THE PAIN CHAIN

An effective methodology to track

a problem’s impacts right through

an organisation to create a truly

compelling value proposition

THE PAIN CHAIN IS A GREAT SALES TOOL BECAUSE

• A Pain Chain helps you:

Understand the full impact a

problem is having on an

organisation

Widens your base of contacts in

an organisation

Help you qualify an opportunity

by having a deeper perspective

Prepare a powerful value

proposition and sales proposal

Improve your negotiating

position

DOMINO EFFECT

• All the people and functions

within an organisation depend

on each other

• An impact in one area will have

impacts on other areas

• When exploring a problem in an

organisation, a key question is

“Who else does this affect and

how?”

FOLLOWING A PROBLEM WIDENS YOUR CONTACTS

• Today organisations buy

collaboratively

• The sales challenge is to identify

everybody with a say in the

decision

• Following a Pain Chain will take

you to everybody affected by a

problem

MORE CONTACTS MEANS BETTER KNOWLEDGE

• Talking to all the people affected

by your proposal will result in

better information and

perspective

• Understanding all the solution’s

impacts in an organisation helps

you qualify the opportunity

better

• Being able to propose a

thorough value proposition

differentiates your solution and

increases its value

HERE’S HOW THE PAIN CHAIN WORKS…

PROBLEMS, REASONS, IMPACTS AND EFFECTS

• A PROBLEM is caused by a

REASON

• A Problem has an IMPACT –

probably financial – on the

person you’re talking to

• A Problem also has knock on

EFFECTS in other parts of the

organisation

REASON

PROBLEM

IMPACT

EFFECTS

THE PAIN CHAIN IS A POWERFUL TOOL

• The Pain Chain often looks like an organisation chart, but it’s not

• Problems at one level become reasons at the next level up

• Use it as a living document to plan and refine a pursuit

• In meetings, the Pain Chain can help diagnose a problem’s impacts

• In presentations, the Pain Chain can show the end-to-end effects of a problem

• The Pain Chain is a great basis for internal sales reviews

FOLLOWING A PAIN CHAIN

• Chief Information Officer

Problem and Effect

The marketing function are

unhappy because they can’t

implement new promotions

quickly enough

Reason

“The booking system is old. It’s

hard to make changes and they

take a lot of time”

Impact

The old system is expensive to

maintain and that’s costing £n

FOLLOWING A PAIN CHAIN

• Chief Marketing Officer

Problem and Effect

Sales are reduced because we

can’t get attractive offers to

market

Reason

“We’re losing market share

because we can’t introduce new

booking promotions fast

enough”

Impact

We’re having to spend more to

promote the offers we can make

and that’s costing £n

FOLLOWING A PAIN CHAIN

• Chief Sales Officer

Problem and Effect

“I’m getting grief from the CFO

because sales targets aren’t

being met”

Reason

“We’re losing business

customers because our offer

isn’t exciting enough”

Impact

The sales team isn’t as effective

as it could be and that’s costing

£n

FOLLOWING A PAIN CHAIN

• Chief Financial Officer

Problem and Effect

Missing quarterly revenue and

profit forecasts

Reason

“The sales targets aren’t being

met”

Impact

Our revenues are reducing but

our costs are constant so our

profitability is reduced by £n

FOLLOWING A PAIN CHAIN

• Chief Executive Officer

Problem and Effect

Earnings per share is falling

Reason

“We’re missing our quarterly

revenue and profit forecasts”

Impact

Shareholder value is falling

because market capitalisation

has reduced by £n

THE COMPLETE PAIN CHAIN

CEO Problem: Decreasing earnings per share Reason: Missing revenue and profit forecasts

CFO Problem: Missing revenue and profit forecasts Reason: Sales targets not being met

CSO Problem: Sales targets not being met Reason: Selling offers not exciting enough

CMO Problem: Selling offers not exciting enough Reason: Can’t introduce new promotions fast enough

CIO Problem: Can’t introduce new promotions fast enough Reason: Inflexible booking system

EVERY LINK IN THE PAIN CHAIN HAS A FINANCIAL IMPACT

Problem Reason Financial Impact CEO Decreasing earnings

per share

Missing revenue and profit forecasts

Reduced market capitalisation - £?

CFO Missing revenue and profit forecasts

Sales targets not being met

Lost revenue and margin - £?

CSO Sales targets not being met

Selling offers not exciting enough

Increased cost/sales ratio - £?

CMO Selling offers not exciting enough

Can’t introduce new promotions fast enough

Increased marketing costs - £?

CIO Can’t introduce new promotions fast enough

Inflexible booking system

High maintenance costs - £?

AND THE VALUE PROPOSITION BECOMES…

• The new booking system will enable you to:

Reduce your current IT costs by £n as result of having a more flexible booking system

Increase your market share by being able to implement new promotions faster whilst reducing current marketing costs by £n

Sell more by having more exciting frequent offers and increasing sales productivity by £n

Increase revenues and margins by an estimated £n

Increase earning per share and stop decline in market capitalisation

SUMMARY

SUMMARY

• The Pain Chain

Gets you wider access in an

organisation

Helps you shape a stronger value

proposition

Enables you to build stronger

relationships

• As you talk to people, recognise

Problems are caused by reasons

and have a financial impact

The reason at one level becomes

the problem at the previous level

HELPFUL?

• If you’ve found this helpful and

want to learn more, now

schedule an hour’s sales

coaching with me to help you

apply the principles to your

situation.

• Go to Sales Coaching at Sales

Success and More!

• Mike McCormac founded Sales Success and More to help professional sales people selling high value services achieve more. He has an MBA and his sales background includes over 15 years success selling IT services and outsourcing. Mike works mainly in the UK and Cyprus.

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• Call me +357 99 860725