David Sandler pain funnel- framework

David Sandler pain funnel- framework: Sandler method is sales strategy. It enables you to find your potential buyers. It allows you to understand right customers with right products. Sandler method aims at selling more number of products to as many customers as possible. Sandler sales method helps the marketing professionals to reach business goal. Eventually, it creates mutual trust between sellers and buyers. Sandler in his words explains “pain is the strongest and interest is the weakest”

Pain is any problems recurring in the system of sales. Customers experience and inconveniences that are faced often in real time situation is what called pain. It can be analyzed through pain questions to uncover emotional understanding with your customer.

Seller-customer understanding

Sandler method makes you understand right approach to deal with the customer. It also helps to devise the suitable sales methods to your marketing team. Coming to pain funnel, it is a system of questions and statements give emotional understanding of pain through open ended questions. It is done to uncover the prospects of pain.

Pain funnel

This pain funnel is invented by David Sandler. It is developed in 1967. It is an integral part of Sandler selling system. It is more of customer-centric system than seller. It works like a sales representative who represents your product as well. It convinces the customer to choose a better product for their need. Pain funnel acts as a filter that keeps informing the seller about the customer needs. Thus it is a marketing strategy to uncover the sales prospect. The gain which you get through emotional understanding is the result of “Pain”.

What it does?

To put simply, it is a set of organized questions to ask customers. The responses you receive is put to understanding. The difficulty of the customer is going to be resolved with the products you sell. Here, you get more convincing and pushy approaches to sell your product. It benefits the customer to solve his/her problem and the seller to improve business prospects. You can anyway filter your potential buyers/ demographic audience from others. Ultimately, you save your time and stay concentrated on the queries of customers who can definitely turn to buy your product.

Sales funnel framework

Steps of Sandler selling system

There are seven steps in Sandler selling system. When you are interested to try out this Sandler sales method, do these steps before you begin the process. Final buying preference of the prospect comes through these seven levels. To the bottom relies the result whether, the customer chooses to buy your product or not.

Bonding and rapport

To attract clients, building good rapport is very important. It is a sales oriented conversations decide the success of the sales. It is a trust factor to transform you into an effective seller. There are ways to strengthen this bond with clients Rapport you create with clients should be sympathetic and mutual. You must stand in the place of customers to have better understanding. Once you create this friendly bond, rest of the steps will happen gradually. This try shows that you are more concerned about the buyer and customer. On the other hand, their needs can be communicated while building this rapport.

Bonding and rapport involve other marketing tools like active listening, mirroring and matching. To create such rapport, starting with questions is the best way. Use questions that induce the interests of prospects. Don’t stop just by asking questions. Following that, listen to them closely. Try to respond their questions with real concern. Thus it shows you more authentic and trustworthy.

Tips to build bond and rapport with prospects

1. Understand your way of approach
2. Improve your communication style
3. Add value to what you provide to the prospects
4. Create a friendly and congenial atmosphere
5. Transparency is the key goal
6. Always be genuine with your sales aspect
7. Play a role of mutual beneficial

Up-front contracts

Up-front contract is purely a Sandler method. It occurs when two or more people meet for sales. Up-front contract is creating a same page for both selling and buying parties. This means behavior and expectations of the sales should be discussed within this contract time. 95% of time is spent on discussing the agreements that are shared precisely in the meeting. A good up-front contract is decided by the subconscious comfort that you create with the other party. Fixing the meeting time and knowing the concept of the meeting should be in a same page.

There are five essential elements in up-front contracts

Purpose

Tell the other party why you want to have business meeting?

Behavior and expectation

You must be precise about the time, place and the prospect of your business. You must be ready to face anything that happens during the meet.

Other party’s expectation

They shout know what the meeting is about. They must know what questions or information they are asked to give during the meet.

Time

Both the parties should know the time, place, date, location and aspect of discussion and expectations at the end of discussion or deals.

Result

At the end of the up-front contract, you can continue only when there is yes. If the other party disagrees or says “no”, then you should not continue further.

This happens like any sales meeting where a representative explaining contracts and agreements.

