique. What are your thoughts on finding pain to get people to buy?