by Sean D'Souza
And of course, as researchers tend to do, he faithfully recorded electrical activity of each participant’s cerebral cortex. The cerebral cortex in turn, reflects the magnitude of information processing taking place.
The brain—Cacioppo demonstrated—reacts more strongly to stimuli it deems problematic. Or to put it another way, when faced with a problem vs. a solution, the problem really gets our attention.
As you can imagine, the neutral objects didn’t excite the brain at all.
Plates and hair dryers were deemed too boring to get our brains all excited. But what was surprising during the research finding, was that our brains were more aroused by a problem than a solution.
You’d think a gleaming red Ferrari would have really got the pulse racing—and it did.
But when shown images of problems, the brain activity stepped up to a much higher degree.
So yes, problems get our attention, better than anything else.
Yet, most of us don’t communicate with problems. Instead we bring up solutions. And there’s a specific reason why we bring up solutions. Most marketing or sales courses have completely side-stepped the importance of the problem. Most courses or books will tell you to highlight the benefits of a product or service.
And what are benefits, but solutions?
So while the brain is focused on the problem, we use the solution/benefits to get the attention of our customers. Is it any wonder that your marketing and sales doesn’t get the kind of response you’re expecting?
But waitasec, aren’t problems a negative way of looking at things? And are we just making up problems to scare customers?
Are we?
Your dented car doesn’t embarrass you until you start going to corporate meetings. Then suddenly you’re pretty darned sure that your current car needs to be replaced—with one that befits your new found status.
Let’s put this doubt to rest with an example.
You’re doing fine driving your 1980s sedan. It has a few dents and looks a little dated, but you don’t care. Until you have to start showing up for corporate meetings where everyone else owns a flashy car. Suddenly what seemed like a reasonable form of transport has become a bit of an embarrassment. The problem wasn’t top of mind a few weeks ago, yet suddenly you’re acutely aware of how much you need to get a more ‘socially-acceptable’ car.
Suddenly you have a problem that didn’t exist a while ago.
Suddenly you’re a lot like the passenger in Economy Class of every airline.
A passenger in Economy Class only has a problem because they’re aware of the splendour of Business Class or First Class. If business or first class didn’t exist, not one of us would refer to economy class as ‘cattle class’.
By creating Business Class and First Class, airlines created a problem that just didn’t exist.
Chug-chug computers. Chug-chug software. Chug-chug cars. Eventually all new and improved products and services are based on solving a chug-chug problem.
It’s the same story with computers.
Remember the 486? Okay, so you don’t. But in the good ol’ days when 486’s were the fastest computer, everyone dreamed of moving from their clunky 386 to the wonderful 486. Then the Pentium processor came along, and the 486 became too slow and almost unbearable. Of course, computer processors change all the time, and faster, sleeker processors take their place.
A fast processor that seems to be a solution today, is a problem tomorrow. A new car that’s shiny and wonderful today, is a problem tomorrow. And so it goes: whatever you’re selling only has add-on value if you’re solving a problem. If you’re not solving a problem in some new and interesting way, then what’s the point of your product or service?
This affirms that we’re not making up problems to scare customers into buying our products/services. All we’re really doing is highlighting the issues that exist. And showing customers how their lives can be better, if they adopt our products/services. And of course, we do this by highlighting the problem.
Which in itself brings up a big issue: problems seem to be a negative way to communicate. Won’t this negative attitude turn off the customer?
Are We Being Too Negative?
It’s a valid question.
And there’s a valid answer.
You’re not being negative at all. Highlighting a ‘problem’ is no different than your telling a child to look both ways before crossing the road. Or telling a friend to make sure they don’t see a specific movie, because the story line is plainly boring.
Instead of being a scaremonger, the problem is an educational tool.
It brings to the fore factors that already exist. What’s more, a problem may reveal a situation that you aren’t currently aware of. A situation that could get you in trouble if you’re not careful.
You’re advised by the Weather Bureau to take an umbrella, because it’s going to rain. Is the Weather Bureau being negative by issuing the rain warning?
Like for instance, if your cambelt[6] breaks on the highway.
What’s a ‘cambelt’ you ask? Well, I didn’t know either, ‘til the mechanic looked at my odometer on the car dashboard. “You’ve done well over 100,000 km”, he said. “And you need to make sure your cambelt is fixed”.
And notice what’s happening? While the mechanic is giving me these dire warnings I’ve begun to realise something quite interesting: the cambelt isn’t even broken.
But ah, what happens if the cambelt does break?