Pain

Pain is analyzed through specific set of open ended questions. They cannot be answered in “yes” or “no”.  It is made on the basis of present customer problems faced while buying. It may include any problem of the customer in their journey as a potential customer. Must ask questions to get the emotional understanding of customer may be asked like below,

• Can you be more specific? Give me an example
• How long has that been a problem?
• What have you tried to do about that?
• How did that work?
• How much do you think this has cost you?
• How do you feel about that?
• Have you given up trying to deal with the problem?

How pain questions can be analyzed?

Pain questions can be analyzed in a selling system through three effective means. They are,

Online surveys

As a market analyst you can conduct online surveys to those potential audience. It is one effective method that can get you the specific information from the customers. Current recurring problem of customer is easily conveyed by this method.

Social Listening

Social listening is a process where you can have online conversation about your brand or company. This can tell you their idea about your brand, and improvements needed from your business. This is like tracking the live sentiments in real time.

Live chat

This you can do with your business website.  Live chat is right down at the bottom of your website. It is often done to create a customer friendly zone. This is where field experts resolve the queries asked on live. Business owners or market analyst can capture the actual emotion and doubts or hindrances that stopping them to buy your product.

Your questions should be set on the basis of this analysis. Then it is more effective and can be asked widely to such potential audience.

Pain elements

According to Sandler selling system, pain needs to be personal, emotional and compelling. There are three pain elements. They are:

• Surface
• Business impact
• Personal impact

There are 4 buying motives of Sandler.

• Pain in the present
• Pain in the future
• Pleasure in the present
• Pleasure in the future

Budget

Budget in sales is a financial plan prepared by sales manager. It is preparing and executing sales plan with the existing revenue and expected sales. This is like an estimation tells how your revenue is going to be spent on. It is derived by two components. They are: number of products sold and price of products. This is a prediction and pre plan where and when you wisely choose to spend your total business revenue. Expected sales revenue is based on this budget. Expected sales can be achieved by increasing the number of units sold at the selling price. There are four types of sales budget.

Incremental

Traditional budget method built. Budget is prepared on current performance and sales. Adding to the previous year budget the current account gets added. This is done to see the actual performance of your company sales.

Activity-based

It is only flexible way of preparing budget. Here you need to focus on your customers. On the basis of their needs, you should customize your budget. You keep repeating the same when it works or add few other prospects to experiment sales.

Value proposition

On the estimated value of your business and company sales, budget can be prepared.

Zero-based

It is otherwise known as ZBB. Here you need to justify the plans you made to spend your money. By justifying, you come to know where you need to spend less and more; higher and lower.

Decision

Sales Decision Process is often called SDP. It is a formal process in sales. This includes steps from your initial approach to the purchase. It helps to manage customer data. Steps involved in sales decision are:

Objective

objective is setting clear business and sales goals of your company. It is the initial approach you have towards your business prospects.

Processing

Processing is planning and execution of your sales goals.

Communication

This is where you interact with your potential buyers and tries to end the sales system with a purchase.

Data collection

Collecting the expected sales data which may give end result purchase.

Reports

By this step, you know who can come closely to purchase your product. This is where as a sales manager or representative, you decide to make decision to move further with the set of customers or not.

Fulfillment

Fulfillment process in sales is receiving goods on the decisions made. Then the process follows processing and delivering the goods to the customers. It comprises the steps from the beginning of the orders and ends by delivering it. For the customer, when he/she receives the product. This step should also include returns. Sometimes, the customer may feel that the product is not worth buying. In that case, you must be ready to return the transaction the customer made.

Fulfillment is not about selling the product; but about gaining their trust. They should think that the sales team tries to give right products to right customers. It is always customer-centric process. Anyway, you can strategies in such a way that you don’t get any returns. When getting goods or products for customers, make sure you do the quality check. Remember you already made some contracts. So, there is no other go. You must fulfill the expectation of the customers with their purchase.

Post-sell

You should not stop with delivering the products in sales. Always, you need to follow up for services after delivery. Post sales analysis is necessary to improve your business to the next level. This can give your some real time experiences which you may adopt or leave in your next sales. Post sales services with customers encourage them to have continuous business tie up with you. They decide your product quality by which you can improve your company or brand name with credibility for a long term. It builds a strong customer-seller relationship. Post-sell services are a strategy that can end up widening your sales aspect.

This is how works Sandler pain funnel framework. Ultimately, it aims to increase sales and build customer-seller relationship together. There is no wonder, many sales team tries and get trained in Sandler sales system to reach their business goals!