Time management is often described as the root of productivity issues, but the deeper reality is priorities. Everyone has 24 hours, and the real question is how much of that time is spent on the seven most important things that drive success. A simple time audit reveals the gap between what someone is doing now and what they need to be doing—and that gap is where pain resides.
Pain can be quantified in many ways. It may be the lost hours spent on low-value activities, the anxiety of unfinished work, or the cumulative frustration of repeating the same unproductive behaviors. Every choice has an opportunity cost, and over weeks or months, those costs compound. One wasted hour each day adds up to 180 hours over six months. The impact of those hours—whether invested productively or lost—defines outcomes.
This process of measuring the gap is called pain by numbers. Rather than looking at frustrations in isolation, pain by numbers examines the cumulative effect. A single setback may feel small, but repeated daily it becomes a defining pattern. Quantifying these behaviors makes the consequences real and provides motivation to change. As the saying goes, the pain of staying the same must become greater than the pain of changing.
In sales, the same principle applies. Buyers will often live with surface-level pain indefinitely unless someone helps them calculate what it is costing them. That calculation should not be delivered as a lecture. People don’t argue with their own math, but they will argue with yours. Effective sellers guide prospects through the numbers so they draw their own conclusions about the cost of their problems and the value of solving them.
Creating pain personas can help with this process. By sketching the roles and priorities of different buyers—whether they are researchers frustrated with slow throughput, business leaders constrained by budgets, or individuals driven by personal needs—salespeople can prepare meaningful questions that surface both business and personal pain. Too often, the personal side is overlooked. Yet personal drivers, such as wanting more time at home with family, frequently influence business decisions more than technical features or price.
The key is intentionality. Sales conversations should not drift aimlessly, hoping that the right issue emerges. Start with the end in mind: what outcome matters most to this person, and what questions will uncover it? Strong awareness questions, followed by engagement questions, lead prospects to reveal what they truly care about. Bland or generic inquiries only prolong the process, while challenging questions create urgency.
When pain is quantified, the picture becomes clear. Faster delivery, for instance, can be translated into cash flow gains, additional projects per year, and stronger competitiveness in the market. Delays, on the other hand, can be measured in lost opportunities and direct financial costs. The exercise is simple: what are you gaining, what are you losing, and what does it add up to over time?
Ultimately, empathy in sales is grounded in attention. Pain is not just financial—it is emotional, personal, and behavioral. By paying attention, asking better questions, and guiding prospects to quantify their own pain, sales professionals move beyond surface conversations into trusted advisor relationships. The process turns vague frustration into measurable urgency, and measurable urgency into action.
