Label the problem and run the pain cycle

1. Where the cycle starts: the obstacle

Once the gap between where the prospect is and where they want to be has been set out, the pain cycle begins. The first thing you do is find the obstacle. You find what is blocking them, and you find the reason it is not working.

The first worked example (section 3) turns on a question of that kind: what is holding them back.

Then comes the step called pulling teeth: asking for an example, and for more, until a vague answer turns specific. It has its own page, SOP 241 — Pull teeth until the answer is specific.

2. Recap, label, confirm, repeat

With the pain in hand, you run these moves on it, in this order:

• Recap. Once you have got the pain, restate the problem in the prospect's own words.
• Label. Match the problem they described to your solution.
• Confirm. Check that you understood it correctly.
• Repeat. Go round again.

It sounds like a lot of steps, but you can get through them in about three sentences.

How many rounds: the cycle here runs three times, until there is enough material that you can tie it to a working solution. The first three is the length of a pass, in sentences; the second is the number of passes.

3. The first worked example: what is holding them back

Say the prospect is at a million dollars and wants to be at three million, and the question on the table is what is holding them back. Among the example answers:

• They do not have enough reach.
• They have too few leads.
• They cannot close anything (in the example's words, they cannot close a barn door).
• Nobody can afford what they sell.
• Nobody else closes as well as the owner does.
• They cannot find good salespeople.
• Sales are up and down.

The list is not closed: partway through comes "whatever".

Recap, label and confirm, all put together. From an answer like those, the moves come out as a short passage. Recap: sales are falling short of what you want. Label: so what you might have here is a marketing issue. Confirm: does that sound about right? That is all there is to it.

The shape of the line. You drill down first. Then you say it back in a set pattern: it sounds like this pain; here is the broader solution it points to; is that right? It bears saying twice. You start from the very specific pain and move up from it to the solution, then ask whether that is right. This is how discovery works.

4. A second run, and why you leave the pain where it is

You go round until you have what is called the ammo. The reason is what the cycle does to the person on the other end. The second example runs as an exchange between rep and prospect, line by line:

• The rep asks the prospect to say more.
• The prospect says they have fallen short of their sales goals for two quarters running.
• The rep asks why that is, and why it matters.
• The prospect says they have not been able to expand into a new region, which matters a lot to them.
• The rep asks why that is important, and for an example.
• The prospect gives the reason behind that: in this example, being able to send a child to college.

Then the rep runs the moves. Recap: so growing your sales into that region has not happened. Label: this sounds like a model issue. Confirm: does that sound about right? The prospect says yes, and the rep asks what else there is, and for another example.

Leave it unsolved. One practice here: once you have a pain like that, do not try to fix it. The aim is for it simply to sit there. Then go back and find more pain, and more again. By the end, in the account here, the prospect feels their situation is dire and wonders how they have stayed in business, or made any money at all.

So you repeat, and once you have enough ammo you move on.

5. Stack the pain, then read it all back

When the pain cycle is done, you stack the pain, the way you would stack an offer. How to stack an offer is set out on SOP 5 — Cut costly pieces from an offer and bundle the rest, and the order of presenting one on SOP 6 — Build and present a bonus stack; this page borrows only the comparison.

How to stack it. Take your recaps and say them all again. Then, as with each single pain, ask the prospect whether you got it right. This recap is called the transition.

What it can sound like. It might sound like this. Just to be sure I understand: you have been through three different marketing agencies and 50 grand, and now you are wary of investing again. So the real problem, it sounds like, is not only the vendors, the ads and the leads; what you need is a more complete process or strategy for marketing and sales. Does that sound about right?

After their yes, the call moves on to tying each pain to what you sell. That step, and naming the price, are on SOP 242 — Map each pain to the offer and name the price.

6. Related moves on other pages

• The move of restating what you heard and checking it ("so I'm hearing X, Y and Z, is that right?") appears between questions in section 5 of SOP 147 — Make new customers consistent — advertise.
• The same section of SOP 147 describes its own pain cycle: ask what else they have tried and how it went, and keep going until everything is exhausted. Here the cycle runs three times, till you hold enough to tie to a working solution. The two differ on when to stop: three rounds caps how long the cycle runs, and going until everything is exhausted does not. This page does not settle which reading is right.
• Restating what someone said to show you were listening is also the first move of a written reply on SOP 14 — Reply with acknowledge, compliment, ask; there the restating is in your own words, where the recap here is in the prospect's.

7. What this page does not decide for you

• How to choose the label. The example labels are a marketing issue and a model issue, each set against a pain. How to pick the label for a given pain, beyond moving up to the broader solution: Not established on this page.
• What counts as enough. Beyond three rounds, and having enough to tie to a working solution: Not established on this page.
• The questions for the obstacle. Beyond asking what is holding them back: Not established on this page.

8. The checklist

Step	What to do
1	Once the gap is set out, look for the obstacle: what stands in their way, and why things are not working
2	Pull teeth until the answer is specific (SOP 241)
3	Recap: restate the problem in the prospect's own words
4	Label: match the problem to your solution ("what you might have here is a … issue")
5	Confirm: ask whether that sounds about right
6	As a practice here, leave the pain unfixed for now and return to find more
7	Repeat; here, three times, until you hold enough to tie to a working solution
8	Stack the pain: repeat every recap, then check with the prospect that you have it right
9	Then tie each pain to the offer (SOP 242)

9. What this page does not cover

Why the prospect came, where they are and what they want are on SOP 239. Pulling teeth is on SOP 241. Connecting each pain to the offer, the ask and the price are not covered on this page; they sit on SOP 242. Objection handling is not covered on this page; it begins at SOP 99 — Classify an objection.