Jon E. Horton has worked in sales, marketing and consulting for more than four decades. Through his extensive experience in the field of telecommunications he has been able to apply his sales expertise to form strong partnerships with executives from a wide variety of industries. He has distilled his years of work in the rules and vignettes found in The 22 Unbreakable Laws of Selling.
If you have worked in sales for at least a week, you have surely been exposed to the concepts of Features/Benefits. Exposure, of course, doesn’t guarantee comprehensive understanding.
Every time I read an article about Features/Benefits (which I did last week), I have to pause long enough to mentally sort out the differences. I find that the distinctions between features and benefits are often subtle and, because using them correctly is critical to effective selling, they merit my careful attention. If you agree, join me in the exercise I use to get my thinking on track.
Review the following statements and determine which ones are actually benefits.
You get an “A” if you answered, “None of the above.” But if any of these have ever been included in your sales presentations (written or oral) without further qualification, the best you can hope for is an “Incomplete.” If you think you are immune to making these mistakes, I challenge you to look at your most recent resume. I’m willing to bet it lists many of your best attributes (features) without explaining how they would benefit a potential employer.
Let’s try one more.
If you’re paying attention, you easily saw through my effort at subterfuge. Clearly, the amount of RAM is a Feature of the computer. Perhaps less obvious, running faster is an “Advantage” of the computer but it is not the Benefit. People don’t buy a computer because it has dual disc drives and a ton of RAM. They buy a computer because it will save them time or make their jobs easier or help them beat the competition and earn more profits. Those are benefits!
Not to put too fine a point on it but it’s important to recognize that benefits are not a one-size-fits-all proposition. The critical benefit will vary from customer to customer. In my previous example, the client may have little interest in saving time but must have a computer with the ability to run a new software package. A thorough Client Needs Analysis will point sellers to winning benefits.
Here’s a simple way to test your sales presentations. Could a client respond to any of your statements with, “So what?” or “Who cares?” or “What will it do for me?” If so, you have failed to adequately describe a meaningful benefit.
Features are about you, your product or service. Benefits are about results. People don’t buy features – they buy benefits because they believe the product or service will improve their current situation.
Friends with benefits? If you’re like me, you want all your clients to regard you as a friend but I didn’t always understand the path to achieving that relationship status. Early in my sales career, I mistakenly believed I could turn customers into friends by taking them to lunch, remembering their birthdays and gushing over pictures of their children. Over time, I learned that the bond of friendship can only be cemented by fulfilling mutual needs (benefits).
For me at least, the foundations for my professional friendships were trust and respect. Correctly identifying the needs of my clients and providing appropriate solutions earned that trust and respect. Appreciating the nuances of features, advantages and benefits is key to that happy result. To get there, you must first become very friendly with benefits.
Jon E. Horton is the author of The 22 Unbreakable Laws of Selling available in both paperback and Kindle versions from Amazon.com. For more of his blogs, please visit www.JonEHorton.com. Comments to Jon@JonEHorton.com.
We all use labels in our everyday conversation. They provide convenient shorthand for sharing well-known concepts using a minimum of words. Unless you’re meeting with a real estate agent, it’s usually enough to simply say, “I left home this morning” even though “home” might be an apartment, a condominium or a mansion.
More often than not, labels are general in nature which is typically sufficient unless a conversation requires more nuance. The morning meal is just “breakfast” unless the array of food (and the price) justify calling it a “buffet”. Similarly, “condiments” infers something a cut above “mustard” but perhaps short of “Grey Poupon”.
This subject of labels came to mind as I was cleaning out the desk drawer where I mindlessly toss the business cards I have accumulated over the years, many of which came from fellow sales travelers. Reviewing them one-by-one, I was both interested and amused by the variety of job titles printed below each name. Representative samples include “Salesperson”, “Sales Representative”, “Sales Consultant”, “Sales and Service”, “Customer Service”, “Account Services”, “Account Executive” and “Account Manager”.
These titles are, of course, labels. And, like “breakfast”, they are all labels which convey pretty much the same thing – the cardholder works in sales.
To be clear, this column isn’t about creative writing and the search for a title that doesn’t scream “Sales!” As I have written many times, I believe a sales career is a high calling and it’s a label that should be worn like a badge of honor. To do so, however, account executives must be sure to define the label rather than let the label define them. That mission begins with self-perception.
Too many sellers have internalized the hackneyed caricature of a salesperson holding out both hands, desperately asking for money from a prospect. Accepting that definition becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.
My perception of all good sellers is radically different. A salesperson plays an indispensable role in a client’s critical decision making process. Which products or services merit shares of limited financial resources? How can those choices be utilized efficiently? What are reasonable expectations for ROI? Getting the right answers to these questions and being convinced (sold) to act upon them is a matter of life and death – for both the buyer’s career and the company he represents.
When the process works correctly and the business (client) prospers, top salespeople will sometimes be told, “We couldn’t have done it without you.” And it’s the truth. Sellers are a significant lubricant for the wheels of commerce.
Accepting the mantle of being an important cog in the world of business has seller benefits beyond serving as a “rah-rah” for self-esteem. Doing so will, in fact, change how a salesperson sells.
In The 22 Unbreakable Laws of Selling, I wrote about attending a Chamber of Commerce mixer and meeting two vastly different men, both of whom worked at automobile dealerships. I first met Larry who, when asked about his job, told me, “I’m a car salesman.” Later I introduced myself to Bill. His response to the same question was, “I work in transportation solutions.”
