Common Customer Pain Points & How to Solve Them

If there's one thing you need to know to find success in the world of SaaS sales, it's your customer's pain points.

You're trying to offer new or existing customers a solution to a problem they know they have. To successfully convince them that your offer is the best solution, you need first to be able to demonstrate that you understand their pain points convincingly. From there, you then explain how your solution will benefit them in solving their pain.

There are overarching pain points that customers will have to overcome, and several are common enough for us to go over them quickly. From there, it becomes necessary to practice certain skills to solve those pain points for prospects.

Let's take a look!

Customer pain points are the problems customers have in their day-to-day activities that you are looking to solve via your product or service.

An easy example to illustrate this is Calendly.

Calendly came about to help folks set meeting times quickly and efficiently without the need for arduous back and forth. Especially because it's very easy for interest to be lost in that back and forth.

Calendly's team provided an easy solution to win back time and schedule meetings at everyone's convenience quick, simple, and fast.

That arduous back and forth of setting a meeting time was the pain point Calendly fixed.

Ideally, this is the type of nutshell description of your product or service that corresponds to a particular pain point you want to have - the easiest it is to explain your offer and how it corresponds to a particular pain point, the easier it is to sell.

The first type of pain points are those related to processes. Processes are a necessary part of the structure of running any organization, but they can also be a detriment to operations running smoothly if anything is slowing them down.

Processes can be slowed down due to various factors, from sign-offs taking too long to sourcing materials too far away. A common one is having to complete too many forms or complete too much paperwork, resulting in everything taking longer than it needs to.

Many companies offer products or services that aim to ease this pain point. If you are a company offering such a solution, or an SDR working for such a company, you want to make sure that you know how it will fit into your conversation with your prospect.

Asking questions is essential to qualify your leads in all of the pain point types we'll go over, as they'll help you narrow down their exact pain points and how your solution may fit, thereby guiding you to how to position yourself to sell your offer best. You may also be preparing yourself to deal with how long it may take you to get through the entire sales process by asking these questions, as it also helps to prepare your approach internally.

What questions to ask to identify this pain point:

• Can you describe your current workflow for [specific process] in your company?
• What are the main challenges you face in managing [specific process]?
• Does your team face any recurring issues or frustrations with your current tools or processes for [specific process]?

The second type is financial.

Determining financial pain points is a good way to determine if it's a good idea to continue moving a lead down the sales funnel or not a good fit. In some cases, companies looking to optimize their spending may be a great fit if you're offering a product or service at a reduced rate.

In others, it is also useful to know as you may be able to determine whether you can upsell for certain additional features or offer a less expensive alternative that may work well for them as well, helping you establish an initial connection that can grow over time.

What questions to ask to identify this pain point:

• What's your current budget allocation for [specific process or solution]?
• Any areas in your expenses that could be optimized or reduced?
• Have you discovered any unexpected or rising costs with [specific process or solution]?

The third type of pain point is related to people, most commonly as it's seen in miscommunication, high turnover of employees, or lack of alignment. Employees make a company, and it is important to keep them informed of how they contribute to the overall mission. It boosts morale and keeps them invested in doing their best.

Certain software or HR-style services exist to address these types of issues, and if you're building a sales strategy around them, it's important to quickly identify what their particular pain points with people are, as they can be several. Addressing the right ones is key, and some additional ones are never a bad idea.

What questions to ask to identify this pain point:

• Do you find you're constantly having to replace high-quality employees?
• Can you share any examples of miscommunication or lack of alignment among team members impacting [specific process]?
• When a team member joins your company, how do you ensure they quickly handle [specific process]?)

Productivity is an issue a lot of companies try to solve internally before bringing in experts.

Understanding what their productivity issues are, and why they exist, is something you want to get to the root cause quickly to present the correct solution. The consequences of not responding to productivity issues are delays in customers obtaining results, leading to customers leaving, which is the last thing anyone wants.

You also want to be able to provide them with clear, simple solutions to their pressing problems, so you want to understand what they mean by productivity and what they perceive to be slowing them down before you offer any solutions. Getting through the entire process with prospects to clearly understand where the issues come up is crucial here.

What questions to ask to identify this pain point:

• Are there any areas where you feel the [process] is time-consuming or inefficient?
• Are there any metrics or KPIs you track?
• Are there any manual tasks, repetitive activities, or administrative work involved in [specific process] that you believe could be automated?)

