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How to create almost instant interest in any product or service.
Every conversation starts with confusion instead of curiosity. Without a painkiller sentence, you can't open an enrolling conversation and can't earn the 'How?' that gives you the right to ask questions. You also can't price the Better tier — because you haven't named the pain yet.
We help ICP VERB PROBLEM.
Seven Second Sale
The secret is to tell people what they want to hear, NOT what you want to say.
Do that right and prospects will ask either “How” or “What do you mean by that.”
People are 10X more likely to act when you take away something negative than when you move them toward something positive. That is why the verb must describe removing a pain, not adding a benefit — and why the right seven-second sale makes the listener immediately recognize their own problem.
When the listener asks “How?” — you have earned the right to learn about their specific situation. That question is not the end of the conversation; it is the beginning of the sale. But do NOT answer it yet.
Tim Draper, the legendary venture investor, uses a similar test: if he cannot immediately understand your customer story in 30 seconds, the opportunity is unclear. First impressions determine 80% of his investment decision.
Six painkiller verbs do the work: reduce, avoid, prevent, minimize, mitigate, eliminate.
Pick one to complete the sentence. Vitamin verbs — improve, optimize, enable — collapse you into commodity pricing; painkiller verbs create instant interest and anchor a premium price. “We help restaurant managers eliminate scheduling conflicts that cost them $800–$2,000/month in overtime” earns a “How?” every time.
The full verb-to-pricing playbook, the three validation tests, and the worked example are in the free Traction Canvas toolkit.
“Tell people what they want to hear, NOT what you want to say.”
3 ways founders blow this box
Get Box 4 working for you
→ Get the free toolkit — the fillable canvas, session slides, and a one-hour session recording.
→ Work through it with us — Brandy and Craig run the Traction Canvas live with founder cohorts and accelerators, and complete it 1:1 with funded teams.
→ Next: Box 5 — Enrolling — how to get meetings with almost anyone by asking for advice instead of trying to make them a customer.
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