Your value as a salesperson is based on the information you uncover, not the information you share. The more and better information you uncover about your prospects and their pains, the better equipped you are to determine whether or not you're a good fit to solve those pains.

Unfortunately, we tend not to dig deep enough in sales. When a prospect shares their problem with us, salespeople are often quick to jump in and try to solve it without knowing how big of a problem it actually is.

The Sandler Pain Funnel is a tool we came up with to dig deeper with questions. It allows us to determine if the problem is causing pain, how big of an impact that pain is having both professionally and personally, and whether or not that pain is something we can help our prospects solve.

Let's look briefly at how the pain funnel works. Then we'll dive into questions you can ask, and we'll provide a PDF you can download.

How the pain funnel works

The Sandler Pain Funnel is a sequential questioning technique that drives motivation to buy. It does that by starting with broad questions, then getting more specific the further you dig in.

The pain funnel moves through three stages:

1. Surface questioning - What?
2. Reasons questioning - Why?
3. Impact questioning - How?

Each of the stages gets more specific and deeper. The questions move from intellectual questions to emotional questions.

A huge key to the Sandler Pain Funnel is to ask the questions at the right time, in the right way.

Questions to ask

Want to uncover pain? Here are questions you can ask. And if you prefer a PDF, at the end of this article, we have a PDF you can download.

The following questions are not necessarily in any specific order. You'll need to ask them when and if it makes sense in the conversation with your prospect.

1. Tell me more about that…
2. Can you be more specific? Give me an example.
3. How long has that been a problem?
4. What have you tried to do about that?
5. Did what you try work?
6. How much do you think that has cost you?
7. And how do you feel about how much that has cost you?
8. What kind of trouble does that cause you?
9. Have you given up trying to deal with the problem?
10. Why is this a problem for you?
11. How serious would you say the problem is right now, today?
12. What's the real, real, real problem?
13. Have you ever considered giving up on solving this issue? Why or why not?
14. If the situation didn't improve, or even got worse, how concerned do you imagine you or your business would be?
15. I don't suppose you could give me an example of when this was a problem, could you?
16. What do others in your business or department say about this issue?
17. What surprises or upsets you most about this problem?
18. Would it be fair to say that this issue is challenging to measure objectively?
19. Is this problem impacting your personal life? If so, how?
20. How are you feeling about this problem and how it's impacting you?

As you get deeper into the funnel, the questions will get more specific, focusing on the personal impact the pain has on the prospect you're speaking with. Not just professionally, but how it impacts their life, their relationships with their friends and family, and their goals and dreams.

Practice makes perfect

Professionals practice regularly! Below is a PDF that will help you practice, with a list of the questions and a visual of the funnel.

Download the Sandler Pain Funnel PDF, print it out, and keep it somewhere you see it regularly. Practice the questions with your coworkers, manager, or business growth coach.

If you need our help, feel free to reach out. Getting better at the pain funnel is something we often help clients with.