Mapping Pain to Win Government Contracts

Hello…and welcome back. A few episodes back, we worked to debunk the myth that you should always go to the top. We told a couple of painful stories…at least painful for me…about how going to the very top doesn’t always work. So, where do you go?  You go to where the pain is.

In a great book by Keith Eades, The New Solution Selling, he talks about something called a “pain chain.”    A pain chain is a way of identifying the people, up and down the stream, and their pain points.  It’s a tenet of “consultative selling,” a concept we kinda beat up on a few episodes ago…though we still buy in to its general principles.  We’ve modified the Eades approach only slightly to better fit government selling.  It starts with what Eades refers to as a “key players list.”

The key players list is just as it sounds—a roster of people whose influence is significant.  You’ll go through a discovery process, made possible by some of the tips in earlier episodes, in our book, and our blogs.  You’ll want to make sure you ask questions surrounding the organizational structure and which individuals are touched by the project.  You’ll be able to do this because you’ve established relationships and gotten them to come to year.  (Review earlier episodes on how.).

Now, everyone on the list doesn’t have to be a big cheese.  Many times, some of the most influential people in the sales process do not carry a prestigious title.  Make sure these folks are included as well. If you don’t know who they are, keep digging until you find them.  

Remember my stories about failing to close a deal even with a relationship with a Cabinet Secretary, and the one about the top general of the Indian army.  My biggest problem was that I didn’t have engagement downstream…um, there was no upstream.  That’s why I failed.  Now, your bosses are going to enjoy introducing you to bigshots. (Investors really like doing that.) Don’t mess up those opportunities…but, also make sure...make sure... you’ve engaged folks downstream. Don’t make the same mistake I did. All you’ll get is an opportunity to tell a story about visiting the White House…or India.

So, now you have your pain map list. Next, you identify critical pain points, fears, or significant motivators for each individual on the list. Remember, pain points and fears are negative consequences associated with an unsolved problem.  For an elected official, for example, not fulfilling a highly visible campaign promise might be a pain point.  Motivators are things that might move an individual to a better perceived state of being.  Achieving a goal that leads to a career promotion for an appointed official might be a motivator.  Do not underestimate the power of motivators in the government space—other B2B selling systems tend to overlook this and focus mainly on pain points.

The next step in the pain mapping process:   connect pain points and motivators across individuals.  You can do this visually to help see the various connections more easily.  Once this process is complete, you will have a pretty nice picture of who your key targets should be and what will push their hot button.  

For example, let’s imagine our prospect is the IT Director for a mid-sized city.  The Mayor is catching grief from the public about the city’s overall emergency response capabilities.  Consider the fears this might create. Response times for the fire department consistently appear below national standards.  (We’ve had a good client who tackles his particular problem.)

Though the mayor leads the city, the Fire Chief is responsible for addressing the issue, so the pain is connected from the Mayor to him.  As we delve into root causes of the pain, we see that response times are slow because of dispatching bottlenecks in the 9-1-1 center.  This is a challenge for the 9-1-1 Director (so she’s connected to the Fire Chief).

Further digging reveals two root causes:    1) the 9-1-1 software’s inability to locate cellular-based callers, and 2) its inability to track fire/rescue truck locations in real time.

This leads us to the connection with the City IT Director (the prospect) who must deal with an aging dispatch system, along with political ramifications upstream.  See how it works. 

Truly understanding how these problems are interrelated across people and departments can give you excellent insights into how to approach the sale, while helping you identify other allies (or foes) on whom you should be concentrating.  

For example, say, the IT Director is your champion, your coach. You could suggest to him that a meeting with the Fire Chief might make sense. The Fire Chief, while not the ultimate decision-maker, may be impressed…and could become an advocate.  And, you’re going to need as many advocates as you can get.  You didn’t go to the top, to the mayor, but you set yourself up to get support from the top.  And, since you’ve done a good pain map, you know what will motivate the mayor the most.  

Now, let me introduce you to my friend AIDA.  AIDA, spelled A-I-D-A.  

In advertising, there is an acronym used to describe the process for creating successful and persuasive ads.  It’s called the AIDA model and it consists of the following components:  Attention, Interest, Desire, Action…that’s Attention, Interest, Desire, Action…AIDA.

Do not let the fact that this model comes from Planet Marketing bother you.  This model works for sales and business development types, too. The same steps apply for persuading key players within the sales environment as they do for creating winning advertising campaigns.

Let’s take them one by one.  Attention <swoosh>

Our brains are constantly bombarded with input.  So many that we learn to subconsciously filter…so we won’t go completely bananas.  This is great for the brain but bad for the salesperson, because you must capture a prospect’s attention before you can do anything else.  

Interest <soosh>. Assumed you’ve cut through all of the input…and gotten their attention, your work has only just begun. The next challenge is to quickly communicate information that piques interest,  lest they move on to the next distraction.  

As a part of the filtering process, our subconscious brains scan the environment looking for things that connect in some way to our perceptions regarding personal safety, conscious or subconscious fears, and emotional attachments.  When we feel this connection, we may then focus our attention around the message in order to explore the information in greater detail.

Once the first step of getting a prospect’s attention is gained, your job as a salesperson is to quickly “hit” them with a thought or idea that stimulates their interest.  This makes fertile ground for the next stage.  

Desire. <soosh> Desire, by definition, is the “longing for something that is at the moment beyond reach but may be attainable at some future time.”   It’s an internal tension when we do not yet have in our grasp, a thing that would provide some  physical or emotional benefit.  

For salespeople, making a prospect uncomfortable can work…you know, establish some desire.  No, not through obnoxious or manipulating behavior, but through the ability to create a realization in the prospect’s mind that they are missing something important, beneficial or pain-relieving.  Recognize that there are multiple levels of desire, and your first goal is to generate enough mental tension to push the sales process forward.   

Don’t worry about hurting feelings.  Government buyers are generally tough-skinned.  They’re accustomed to disagreements, pressure, and criticism.  They generally want candor more than they want to be made comfortable by a vendor.  The more action-oriented they are, the truer this characteristic. 

Action.  <swoosh>. All the desire in the world won’t help if you can’t generate some sort of response or action.  Of course, the ultimate action is for the prospect to buy what you’re selling.  However, like desire, there are multiple actions you may need the prospect to take depending on the phase of the sales process.  

At first, it may be as simple as persuading the prospect to take your initial call.  Later, you may need the prospect to act as a coach (or cheerleader) for other influencers.  (No government sale is made without a coach.)  Sometimes, the desired action is no action at all. For example, there are influencers in government who may not have the power to buy something, but do have the power to mess up your deal. Whatever the case, action will not occur unless attention, interest and desire have been created beforehand.

OK, now that you have mapped out the key players and their associated pains, and you’re well-acquainted with our friend AIDA , you’re ready to develop a battle plan for communicating with your prospects and key influencers.  

You may want to create a Key Player Strategy Worksheet. You list out each key player, highlight his or her primary pain points or fears, and remind yourself of their “pain map” connections.  Plus, it allows you to plan for methods to capture each individual’s attention, interest and desire.  Finally, it provides a place to specify the exact action you’d like for this individual to take.

It should be noted that everything we’ve discussed here relates to situations where you are selling ahead of the RFP.  This is one of the reasons why it is so important to be in front of a prospect long before an official document is released. (Perhaps, we’ve mentioned that before…maybe even a lot.). 

Hey, I really appreciate your listening...and I hope I’m helping.  I would welcome any comments, referrals...and, if you have a topic you’d like me to cover, just let me know.  Send me an email to rick@govselling.com...or reach out via LinkedIn.  Or go to the govselling.com web site.