Triggers and Pain Points

Triggers and pain points in marketing are the critical mass of turning prospects into customers.

What are pain points?

Think of it this way.

Imagine you sell greeting cards. A customer walks in and says,

Customer: “Oh gosh, I’m so glad you’re here. I’m going to the hospital, and I forgot to get a card! I Googled cards and saw you were on the way!”

You: “I’m glad I can help you. Who are you visiting?”

Customer: “My mother. She’s having a hysterectomy. She’s so nervous”

You: “I see. I’m so sorry. So, you’ll want something that she can have by her bedside to remind her that you’re there for her?”

Customer: “EXACTLY!”

That is an external trigger, but, what is the pain point? The hospital. No. The pain point is that she’s going to the hospital and needs a reminder, and not just any reminder, a reminder that she CAN’T PUT INTO WORDS HERSELF.

By asking the questions, you get to the pain point. By getting to the pain point, you’re showing that you value that person as a person.

At this point, you’re not selling anything. You’re a caregiver, much like her doctor. You’re relieving the customer’s pain.

So, do you think she’s going to shop for a cheaper card? Not usually. In fact, she’ll be comforted by paying more because she’ll feel that it has more value and she values her mother.

What are triggers?

Triggers are what cause a person to buy. They are the immediate cause. They may be as simple as a limited quantity, or a sale by date.

But much of the research on triggers is from psychologists who often take a “lab rat” approach to selling.

I guarantee you that people can read through this like they’re reading through a recently cleaned store window!

If you treat your customers like lab rats, don’t be surprised if they see you as an exterminator.

Something was lost when people started using money.

Money has only been used worldwide in the last couple hundred years.

Prior to that, people used barter. Barter systems are hard to imagine in todays society. Every barter transaction is a value on value transaction. In fact, the skill is totally lost today, even though it’s firmly embedded in our genes.

My college friends have an agreement. When we do work for each other, we charge full price. Why? We value our friendship. Imagine one person installs hardwood floors and another is a lawyer. How do exchange one guy busting his ass on a floor and another sitting in an air-conditioned office without money?

Keep in mind, barter is embedded in our genes. In other words, we recognize barter even though it no longer exists.

Please read on.

Equal and unequal exchanges.

Ever notice how people try to equalize Christmas gifts? Why do they do that? Wouldn’t it be better to maximize what you get?

Exchanges are based on trust, but they also create trust. Many native American tribes, once a year, would give away everything they owned. In return, they’d get back everything someone else owned! It was how tribes create trust.

In marketing, people will feel the need to reciprocate gifts, but those gifts don’t have to be monetary.  The above card store created an exchange by caring and knowing!

Caring and knowing are very powerful in exchanges.

They’re value added. Without them, all you have left are 50% sales.

Why do so many marketers misunderstand triggers?

Because they’re obsessed with community college experiments with psychology.

I once read a book written by a world class psychologist who did an experiment where he put a bag of snickers bars and a plate of $1 bills next to the candy machine in a college to see what would get stolen the fastest. He then used this “study” to write a book about marketing!

Would you let this clown design your marketing campaign?

People have internal and external triggers.

When someone goes to the mall, the trigger is not the 50% off sale. They’re already shopping!  All a sale does is make the customer feel comforted because they are not paying suggested retail price for a product sold by a company that they know doesn’t give a rat’s ass about them!

This is not where YOU want to be.

So, it’s a good idea to stay away from these types of external triggers unless you have no other choice.

Can you make money running continuous sales?

Sure, if you have 3,000 220,000 square foot stores and a nationwide distribution network. If you don’t, you’ll find yourself working 70 hours a week for the same money you’d make as a postal clerk.

How do I use pain points and triggers?

Next, create a list of the following items and brainstorm how you can apply them to your marketing campaign.

• How can I create an unequal exchange so customers will feel guilty (pain point) buying from someone else when their internal trigger is turned on.
• How can I create an image as the leading expert in a field, so they choose me as the best person to relieve their pain when the trigger goes off.
• How can I create a unique ease of use device so even though the customer may want someone else, they choose me. This can be anything from expanded hours, home visits, (for example, dog groomers where the dogs aren’t car friendly) easy payment terns or a dozen other things.

Create tribal exchanges. These can be things like book clubs, cycling clubs, cycle tours, ski clubs, fashion shows etc., where the customer doesn’t want to be left out. (pain point)  Make them feel like James Bond.

This would be where they associate with your product or service for a reason other than the actual utility of a product all the while focusing on the pain point.

People don’t go on diets because they want to lose weight, they go on diets because of the pain of being overweight. Associate being someone else, specifically someone aspirational, with the product.

In summary, once you’ve determined the customers pain points, using triggers is easy because they’re not something you have to create.

You don’t have to give someone a toothache, force them to overeat or poison their puppy.

These internal triggers happen to people every day. If you focus on value added, feel their pain and make an honest choice to relieve it, you won’t have to chase customers.

They’ll knock your door down to come to you.

Remember, advertising and marketing are not sciences, they’re social sciences. Don’t allow yourself to be sucked into the lab rat approach to your customers. People not only see right through it, but all of our communications systems, from sight, to hearing, to use of words to facial expressions are designed to root it out.

The best way to appear honest is to be honest. The best way to be perceived as caring is to actually care.