The engine starts alright, but the engine would turn over without any compression at all. Once the darned cambelt breaks, your car’s engine starts without compression, causing the valves to bend. Once that happens you’re in big trouble. Trouble that will cost you a mini-fortune.
But hey, my cambelt wasn’t broken. It didn’t even seem frayed. The car ran just fine. In fact, the car had done over 175,000 km (that’s 75,000 more than the cambelt should have been exposed to).
But the problem remains. One day, the cambelt will break. And do I want to wait for that day? Do I really want to spend mucho dollars? From a total state of ignorance, I’ve gone to being a bit of an expert on cambelts.
Your customer is juggling several problems all at once. If you don’t elevate the problem, your customer will never notice your product or service.
Elevating a problem ensures that your product or service gets higher priority than everything else.
The problem exists.
You aren’t making it up.
You aren’t being negative.
You are actually educating your audience, which isn’t aware of the problem until you bring it up. Even if your customers weren’t thinking about cambelts (or whatever it is you’re selling) ten minutes ago, that product/service now becomes a must-have item. In effect, all you’re doing is creating a factor of urgency; elevating a problem to code-red.
So how do you elevate the problem?
You’ve got to recognise that your customer already has squillions of things to worry about.
Things like picking up the kids from school. Like that board meeting later in the day. Like that new software that’s giving him a headache. And while your customer is dealing with all of those day-to-day headaches, that very same customer is dealing with peripheral problems like not stepping into poo, and avoiding flying blocks of wood.
Amidst all this clutter of problems, we have to get the customer’s attention. And we have to do so in a way that the customer will at least show some interest in the product/service we have to offer.
But how do you get the customer’s attention amidst all this chaos?
You isolate the problem.
Every product or service solves several problems simultaneously. So if you look at a mug of coffee, it solves various problems. For some, that mug represents a break from work. For some, it’s a way to meet a friend. For some, it’s a business meeting. And for others, it’s just a pick-me-up after a tiring session.
The problem arises when we try to se
nd out your problem-based message to all of the above groups. More often than not, we’ll want to get all our customers with the least amount of effort, and so we’ll take the route that is bound to meet with failure. We’ll create a problem-based message that appeals to everyone.
Instead, what we should be doing, is isolating the problem.
How to Isolate the Problem
So let’s take an example of problem isolation.
Let’s imagine you went to the doctor and said, “I’m not feeling well”. What would the doctor say next? He’d ask you to describe what you were feeling. And you’d tell him you were getting persistent headaches.
You see what you’ve just done? You could have simply said you were not feeling well. And the doctor would be stumped. He’d have to ask more questions. And if you insisted on feeling unwell, without describing the symptoms, he’d have to resort to a battery of tests, to diagnose if there was indeed something wrong with you.
But if all the tests came back without any trace of a problem, the doctor would be unable to help in any way. For the doctor to be of some help, you’d either have to be able to pinpoint a problem, or the tests would have to isolate something that could be the problem.
What problem are you solving when you sell an egg? Every product or service solves many problems. To get your message out effectively, you have to isolate the problem. In other words, choose ONE.
The same principle of isolation applies when you’re selling to a prospective customer. If your product or service doesn’t isolate a problem, then the customer can’t relate to what you’re selling.
But on the other hand if you isolate the problem, the customer is quickly able to lock in to the problem, and then investigate what kind of solution you’re bringing to the table.
So let’s take two business examples.
Example 1: Website strategy workshop.
Let’s say you were about to conduct a website strategy workshop, how would you go about isolating the problem?
It’s not hard to identify the problem. In fact, within a short time, you can draw up a list of issues that any website owner would want to solve. And let’s say you compiled a big list and then whittled it down to about four problems.
Isolating the problem means specifically speaking to customers that have ‘cat allergies’ vs. ‘allergies’. The isolation allows the customer to ‘lock in’ to what you have to say.
The four problems:
1) Attracting clients
2) Getting clients to buy a product/service
3) Getting clients to come back to buy repeatedly
4) Selling without being a ‘snake-oil pedlar’.
Of course, if you’re selling a course, your course may deal with all of the above problems. But trying to get all these messages across is a bit futile. Because even one problem, when properly dealt with, will attract a swarm of customers.
So let’s say you isolated the fear of how to be profitable online without becoming a ‘snake-oil pedlar’. Now you can write or send out a message that directly gets the attention of the customer. And the message runs like this:
Are you sick and tired of internet systems that force you to become a ‘monster’? (Most internet training systems ‘convince’ you to do things that you think are yucky. They make you believe that the only way to get sales, is to use methods that border on ‘sleazy behaviour.’ So is there a way to be ethical and still bring in growing amounts of revenue?)
