In yesterday's report on Bill Carper's talk at Ad:Tech 2003, he highlighted the importance of identifying a key pain point when working to solve problems.

Lois Carter Fay of the MarketingIdeaShop and Jim Miller recently wrote an e-book that includes several ideas for erasing people's business pain. While primarily focused on sales calls and solving potential clients' problems, their ideas are also useful for people trying to mitigate pain in their own work. Included among their advice:

• Get your prospect's pain on the table early in the interview.
• Listen carefully.
• Make sure you get all the pain out.
• How long has she had this pain?
• What happened the last time she tried to solve or cure it?
• What is it costing the prospect to have this pain?
• How much is the prospect willing to budget to get rid of the pain?