Sandler Pain Funnel -vs- The AIM Model: Why You Should Know Both

When I first started in sales, I spent a week pretending I knew who Sandler was, all the while picturing Billy Madison and Happy Gilmore in my head.

Very quickly though, I learned that Sandler Methodology is something of a fan-favorite among tech sales teams. But, does it really work in practice, or is it just another theory we waste meetings on? Let me tell you from experience: heck yea, it works.

But, the same way I was skeptical of my managers, I wouldn't blame you for having your doubts. Take the Sandler Pain Funnel for example, my all time favourite sales tool (see below):

In short, the Pain Funnel is a tool for taking relevant but superficial business pains (i.e. "our database is cluttered"), and asking guided questions to ultimately uncover their root cause, their severity and their impact on your prospect. This information will allow you to position your product accordingly. More importantly though, the funnel also helps your prospect uncover these same insights, thereby self-identifying a need for what you're conveniently about to offer. (Ding ding ding, you've passed Sandler 101)

I'll pause now, and let you take a read through the funnel questions. Go ahead, I'll wait.

If you're like me, your first thought was:

"Really? I'm going to ask that many questions about the same thing? Isn't that kind of awkward? Won't they feel uncomfortable?

Short answer: You'd think so! But no.

One of the first lessons of sales is people love to talk about themselves. Every time I tried (was forced to) use the pain funnel, I was blown away by how much information people willingly gave me. More so than that, I was shocked how much more I converted when using it. I had no idea why it worked, just that it worked.

Until now that is.

I was studying for an exam in my Psychology and Persuasion program (CXL), and I stumble upon my "why" - something called:

The Audience-Influence Model (AIM)

Created by behavioural scientist Dr. Brian Cugelman, AIM is a proven model used by marketers to, well, change behaviour. The AIM Model lays out a series of small "outcomes" that must be achieved before the ultimate outcome (behaviour change) can occur. These incremental outcomes are listed below:

As you can see, AIM requires you to achieve each individual outcome from top to bottom before an action (let's say, buying from you) can take place. It seemed pretty straight forward: get their attention, teach them, motivate them, create intent, build trust, sell. But then I got to thinking...

(bare with me here)

As salespeople, do we really sell our product? Technically, no. Our product is usually awesome (if not, work elsewhere) and can sell itself. What we're selling, is the idea that our prospect has a need ifor our awesome product. That for our awesome product. That inaction is not an option. Without the need, the conversation is over.

So, my next question was, if perceived need is what I really need in order to sell, can I use the AIM Model to do it? To convert prospects from "I don't need this" to "I need this now"?

I quickly realized, "Of course you can stupid, you've been doing it all along." In fact, I had been using the AIM Model every time I used the Sandler Pain Funnel. In a way, the funnel is merely the application of AIM in which the 'desired behaviour' is the self-identification of a pain.

No wonder the funnel works so well, it's perfectly aligned with behavioural science theory.

Don't believe me? Let's break it down.

Pain Funnel - vs - AIM Model

Phase 1: Concentrating (Awareness)

The first phase of the AIM Model requires you to make the subject aware. When applying the Pain Funnel, you achieve this initial "outcome" by asking questions about the processes relevant to your product offering. For example, if you're selling a bookkeeping software to small businesses, you might ask how your prospect currently manages their bills. Do they use paper files? Excel sheets? Do they share information internally via email? Dropbox? By probing into current processes, you're drawing awareness to their current patterns of behaviour. The second you hear one that you know could be improved by your product (i.e. yeah, we use paper files, it can be a nightmare), you ask the first Pain Funnel question: Can you tell me more about that? As soon as you do that, you've forced your prospect to shed the proverbial spotlight on a flawed process you know you can address.

Awareness: complete.

Phase 2: Comprehending

AIM teaches us that it's now time to inform your prospect about your product, its features and its value. Since, in this case, we're selling their need, it's time to help our prospect understand their current process (and its shortcomings) in more detail. To do so, we ask the second and third questions of the Pain Funnel: "Can you be more specific? Give me an example. How long has this been a problem?"

To use our bookkeeping example, we can help them vocalize what they mean by "it can be a nightmare". Perhaps it means receipts are lost and expense reports are incomplete. Or, perhaps, it means that recovering reports can be very time consuming, wasting a good chunk of their accountant's valuable time. In any case, asking for specific examples allows your prospect to break down and truly understand why their current process is flawed and how it hurts them. They now 'comprehend' their need.

Comprehending: complete.

BONUS: Negotiation theory teaches us that "mirroring" (repeating your counterpart's last few words) encourages them to elaborate further. As it turns out, repeating in this way makes them feel like you are indeed listening, but are still confused, meaning it's up to them to give you more information. If you're asking Phase 2 questions and don't feel you've carved out enough specifics, simply use mirroring to get even more from your prospect!

Phase 3: Desiring (Motivation)

As per AIM, we've successfully achieved two outcomes (awareness and comprehension), and it's time to motivate our prospect. Of course, both marketing and sales books will tell us that motivation requires emotion. Interestingly, Sandler agrees. It's at this point in the funnel that we begin a slow transition from business focus towards a more personal focus.

