“You can have anything in the world you want if you’ll just help enough other people get what they want.”

Zig Ziglar, Salesman, author, and motivational speaker

Every client has pain points. Before you can act on those pain points, before you can solve their problem, before you can get them what they want, you need to understand what those pain points are.

It’s surprisingly easy to discover your clients’ most common pain points. With these simple tips, you’ll know what’s bugging your clients so you can focus your business, solve their problems, and create better results for everyone!

Know the Common Pain Points in Your Industry

First of all, it helps to have a foundational understanding of common pain points felt by your customers. Specific pain points will vary, but knowing what usually bothers clients will give you a hint on what to look out for.

Common pain points may include poor service or poor workmanship. It could include low-quality products, or a long wait time between ordering a product or service and actually getting it. A common pain point could be poor communication, leaving customers in the dark about the status of orders or when a service will arrive.

Basically, start to research what commonly causes pain in your corner of the market.

Understand The Different Types of Pain Points

There are common pain points, and then there are different types of pain points. You could also consider this as “pain point categories.” There could be more, but the types of pain points include:

• Financial: Anything that directly impacts the financial situation of the business. This may include not charging enough, paying too much, or overspending on material.
• Communication: Without thorough communication, it’s hard for any business to operate properly.
• Productivity: Perhaps they are spending too much time on a single task, or simply spending their day solving minor problems.
• Process: The structures and processes that guide a business may be inadequate.
• Support: Sometimes your customers and clients are not getting the support they deserve.

Now ask yourself: which type of pain point are you best equipped to solve?

What Questions and Requests Do You Receive

In many cases, your clients are telling you their pain points without even knowing it. Every time they contact you with an issue, every time they make a request or have a question about your services, they are telegraphing their pain points.

Take a moment to think about your requests and questions. What always comes up? What is a common issue or problem (pain point!) that is alway a concern? Are they constantly bringing up pricing? Perhaps you could offer discounted services? Do they seem concerned about productivity? Perhaps you could offer a service that takes the most time-consuming task off their to-do list.

With almost no effort on your part, you have a clear map of your client’s pain points. You just have to listen.

Just Ask Them!

It never hurts to simply ask. The next time you talk to a client, ask them about their common issues and pain points. In fact, feel free to be direct and upfront, tell them straight away that you want to know about their pain points; they’ll likely be flattered that you are so concerned about their problems, and they’ll respect you for being upfront about wanting to address those issues.

By the way, when you ask about a client’s pain points, don’t forget to follow up with a simple question: “What can I do for you to solve this problem?”