Feature Advantage Benefit Selling



Posted: Tuesday, September 16, 2008

by
The Fine Art of Selling


A very good friend of mine once asked me, "what are we really selling"? So many people say so many different things. If you visit a lot of different sites today on selling most of them if not all of them – promote "benefit selling."  If you have read my book or attended any of my sales seminars you would know that I do not use FAB (feature, advantage, benefit selling) techniques. I only use it as a base line from which I draw knowledge about what I am selling. Essentially, I don't use FAB to sell my customers or prospects.
Take a person who wants to buy a car. The salesman taught to use feature, advantage, benefit selling. Might say, have we got a beautiful car for you today, and it's on special! Just look at this beautiful car, top comes down so you can enjoy a nice country ride with the wind blowing through your hair, soft leather interior for you to just relax into, especially after a hard days of work, it's a beautiful candy apple red and it has a CD player so you can listen to your favorite music! The customer says great, I would love to have a convertible, with a leather interior, but I want it in black and I want it with satellite radio.

See the problem with feature, advantage, benefit selling is that people can always object to features and advantages. You run the risk of causing a "disconnect" between you and your customer, of being accused of not listening.

So what about benefits, they're good aren't they?

Well yes, they are…

Have you ever had someone tell you how great something is, how great the features are, all the advantages to owning, the benefits they'll enjoy for years to come?

Have you ever found yourself drifting, your thoughts wandering aimlessly, as a salesperson starts telling you about features and benefits that you don't even care about? You're just nodding your head, trying to be polite hoping the salesperson will get to their point or just stop talking?

There is a BIG difference between selling something based on benefits and selling something based on "desired results".

In regards to selling, the definition of benefit selling is: "In what way is it useful for me?"

While when you are selling "desired results" the definition is: "Is it going to do what I (the customer) want it to do?"

A very big difference.

You see the only way for you to know what your customer or prospects "desired results" are, is that you as a salesperson must:

1. Ask good questions
2. Be present
3. And LISTEN

Then you can sell. You take all of the information that your prospect has just given you, and then you "tailor" your presentation to give your prospect their "desired results".

The "desired results" then becomes an EXPECTATION on the part of your prospect due to your promise. A promise between you and your customer. A promise on which your relationship to do business rests.

Now you have accountability.

Your reputation is on the line.

This is what "Sales Mastery" is really about, being able to look someone directly in the eye and with 100% confidence know that you can deliver your customers "desired results".

That comes from years of honing my craft, years of working with sales people, sales managers and business owners who want their "desired results" whatever that might be.

I have 100% confidence that when I coach someone one on one, I can help anyone increase their sales.

That is a powerful place to come from.

This is why testimonials are so important. Testimonials prove that you can deliver on "desired results". It proves that you deliver what you promise, that you are accountable and that you follow through.

I can back up what I say I can do for you, and to prove it you can speak to these people.

And as a customer, that pretty well sums it all up about what I want.

Sell people "desired results" and take yourself one step closer to sales mastery.
 
 
Kevin Boyle is an expert sales coach/trainer and the author of "The Secrets to Sales Mastery"
 
If you would like to learn more innovative new skill sets and strategies to help you build an incredibly successful business and dramatically improve your sales results, visit my web site and subscribe to my FREE 8 part email home study e-course!
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Top-level comments on this article: (2 total)
» left by Anonymous 1 year 170 days ago.
sorry, it just seems that Kevin is trying to position himself as different by scuttling the FAB selling approach. But I've been doing this for a lot of years. Nobody ever said that exploration and discovery by asking questions isn't the #1 most important thing a salesperson must do before presenting a solution that ties the FAB directly back into what the customer said was important for them to accomplish. FAB does work and FAB is still, although mis-used by some, a great concept.
» left by Mary Artis
from New York 1 year 153 days ago.
Hi Kevin; WOW, this is a great article. I am glad I read it. It will help me with my assignment which happens to be on FABS selling techniques. I really like your point of view on this subject. Thanks for that.
 
Mary Artis, student at CTUONLINE.EDU
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