Business Pain or Business Gain?
Before we begin a thorough discussion of business pain, let’s take a look at what it really means. The words Business Pain are batted around by almost everyone I talk to in the marketing and sales fields. It is probably one of the more misused words when describing the help a company needs to become more efficient and effective. When you try to find out what a business worries about, you will find that you get a different answer from each person you talk to in the organization. That is because the “business pain” will be different for each department or section. The sales force will likely tell you that the pain is not getting orders out on time. The order department will say that the sales force over promises, the administration will say that expenses are too high, and the executive will say that there are not enough profits. All of them will be correct. So how do you determine what the real pain is?
If you begin with the top decision makers, they will have an overall picture of where they think there company should be in the way of market share and profitability. This big picture will show you where they currently are and where they want to go. It is here that the decisions are made to make improvements. It is also here that the risk is identified and the plans to alleviate the pain are put together. If you want the true definition of business pain, start with the CEO and then piece together the other parts that cause the pain as described.
Nothing is more thrilling than working with a company that can define what it is that they are not doing right. Unfortunately, most companies are not able to pinpoint their problems with accuracy. They can see the symptoms but usually not the probable cause. So when you learn about the business pain, you should be prepared to offer solutions that fit the problem.