Help them feel the pain

I’ve heard and read a lot lately about helping clients identify the ‘pain’ and then offering solutions, or pain killers, if you will.

The idea is that businesses have needs. Some of those needs invariably aren’t being filled.

As a public relations practitioner, I could ask, “If you got a feature article in , what would that do for your business?”

A question like that helps identify the pain, or the need, and provides you with an opportunity to follow up. You can pretty much plan on a favorable response to the feature article question. Then you respond with something like: “How about getting together to discuss how I can help you with that?”

Many people and companies are stressed or distressed. Some businesses and institutions are cutting back, firing and loosing internal resources. This creates an opportunity for agencies and independent practitioners to provide cost-effective solutions. Maybe they can’t hire a new person, but perhaps they can afford outsourcing the work that still needs to get done.