Another hot summer afternoon in Israel. Another client who has botched a wonderful opportunity to make an important sale. Why do people not learn? And why do I have to start explaining the issues when I am parched?

So, there I was sitting with a very decent, educated team, just outside Jerusalem, who could not understand why their presentation had been well-received but remained unaccepted. They had talked about their team, the corporate background, their technology, the size of the market, and eventually why they had entered the market.

As I pointed out, that last phrase was their big, maybe their only, mistake. What I call the ‘wow factor” resonates around the ‘pain’ or the core of the issue, which is why the seller is there in the first place. Just how many people will not be satisfied if you do not buy a key food item? How many companies will continue to lose income if they do have access to a new technology? They are suffering so to speak, and are looking out for the cavalry.

My clients had unwittingly elected to talk about the ‘pain’ only near the end. Therefore, their own prospective clients had not fully grasped what was so ‘wowish’. In other words, there had been a lack of empathy, however unwittingly. The result? No deal.

The importance of the issue was rammed home to me a few hours later, when I dropped in on the annual meet up of Tech Crunch in Tel Aviv. Guest panelists featured the mega successful co-founder of Waze, Uri Levine. And he was asked a very simple question: What do investors look for?

To sum up his answer, Levine noted that investors want to see that the entrepreneur has identified a real problem. Unfortunately, too many innovators value their solution more than the pain of others. Significantly, Levine showed off one of his favourite t-shirts, which shouts out the slogan “fall in love with the problem and not the solution”.

My role as a business mentor and coach constantly returns to this theme. Whether you are pitching to an investor, selling to a shop owner or offering a service, the message is clear. Before saying how wonderful you and your product are, understand why the prospect is listening to you. At the core, the primary answer has little to do with yourself. Internalise that fact, and your selling power should improve.