Pain Points (Understanding What Prospects Actually Care About)

Michael Barbarita • October 19, 2026

You're creating ads, but missing their real problems.


Your ads fall flat.


Nobody engages with them.


Here's how to identify the pain prospects you desperately want solved.


Your revenue growth requires addressing the real problems in your ads.


Your profit margins improve when your ads speak to your prospects' actual pain.


What this means for your specific situation: most business owners guess at customer pain.


Specific pain in ads converts.


Generic ads don't.


How to identify real pain points:

Talk to customers: "What was most frustrating before hiring us?"

Read reviews: What complaints do customers mention?

Survey prospects: "What keeps you up at night?"

Listen to sales calls: What objections come up?

Study competition: What problems do they highlight?


Real pain points will vary by customer.


Small business owner pain:

 * Cash flow uncertainty

 * Not knowing where money goes

 * Unforeseen tax surprises

 * Team management chaos

 * Revenue stalls despite work


Once you know your prospects' real pain, your ads can address it directly.


Example of a bad ad (the generic problem):

"Need accounting help? We're here for you."


Nothing in this ad speaks to anything specific a potential customer may be facing, they'll likely read and scroll past.


Example of a good ad (uses the specific pain):

"Tired of surprises when your tax bill arrives? Here's how to know projected taxes quarterly instead of annually."


This ad speaks to a specific problem, and gets potential customers to take notice of you and respond to your ad.


Your business efficiency improves from targeted messaging.


Your financial performance benefits from relevant ads.


Your earnings improvement accelerates from pain-based targeting.


Your profitability strategies require understanding specific customer problems.


Your cost reduction happens naturally from effective ads.


Your cash flow management improves from conversion focus.


Your business optimization requires deep understanding of customer pain.


The Bricks and Mortar principle: pain points answer the question, "Is this actually my problem?"


Including specific pain in your ads creates recognition for the prospect.


Your bottom line growth depends on addressing real pain.


Most business owners guess at pain.


You're researching actual problems your customers and potential customers really have.


Business Owners hire Next Step CFO to double and triple their profit using business and financial strategies that their competition isn't doing.