You see how an isolated problem created a powerful case for the workshop In this specific case, we’re only speaking to those who feel that the methods used online are ‘yucky’. We only want to speak to those who feel the need to run a profitable, yet ethical internet business.
And so we’re isolating just one problem.
Sounds scary? Yes, it is indeed scary. But it also gets your attention better than any other method, as you’re about to find out in the example to follow.
Example 2: An allergy clinic.
Let’s say you run a service where you treat allergies. And it’s plain that allergies are a big problem. So what do you do to get your customer’s attention?
You simply run ads that say: ‘Got Allergies? We’ll get rid of them for you.’ And admittedly, a headline like that will still get attention, but will it get the attention it deserves? Your advertising and marketing is screaming ‘get rid of allergies’, without isolating the problem.
And if we were to isolate the problem, we’d have a list.
For example:
1) Pollen allergies
2) Sugar-based allergies
3) Dust allergies.
And of course, you’d protest. You’d say that your allergy clinic can solve all of the above, so why not simply say ‘we eliminate all allergies’ instead of isolating each and every type of allergy separately?
Yes indeed, you can detect and fix allergies that range from glutamates, salicylates, grasses, mould, dogs, cats, fungus, and yada, yada, yada.
But we’re isolating each category. So if we were to go about isolating pollen allergies, we’d talk just about pollen. And we’d bring up issues only related to pollen. When we isolate the problem, we’re able to talk only about pollen, and every single one of those customers who want to eliminate pollen allergies, will make a beeline to your door.
But what if you don’t know that you have a pollen allergy?
What then? Because it’s possible that you don’t know what you’re allergic to. Wouldn’t an advertisement that talks solely about allergies work better?
Not really.
Because even if your customers aren’t aware of what’s causing the allergy, they’re still able to detect when the allergy is affecting them: e.g. change of seasons; when they go to bed; have a glass of wine.
And therefore the message that gets the customer’s attention would read like this:
Do you find you sneeze a lot just before you go to bed?
Do you find you sneeze a lot after a glass of wine?
So we’re still isolating. Maybe we’re not isolating the type of allergy, but the time or season that triggers the allergy. And instantly our brains recognise that time of day, change in season, or specific activity we are isolating. And the advertisement gets our attention.
This isolation of the problem is necessary because people are busy. They’re busy with their problems. And unless the problem you state is crystal clear, they may be more than likely to miss your message.
But if you run an allergy clinic, you’ll still be protesting. And the protest will come from your ability to fix more than just one allergy.
But don’t you see what’s about to unfold?
When customers come to your allergy clinic, they will probably have two, three, even five allergies. And once you’ve detected the allergies, you can advise those customers to come back and fix the rest of the allergies.
And similarly in your website strategy workshop, you’re more than likely to deal with attraction, conversion and customer retention. Or have other workshops that deal with these topics.
The customer needs to be alerted to a single problem at a time. And the customer has to be taken through one ‘room at a time.’
One room at a time. Trying to take someone through every room in your house is quite a silly strategy. Isolate the room that’s most interesting to the customer, before showing them the rest of the rooms.
Yes, you have many ‘rooms’ in your home. And each room represents a product/service. But when someone enters your home, do you rush them through all the rooms? Or do you take them through a front door?
The front door could be any of your products or services. First get them through the front door. Then move the customers systematically through the rest of your products and services.
Isolation is the equivalent of dog poo on a crowded street.
The equivalent of a block of wood headed towards your head.
The equivalent of a police car on a busy highway.
Pain and p
roblems are a natural magnet for the brain. We can see how they instantly get our attention in our day to day lives. We should be using the power of problems in all our communication, marketing and advertising. Yet what do we do instead? We don’t use the problem. We revert to the solution.
Why on earth do we do that? Why revert to the solution when it’s clear that the problem does indeed capture the imagination of the brain? And what’s the role of the solution?
Let’s find out, shall we?
Summary: The Problem
The Problem gets our instant attention. This is because our brain is always on the lookout for the problem. While solutions may or may not engage the brain, a problem always gets the brain’s attention.
The level of the attention of the brain depends on the problem at hand. The brain goes through distinct steps. It recognises change; recognises that change is indeed a problem worth looking at; works out the severity of the problem; finally works out the action it needs to take.
Customers have dozens of problems running rampant in their brains. The way a business can get a customer’s attention is by isolating the problem.
Isolating the problem means you literally flag a customer down by specifying that customer’s problem. For example: ‘are you allergic to cats?’ would be the way to flag down a customer who suspects he’s allergic to cats.