Sales Foundations, Part 2

Mark Cichowski smartPRENEUR Blog Series

These are a few more of the most common, proven and useful professional techniques you can use in sales.

Feature, Advantage, Benefit (FAB)

Salespeople tend to “feature dump” when selling. Being the expert in your industry is fantastic. Sometimes that knowledge overwhelms to buyer prospect if the salesperson bombards them with features. An example is, “someone asks you for the time and you want to build them a watch…”

How is FAB is defined?

Feature: What it is

Advantage: What it does

Benefit: Why someone should care

FAB Example

Feature: Antilock brakes

Advantage: Makes you stop faster and safer

Benefit: It helps save your life!

When explaining the BENEFITS, this is where salespeople often keep talking about features… don’t get caught in this trap. To test yourself, think about the “what’s in it for me” approach not what the product or service is.

Spin Selling

This is a course by itself. If you have not read the book named Spin Selling by Neil Rackham, it is one of the better books out there to help you succeed in sales, no matter what you offer.

Briefly, SPIN stands for:

  • Situation – Establishes buyers’ current situation
  • Problem – Identify problems that the buyer faces that your product and/or service solves
  • Implication – Explore the causes and effects of those problems (show them the potential pain)
  • Need-Payoff – Show why your product is worth it

As mentioned, there is an almost unlimited info about selling and I will continue to encourage you to keep learning.

Even though you can build your sales expertise, remember that people are really buying you as well.

About the Author

Mark Cichowski

Mark Cichowski is CEO of Clarity AV International, Inc. and brings over 41 years to the custom installation channel.  Mark is currently working on various projects such as training programs and general business development.

Website:   http://clarity-av.com