Future Shock

I've done a few different sales jobs in my time (he says stroking his old salesman's beard) and the most difficult to get to grips with was the one which involved selling solutions that cost a lot, but offered little gain to the prospect's present position.

So, how can that be? Surely buyers only buy to gain on their current position? Stop and think - that's actually not correct. The situation was that the industry in which they worked was changing significantly. It was necessary for the prospects to invest heavily to, at best, maintain their current business avoid future loss. The pain/problem was in the future and they knew they had to do something about it.

There are 3 important points to make here:
1. When the pain/problem is in the future, it is not there to be inspected and studied by the prospect as a currently existing pain is. This means there is a good deal of flexibility in how you describe and help the prospect envision the issues they have to face, which means great opportunity for you to present the appropriate solution (i.e. yours).
2. When selling in this way, prospects often really don't want to know. They will be deep in denial. It's a case of "don't shoot the messenger...". The very best question for selling future pains/problems, "Let's say you decide to proceed as you currently are. What impact is (future pain/problem) likely to have had in X years time? And X years?"
3. The biggest challenge here is to get action and commitment now. Future pains/problems can struggle to motivate present investment.