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Most Sales Advice About Pain Is Wrong (Including Mine)
You’ve probably heard the rule in sales:
No pain, no deal.
Most of the time, it’s true. If a prospect isn’t experiencing a problem they want to fix, there’s usually no reason for them to spend money to change anything.
But there are two important exceptions that most sales advice ignores.
In this episode, Ray breaks down when prospects will still buy—even if they aren’t currently feeling any symptoms. From hidden risks that haven’t surfaced yet to powerful desire for a future outcome, these two triggers explain why some deals close even when the buyer doesn’t feel immediate pain.
If you’ve ever heard a prospect say “Everything is fine right now” but still wanted the deal, this episode will help you understand what to look for.
What You’ll Learn in This Episode:
- Why the classic sales rule “no pain, no deal” is usually right—but not always
- What high-stakes latent pain is and why it can motivate action without symptoms
- Why some hidden risks are serious enough to drive buying decisions
- How intense desire for a future outcome can create its own pressure to buy
- Why people sometimes buy solutions even when nothing feels broken today
- The two specific triggers that still lead to a deal when visible pain isn’t present
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This podcast is where Ray thinks through hard decisions — especially when the usual playbooks stop working.
If that approach resonates, that’s what you’ll find more of here.
New to the show? The “Start Here” playlist outlines what the podcast is about and how to approach it:
https://player.captivate.fm/collection/a7577a6f-15da-4521-b214-35e4e47f320b
Transcript
Can you close a sale with a prospect that doesn't have any pain?
Speaker A:Most sales advice, including a lot of my own, I would say is, would say no.
Speaker A:Right?
Speaker A:Like if you, if you don't have any problems, if you don't have any symptoms, if you don't have any pain that you want to go away, there's really no reason to invest your time, money, energy, whatever it is into making any changes.
Speaker A:And all sales is about change.
Speaker A:That's why we say like painkillers are a hell of a lot easier to sell than vitamins.
Speaker A:Um, which is true.
Speaker A:But there are two exceptions that I want to share with you briefly now real quick.
Speaker A:If you, if you want a written breakdown of ideas like this, I send that out weekly.
Speaker A:You can subscribe@raiseemail.com for free.
Speaker A:The two exceptions for selling without any pain that the prospect is experiencing.
Speaker A:The first is if they have a high stakes latent pain.
Speaker A:There aren't any symptoms.
Speaker A:But, but in the process of your discovery or your process, you identify something that's asymptomatic, but it has a significant impact.
Speaker A:It's going to change the dynamic.
Speaker A:So for example, say you go to the doctor for physical, and the doctor says, wait, Ray, like your, your blood pressure is 130 over 85.
Speaker A:It's slightly elevated.
Speaker A:If I, if I'm not already, am I going to change my lifestyle to fix that?
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:Am I going to immediately start training for 10K and you know, cut back on, you know, any junk foods and stuff that I like and start eating my, my broccoli and kale diet?
Speaker A:Probably not, right?
Speaker A:Like that's not enough of an asymptomatic pain.
Speaker A:Like, oh, hey cool, like it's slightly elevated.
Speaker A:I, I could be better, but still not worth the effort.
Speaker A:But suppose that they tell you you've got a heart condition, like high grade arterial blockage of like 80 to 90% blocked.
Speaker A:Would you make some changes then?
Speaker A:Well, most of us would say yeah, right?
Speaker A:Like the, the vast majority of people would say that's enough to start making some, some life changes.
Speaker A:You know, prior to that, you're walking around, you're doing just fine, you weren't experiencing any symptoms.
Speaker A:But this latent pain that was identified for you is significant enough, right?
Speaker A:Like the, the, the impact of it is severe enough that you're still motivated to make the changes necessary to make it go away, even though you're not necessarily feeling it.
Speaker A:And the same thing happens in business.
Speaker A:If you find a severe latent pain for somebody as long as they understand what the impact is.
Speaker A:Like, as long as they believe the severity of what you've identified, then even if they don't have the symptoms today, then they're still going to be motivated to change.
Speaker A:Right?
Speaker A:So that's symptom one or that's exception one.
Speaker A:Sorry.
Speaker A:Now exception two is if they want something so bad that it creates pain on themselves, right?
Speaker A:Because people buy stuff because they, they have a desire for some future state.
Speaker A:Not necessarily because they have a pain that they want to go away today, but because they want something.
Speaker A:And if they want it bad enough, that desire actually creates a sense of pain for me.
Speaker A:And internally, like, so here's what I mean.
Speaker A:Like, you go to the car lot looking for a Camry, you know, nice family car, we got to get around.
Speaker A:It's, you know, nothing against Camry, but, you know, it's.
Speaker A:You're probably not going to break the bank or make some, some poor financial decisions to take home the sweet Camry.
Speaker A:On the other hand, you go to the Porsche dealership and say you're looking at that 911, that you've wanted it since you were 13 years old, and you test drive it, you're like, oh, my God, like, this is.
Speaker A:And you've.
Speaker A:And you've won this.
Speaker A:For decades, you've wanted this car.
Speaker A:And I don't know, like, at some point, I think you, you, you start justifying some shit really quickly.
Speaker A:When that's the case, like, you're like, I could probably move some things around and maybe it's not such a bad decision.
Speaker A:And I'm not saying sell stuff to people that they don't need.
Speaker A:What I'm saying is that it.
Speaker A:When the desire is intense enough, when I say, damn, I want that thing so much that not having it creates a sense of pain, people are motivated to take action.
Speaker A:Like, they're gonna, they're gonna start spending money, they're gonna make changes, they're gonna invest their resources.
Speaker A:So vast majority of the time, no, if you have no pain, no symptoms, you're not gonna have a deal.
Speaker A:But the two exceptions, when you, when you have a latent pain with enough severity to motivate somebody to take action, or they simply want something so bad that you're create, they're creating their own pain by not having it, and you have the solution for that.
Speaker A:Otherwise, no pain, no deal.
Speaker A:Hope that helps.
Speaker A:Adios.
