Selling technology products and services is challenging. You’re often competing against similar items from other companies. The solution identifies prospect needs and pains and discusses relevant benefits and features, followed by compelling advantages.
PBFA Model and Strategy
Over ten years ago, when managing call centers and sales departments, I developed a sales and marketing strategy called the PBFA. This solution-selling strategy helps marketers correctly identify prospect and customer pains or needs, choose product benefits and features that relate to those needs, and show potential customers how the advantages reduce pains and solve problems.
The PBFA is a powerful marketing strategy that enables marketers to generate content for social media, email, advertising, landing pages, online ads, call guides, presentations, white papers, and sales training materials.
Identifying Latent Pains
The PBFA model is similar to other selling strategies with a greater emphasis on discovering prospect pain. I use the word pain rather than need, want, or desire. You’re more likely to engage a potential customer if you dig deep to reveal gut-wrenching, underlying latent pains.
Prospects usually mention they’re revealed rather than their latent pains, making it difficult for marketers and the salesforce to identify solutions. It takes probing using penetrating questions to bring latent pains to a customer’s mind and create a consistent message across media channels.