I’ve done a few different sales jobs in my time (he says stroking his old salesman’s beard) and the most difficult to get to grips with was the one which involved selling solutions that cost a lot, but offered little gain to the prospect’s present position.

So, how can that be? Surely buyers only buy to gain on their current position? Stop and think – that’s actually not correct. The situation was that the industry in which they worked was changing significantly. It was necessary for the prospects to invest heavily to, at best, maintain their current business avoid future loss. The pain/problem was in the future and they knew they had to do something about it.
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Identify the pain or problem behind a “want” – or risk an unsuccessful conclusion

“You know, I’m definitely going to smarten up a bit when we get back to England” I said to my girlfriend as we sat sipping the froth off our cappuccinos sheltering from Rome’s 30 C summer heat, watching smart Italians going about their business in beautifully cut suits, well-ironed shirts and expensive shoes.
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Sales people can use fear (perceived future pain) to create results right away.

Marketing man Seth Godin understands a fundamental principle of sales in this post : fear drives buying action. As he explains, “Fear is a universal emotion, it’s viral and people will go to great lengths to make it go away.”

How can sales people use fear? “Buy it or Knuckles here will continue the negotiations” would probably be considered ethically dubious. Here’s a better approach. Most of us already sell around “pain” or “problems” (i.e. identifying, drawing out and investigating problems that a prospect has right now). For example:
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