When guiding customers from the old world to the new, which element should you name?

When guiding customers from the old world to the new, which element should you name?

• A. The Customers' Challenges
• B. The Enemy
• C. The Promised Land
• D. The Market Opportunity

Answer: (A)

Starting with the customer’s current pain is how you make the change feel real and necessary. When you name their challenges, you validate what they’re struggling with—the costs, frustrations, and risks of staying in the old way. That recognition creates urgency and opens a cognitive path from “things are tough” to “there’s a better way,” making your solution the natural route to relief. Flipping to the enemy can be useful in some storytelling moments, but it shifts focus to someone or something external rather than the customer’s own experience. It can feel adversarial and may dilute empathy for the specific problems the customer faces. Highlighting the promised land is about the future state, which is important for motivation, but without first anchoring in the present pain, the leap to that future can seem abstract. Talking about the market opportunity centers on external conditions and potential gains rather than the customer’s personal need to change.

Starting with the customer’s current pain is how you make the change feel real and necessary. When you name their challenges, you validate what they’re struggling with—the costs, frustrations, and risks of staying in the old way. That recognition creates urgency and opens a cognitive path from “things are tough” to “there’s a better way,” making your solution the natural route to relief.

Flipping to the enemy can be useful in some storytelling moments, but it shifts focus to someone or something external rather than the customer’s own experience. It can feel adversarial and may dilute empathy for the specific problems the customer faces. Highlighting the promised land is about the future state, which is important for motivation, but without first anchoring in the present pain, the leap to that future can seem abstract. Talking about the market opportunity centers on external conditions and potential gains rather than the customer’s personal need to change.