The last type of pain point to consider, and one a salesperson should also seek to find out more about, are pain points related to support. While the types covered above may be focused for certain products or services, support is an ongoing process and important for any type of solution.

By support, we refer to the support the current service or product provider offers to solve their problem, assuming they have one. If they do not, simply gauging their experience with customer support for other tools, in general, is a good starting point, as it can provide you with room to differentiate yourself and your services should they ever need help.

Understanding their current relationship with their provider and what they like and dislike is a good metric for you to know why they are happy or dissatisfied with their current option, and helps you asses how to position the product or service you represent in a better light.

What questions to ask to identify this pain point:

• How's your experience with customer support when you had questions or issues with [specific process or solution]?
• Is your provider actively working to ensure your company gets the most out of their product?
• Have you faced issues or concerns with your current tools or processes for [specific process] that affected your operations or productivity?)

As a salesperson, you want to demonstrate that you are familiar with, and can help your prospects solve their current problems.

To do this, you must be an active listener. You must be able to empathize with their struggles and not simply rush into offering a solution.

The best thing your prospect can do is provide you with the reasons they need your product or service, and the best way to obtain those reasons is by taking the time to listen truly. You do not want to go right into a sales pitch simply - chances are you might miss the mark if you do not hit the correct pain point, and instead run them off.

Above all, a salesperson should be a great communicator, and this involves being able to listen attentively and empathically to demonstrate understanding of the prospect's pain points, and then guide them to how they can solve them. And the best way to show how you can solve a problem is by exhibiting an understanding of it.

Social proof is the idea that as humans, we rely on the actions and opinions of others to make certain decisions. In other words, it's why Google reviews are a natural go-to for folks choosing places to stay or eat when traveling.

If we see more people going to a particular place, we believe it is better than a different one, and will all go there.

As salespeople, you want to provide as much social proof as you can to convince the decision maker you're aiming for to give you a chance to solve their problem, as you have for others. The type of social proof you can use can be anything: testimonials, case studies, customer reviews, user-generated content, and more.

All of this should be part of a sales strategy and provide proof of your product or service's capability to solve pain points.

While going over all the features of your product in a product demo is how you paint a picture of what you can do, to truly differentiate yourself from your competition, a good salesperson will focus on certain benefits that correspond as much as possible to a pain point.

For instance, there are a dime a dozen sales enablement tools out there. But tools such as Apollo that combine sending sequences, searching for prospects, and integrating with LinkedIn at an affordable price are not quite as easy to find. Typically, you get two out of three.

It is these differentiators that salespeople lean on as benefits of utilizing their product or service over others, and speaking to the exact pain point that it solves helps one make a sale.

It's important to recognize that each prospect is different. Some know exactly what they want and why, and are happy to obtain that without much else. Others need to be guided into understanding how this solution will benefit them, both now and in the long run.

And also, salespeople have to be flexible. Sometimes, their offer is not a one-size-fits-all solution for a company, but there may be something that can be done. Moving such prospects along the sales funnel and noting that they have pain points that do fit but some that aren't necessarily something that is currently covered can lead to a flourishing partnership that results in additional features for your product or service.

Because salespeople are flexible, attentive listeners, they can zero in on such situations and offer a collaborative approach to helping prospects find a solution instead.

The key to any successful sales strategy is following up with prospects. You want to remind them of why and how you can help them address their needs. Continue to offer them proof points and to inquire as to their current needs - if they're being seen to, if they may be open to re-discussing after budget changes. Keeping the conversation going is fundamental to success in sales.

Additionally, once they express interest and are moved along the funnel, you want to continue to offer support. Salespeople are essentially support teams until a customer signs and is taken under the umbrella of the actual support team. They offer insights into the benefits of their product, share their differentiators to demonstrate how they could help prospects do more, and lend an attentive ear to their needs.

If you want to truly make a sale, you need to demonstrate to your customers that you understand their problems and empathize with their situation.

Show them that you can relate to their challenges and struggles, and provide the best solution for their pain points. Let them know that they have made the right decision by trusting your brand. Give customers an assurance of safety and security so that they feel comfortable and confident in your offerings. Ensure them that you will always be there to help should any problems arise, and that their customer experience is of the utmost priority for you.

If you demonstrate compassion, understanding, and appreciation from the very beginning, it will encourage loyalty and a long-term relationship with your brand.