But how?

The next questions in the funnel are: What have you tried to do about that? And did that work? Why or why not?

If you're speaking to the right person, there's a good chance they were somehow involved in at least some of the previous efforts to eradicate their problem. By forcing them to relive these failures, however small, you're triggering a negative emotional response. It's only natural, then, that they seek relief from this negative emotion. It's this exact instinct that we're after. If failed attempts make them feel 'bad', a successful solution can make them feel 'better'. This emotion-induced motivation is what you need to keep your prospect engaged and move them to the next phase of the AIM Model.

Motivation: complete.

BONUS: In every phase of the pain funnel, you're not only helping your prospect self-identify pain, you're also finding valuable information for yourself! In this phase, the question, "What have you tried to do about that?" particularly important. While phases 1 and 2 questions told you whether or not a problem exists, this question tells you if they're willing to fix it. You can disqualify many prospects right here. If Joe says his company has been dealing with this pressing issue for 10 years and hasn't done anything about it, you can bet that they won't start now. Your sales process will be drawn out and the result won't be a good one. Inversely, if Joanne has battled an issue for 4 years, and already tried implementing two solutions, you know you have a pressing issue and a prospect that is motivated to fix it.

Phase 4: Deciding (Intent)

Motivation is key. Having made it this far we know we have a prospect that understands their problem and is keen on solving it. Great. But the next question for them is, why now? Is this the right time to pursue this? Am I ready?

The AIM model calls this phase Deciding, and requires us to create some urgency. In other words, "here's why you have to act now".

To do this, we can revisit our friends, the negotiators. According to negotiation theory, humans have a massive internal bias towards loss. In other words, we feel much more strongly about losing $5, than we do about winning $5. This phenomenon, called Loss Aversion is so powerful that it is part of basic training for FBI hostage negotiators. If it's good enough for them, it's good enough for us.

Enter: Sandler. At this point in the funnel, Sandler tells us to ask: How much do you think that has cost you? How much does it cost you today?

The clever guy he is, Sandler seems to recognize that intent (or urgency) is best induced by making prospects consider the losses from not working with us. We could offer to save them money (or time), or even ask how they'd spend the extra money, but the reality is none of those temptations compare to the fear of losses. As such, it's important to drill down on the exact cost of your prospect's current, flawed process. If they have trouble giving you a figure, help them out. If they say they don't know specifics, ask them to ball-park. The goal here is to help them identify a numerical loss. Be it a daily, monthly, or annual loss, this figure will create the urgency required for action.

To illustrate, let's consider our previous prospect. We know they do their bookkeeping on paper, and their accountant spends too much time searching for reports. It's a nightmare. But what does that nightmare cost? If Jean the accountant spends 6 hours per week digging for reports, and he is paid $40/hour, the business loses $240/week, or over $1000/month, just looking for reports.

Establishing this figure, impresses on your prospect the idea that not pursuing a solution with you will cost them $1000 each and every month. So chop chop, let's get to it!

Intent: complete.

Phase 5: Trust

Before action can take place, there's one more hurdle we have to cross: trust. Of course, trust-building should have occurred throughout this process. If you've waited until now to build rapport, you're probably out of luck. In fact, it's a miracle you've even made it this far. That said, it's important to give your prospect one last reason to have faith in you. A token of your newfound friendship. A nudge, that will push this deal over the line.

At this point in the funnel, Sandler has transitioned fully to a "personal" focus. He has us ask: How do you feel about all of this? How is this affecting you?

We want to understand (and help our prospect understand) exactly how this is affecting them on a personal level. Jean, for example, who works late hunting down lost reports, is missing his daughter's soccer games. Or, hasn't had time to hit the gym himself. Or, professionally speaking, he isn't getting the experience he needs to progress in his career, as he spends all day organizing filing cabinets. This information is critical for two reasons. Not only is it useful later in driving home the deal, it also builds a personal bond between you and your prospect. Now is the time to deploy empathy. Listen and understand your prospect's concerns. Make them feel heard. Relate to them with similar anecdotes from your life. Show them you understand their pain and that you're committed to alleviating it. By doing so, you form the personal connection required for a trusting relationship.

Trust: complete.

Phase 6: Action

At this point, the prospect is ready to act. They've identified a pressing need that affects them deeply, both professionally and personally. They trust you.

Sandler suggests one more question that can help you qualify your prospect before getting too excited: Have you given up on solving this problem?

The purpose of this question is to understand if your prospect has the capacity, resources and will to try another solution. Sometimes, this is out of their hands. If you get a positive answer here (no we haven't), you know you have something to work with. From here, you can transition seamlessly into the rest of your BANT questions (Budget, Authority, Need, Timing) and determine if you have yourself a qualified opportunity.

Conclusion:

To conclude, Sandler pain funnel is awesome. The AIM Model, is awesome. Though they come from different fields, they work in tandem to help you understand your prospect and drive your desired outcome. As I say in every article, marketing and sales have a ton to learn from each other. Whichever field you're in, don't make the mistake of being siloed. The more you understand both, and how they work in tandem, the better-equipped you'll be to serve your customers!