Neither of these “labels” appeared on their business cards but they spoke volumes about their respective self-perceptions. Larry’s ‘job’ is to sell cars and that’s how his potential buyers will think of him. Bill, on the other hand, believes he is guiding prospects toward making an important decision. As a result, he carries himself confidently and his demeanor demands the development of peer-to-peer relationships with customers.
How about you? I already think highly of your profession but I’m not sure what you want to be called. Is your label Larry or Bill?
Jon E. Horton is the author of The 22 Unbreakable Laws of Selling available in both paperback and Kindle versions from Amazon.com. For more of his blogs, please visit www.JonEHorton.com. Comments to Jon@JonEHorton.com.
The title alone should be sufficient. The phrase sounds like something you would hear from Mr. Obvious and I suspect some of my readers are sarcastically mimicking Homer Simpson’s, “D’oh!” Of course practice makes perfect – everybody knows that!
Yes, they do. Everybody knows it and yet almost nobody does it. How about you? How often do you actually practice your sales techniques?
As a Sales Manager, I could predict the collective groan from my sellers when I announced that a meeting would be devoted to role-playing. I always invited my staff to rehearse their client presentations with me but I got very few RSVP’s. Practicing takes time – a valuable commodity to busy account executives – so most sellers prefer to hone their techniques by testing the results with actual customers. While this approach may (slowly) improve performance, it hardly qualifies as practice. (One hopes our surgeons follow a different path.)
This conundrum – recognizing the value of practice but refusing to do so – is thoughtfully addressed in The Knowing-Doing Gap written by Pfeffer and Sutton in 2000. The book offers many examples of intellectual failures and its sub-title – How Smart Companies Turn Knowledge Into Action – invites substitution of “Sellers” for “Companies”. Perhaps I can encourage my readers to add a practice regimen with some impressive name-dropping.
Besides being famous and wealthy, Tiger Woods, Lebron James and Roger Federer share two other significant traits. First, their arduous practice habits are the stuff of legend. Although naturally gifted, these men outwork their competition with relentless rehearsals. Second, they are elite performers in their respective fields.
And these characteristics are not unique to athletes. I worked alongside billionaire Mark Cuban in a Bloomington bar while we both attended Indiana University – I was the deejay spinning records, he was the Manager. Mark wasn’t particularly interested in the club business but he seized the opportunity to perfect his entrepreneurial marketing ideas. Supported by a cadre of his rugby pals, Cuban managed the hottest bar in this college town. So, how did that ‘practice thing’ work out for him?
I’m not going to suggest that forcing yourself to practice will add nine “0’s” to your net worth. But I will argue that structured rehearsal of your techniques can put “elite” performance within your grasp. If achieving that lofty status if of interest to you, use the following guidelines to shape your efforts.
What to practice? Virtually everything you do. The Client Needs Analysis questionnaire, face-to-face presentations and closing techniques are primes examples of selling process functions that will undoubtedly benefit from rehearsals.
How to practice? Critique your own style (facial expressions, hand gestures) in front of a full-length mirror. Because they share your industry knowledge, rehearsing for your peers can identify content gaps or errors. Practicing in front of family and friends will test your ability to hold audience attention. For better or worse, those closest to you are likely to be your harshest critics.
I recognize that sellers are (or should be) really busy and they are understandably reluctant to add tasks that don’t offer a direct revenue-producing component. But part of establishing priorities includes incorporating long-term versus short-term values. Attaining elite level status really is a marathon, not a sprint. And that route will be measurably shorter for account executives who carve out the time for practice, practice, practice.
Jon E. Horton is the author of The 22 Unbreakable Laws of Selling available in both paperback and Kindle versions from Amazon.com. For more of his blogs, please visit www.JonEHorton.com. Comments to Jon@JonEHorton.com.
The myriad of challenges which confront sales managers runs the gamut and is as varied as the cities where they work and the industries in which they compete. But there is one consistent refrain I hear from virtually all of them. “It’s increasingly difficult to find good people to hire,” managers tell me. And they are correct.
The business landscape has changed dramatically over the last 20 years or so. The explosion of technology, in particular, has created new employment categories, many in sales, which easily trump the sex appeal of the more common options for new job seekers. What is the likely outcome, for instance, when a recent college graduate can choose between selling traditional media (radio, television or, God forbid, newspaper) or Google Ad Words (with free Google Glass for all new hires)? Yes, the competition to attract tomorrow’s bright sales stars is fierce!
There are many practices which will improve results from the hiring process. Interviewing every week regardless of need, using professional testing to screen applicants and turning your existing team into active recruiters are good examples. These and many other ideas deserve serious consideration.
But lest I turn this article into a book, I want to use this space to propose a single concept that will dramatically improve the pool of candidates from which managers may select. Put some lipstick on that pig! I’m suggesting, of course, that you dress up your job opening to make it more attractive. Implement the following steps to separate the perception of your opportunity from that of the competition.
Marketing
Definition
Compensation
Notice that all of the ‘lipstick’ elements I have described take place before you have administered a single predictive assessment test or conducted the first interview. It’s all about shaping the perception of what your company has to offer. If you’re serious about attracting the best talent, you (your company) must look your best. So get out your makeup kit and put out the welcome mat. Oink-oink!
Jon E. Horton is the author of The 22 Unbreakable Laws of Selling available in both paperback and Kindle versions from Amazon.com. For more of his blogs, please visit www.JonEHorton.com. Comments to Jon@JonEHorton.com.
