Sales Myth No. 1: Sell The Benefits

I learned this the hard way - on the street.

The video looked like it was about general "benefit selling" not benefits based on specific prospect's needs.

Hey Thomas, did you read the first post in this thread?

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Selling to Consumers
B2C Sales Training

That looks right.

I did. I have seen the benefit selling he's talking about and I didn't like it either.

Thomas, please define "benefit selling."

When the salesperson pushes the benefits he thinks are important without ever asking me. What's worse is when they give you a hard time when you say you're not interested.

"You're not interested in earning more money?"

The school of hard knocks to learn that 'people buy solutions' to their problems rather than 'features and benefits' is very common. The tuition (in terms of lost sales revenue) is very high, but the lesson is invaluable.

People that are seriously looking for a 'better way' to sell vs 'the typical feature and benefit' approach have a way to learn it through Sandler, if they want to.

It is not easy to learn, but it 'takes you to the bank' more often; it minimizes the amount of unpaid consulting you do, and shortens the selling cyle along the way.

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Paulette
www.estc.sandler.com
paulette@sandler.com

Thomas, with all due respect, you're not describing "benefit selling." You're giving an example of "not identifying customer needs." What you describe has nothing to do with benefits. I wholeheartedly agree that salespeople should sell to needs.

Paulette: I've tried to professionally debate the topic of this thread with you in this forum. I've asked you a number of questions, and given you several opportunities to answer, but you haven't answered a single one. All you want to do is promote your Sandler franchise.

To respond to your last comment Paulette: Yes, customers buy solutions. Of course I agree with that. And what gives them a solution is the "benefit" of a product or service.

Paulette, since you won't play ball, here's my final entry in this thread:

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Paulette, Grant Leboff’s video, and the Sandler system says: “customers don’t buy features and benefits.”

I don’t have anything against Paulette or Grant or Sandler. But their statement is an amazingly broad, bold, one, and it is incorrect. I wholeheartedly disagree with it.

Customers buy benefits. There is no question about that. Anybody who disagrees with that doesn’t understand what a "benefit" is. That has been my assertion from the first post in this thread: Leboff is misusing the word “benefit” in his video. What he should have titled his video is: “Salespeople shouldn’t dump products on customers without knowing their needs.” Then, I would be 100% supportive of it.

By the way, here’s my definition of benefits, taken from the glossary at Salesopedia.com:


“Benefit: the value of something from the customer's perspective”

And here’s another dandy definition, of "features and benefits selling" from businessdictionary.com:

"Selling technique in which the seller ties every feature with a benefit that the customer wants or thinks is necessary."

And finally, another "benefit" definition from businessdictionary.com:

"Desirable attribute of a good or service, which a customer perceives he or she will get from purchasing. Whereas vendors sell features, buyers seek the benefit."

(Thomas: please note: none of these definitions talk about ramming a product down a prospect's throat. That's because doing that is a separate issue entirely).

Now, really, how can anybody deny that customers buy "benefits" if you use the correct definition of "benefit?"

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Sandler is aggressive in saying “Customers don’t buy features and benefits,” just as you have been in this thread, Paulette.

Interestingly, in large letters on the most prominent area of their homepage, Sandler says this: (7/31/08):

“Contact a training center today and learn how your business can BENEFIT from our expert assessments .”

Hmmm. So Sandler and Paulette (a Sandler rep), are telling us that their training is based upon the concept that customers don’t buy benefits, yet their website wants potential customers to contact them to learn how they can benefit from using their assessments.

Am I the only one that sees a ridiculous inconsistency here?

Furthermore, a quick search of the Sandler web site shows the following:

1. From a pdf download titled “Why Salespeople Fail,” Sandler says (on page 6): “Sandler hopes what you discover here will encourage you and your organization to continue to explore the benefits of Sandler sales training.”

Hold it, Paulette and Grant, and Sandler! I thought, according to your sales methodology, customers don’t buy benefits? In fact, on page 19 of the same document, Sandler states: “Prospects do not buy features and benefits… “

2. On page 28 of the same document, Sandler says: “Sandler’s trainers lead every session as they take you on your own personal journey of discovery and enrichment. Meanwhile, you reap the benefit of Sandler “best practices” gleaned through workshops with clients from every type of organization and industry.

3. Elsewhere on the Sandler site “The SMS program examines the manager’s role in building and leading a team that excels by: 1) identifying prospects who will become good-fit customers; 2) selling to their needs, and, 3) forming long-term relationships that benefit buyer and seller alike.

4. In a May press release available on the Sandler website, Sandler says:The company provides a full range of sales and management training programs, with powerful coordination and customization benefits throughout its extensive franchise network.

So, Paulette and Grant and Sandler: You're telling us customers don't buy benefits. [IMG]file:///C:/Users/Skip/AppData/Local/Temp/msohtmlclip1/01/clip_image001.gif[/IMG]

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There are boatloads of sales experts that tout selling to benefits. Here are few articles I found with a quick search:

http://thesaleshunterblog.blogspot.com/2007/05/sales-training-tip-181-sell-benefits.html

http://www.newagemarketingtips.com/sellingbenefits.htm

http://www.practicalselling.com/articles/benefits.shtml

http://loririchardson.typepad.com/salesprocessdiva/2005/06/rule_1_sell_ben.html

http://www.evancarmichael.com/Business-Coach/406/Sales-Training--How-To-Sell-Features--Benefits--The-Power-of-Targeted-Communication.html

So is Leboff's assertion that "Selling Benefits" is "Myth #1" accurate? You decide. My decision is a resounding NO.

And with that, I end my participation in this thread and leave any additional debate or comments to others in the SalesPractice community!

Skip

I agree that people ultimately buy perceived "solutions to their problems" rather than "features and benefits". I get what Grant is saying in the video too. Like Paulette I realize that some probably won't agree with me. To each their own.

Some additional concepts on the issue: People are not buying the product or service; they are buying the intended outcome of using the product or service. How a product will take care of the problem the customer has, will come out in the 'presentation'.

Salespeople become so caught up in, even fall in love with, the "unique selling points" of their product or service--code words for features, benefits and advantages--that they pay scant attention to the outcomes the products or services are designed to achieve. Prospects care about outcomes before they care about or consider "unique selling points." Unless they believe you understand their problem(s) fully, they don't about the F&B's of your products.

Marketing and Sales are not the same; marketing might crack open the door of 'interest'; 'selling' gets them to say "Yes", because the propsect discovers someone who they believe can solve their problem the best.

I work with people who are experiencing high turnover in their sales force and it is causing declining sales. Using assessments, helps a company make sure that the right people are doing the right job, to minimize turnover and get better sales results. In the end, the result is sales growth. The problem was declining sales due to high turnover.