Grant Leboff Snipes from the Weeds re. Selling Benefits

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ace Coldiron

I have a question for both Pat and Skip, and it is not intended to put either of you on the spot. Your answers would be meaningful to me, and hopefully to others here.

You both serve the needs professionally of sales organizations looking to gain from your knowledge and experience. You both have gathered some insight on Leboff through his clip and discussion here. And--as professional service providers, like Leboff, you both sell your services.

My question is this. If you found yourselves in a competitive situation with Leboff, in pursuit of a worthwhile client, how would you individually compete with him?

I would use the same selling process I teach my clients (which includes presenting benefits).

Quote:

Originally Posted by Skip Anderson

I would use the same selling process I teach my clients (which includes presenting benefits).

As a student of strategy, it would be interesting for me to see how that would play out. In effect, one proposal centered on an Identifiable Difference against another, or others, more in line with the popularly accepted beliefs.

All hypothetical of course, and for that I apologize. Thanks for the response.

Skip, The idea Leboff is getting at is that sometimes the customer doesn't know they have a problem. This is where the questions both of you endorse come in. He clearly disdains a blanket presentation style of sales interview. He argues against the transactional model of selling. That is key, for in his method, you put the customer relationship first. This means you might end up saying, "Sorry, we aren't a good fit for you."

It is also really helpful to remember that this book is written for the small business owner. It is not written for the corporate salesman who turns over the relationship with the customer when the sale is made. It is for the small business owner who has to live with and care for the customer for the rest of the business relationship.

"Leboff's premise, that selling benefits is a myth, is hogwash."

You have to understand that Leboff sees people's motivations, most of the time, as not gaining benefits, but avoiding loss. He claims 'benefit selling' is integral to the transactional model, not the relationship model.

Benefits are saying, 'here is why we are great'. They speak more to the company selling it than to the customer and his needs and problems.

But importantly, whether people are buying to avoid loss or gain reward, they always buy to solve problems.

Do you go to a restaurant because it is billed as having good food? Perhaps, but really you go there because you want to show a loved one that you really care.

You really should read his book. Even while disagreeing with him you might pickup new thoughts...

Quote:

Originally Posted by BERTSKI

Skip, The idea Leboff is getting at is that sometimes the customer doesn't know they have a problem. This is where the questions both of you endorse come in. He clearly disdains a blanket presentation style of sales interview. He argues against the transactional model of selling. That is key, for in his method, you put the customer relationship first. This means you might end up saying, "Sorry, we aren't a good fit for you."

It is also really helpful to remember that this book is written for the small business owner. It is not written for the corporate salesman who turns over the relationship with the customer when the sale is made. It is for the small business owner who has to live with and care for the customer for the rest of the business relationship.

"Leboff's premise, that selling benefits is a myth, is hogwash."

You have to understand that Leboff sees people's motivations, most of the time, as not gaining benefits, but avoiding loss. He claims 'benefit selling' is integral to the transactional model, not the relationship model.

Benefits are saying, 'here is why we are great'. They speak more to the company selling it than to the customer and his needs and problems.

But importantly, whether people are buying to avoid loss or gain reward, they always buy to solve problems.

Do you go to a restaurant because it is billed as having good food? Perhaps, but really you go there because you want to show a loved one that you really care.

You really should read his book. Even while disagreeing with him you might pickup new thoughts...

There is much you and I agree about. But nothing you've written convinces me a salesperson should not present benefits of his/her product/service to the prospect, and that is the subject of Leboff's video and the subject of this thread.

Leboff doesn't argue one should not present the benefits of your products or services. It appears you got the wrong impression from his video. Context is everything. Which is why you have to read his book to know the context of why he calls 'benefit selling' a myth.

We all need effective answers to the question: How do we effectively help people with their problems?

When we look at it from that perspective, his book answers those types of questions very well.

His insights into the motivations for buying are invaluable. His method of creating a problem grid really allows a salesman to show the customer level 1 and level 2 and 3 of the problems left unaddressed by merely describing the benefits of your product or service. It is solutions they are looking for. They don't buy benefits!

[quote=BERTSKI;36827]Leboff doesn't argue one should not present the benefits of your products or services. It appears you got the wrong impression from his video. Context is everything. Which is why you have to read his book to know the context of why he calls 'benefit selling' a myth.

We all need effective answers to the question: How do we effectively help people with their problems?

When we look at it from that perspective, his book answers those types of questions very well.

His insights into the motivations for buying are invaluable. His method of creating a problem grid really allows a salesman to show the customer level 1 and level 2 and 3 of the problems left unaddressed by merely describing the benefits of your product or service. It is solutions they are looking for. They don't buy benefits![/quote

So Leboff puts out a video making outrageous statements and I shouldn't just take the video for what it's worth? That's your opinion? I have to buy his book to understand the video?

It sounds like you might be Grant Leboff and are now trying to backpeddle.

Sorry to open up a long lost thread but I have just come across this.

I have come a cross what Grant has to say before as I am too based in the UK. I appreciate what he is trying to say but get frustrated with the whole concept.

I actively train sales people and have seen a huge gap in the available skill set of the younger generation of sales people coming through.

Very new few sales people have a strong understanding of their marketplace, their solutions or the problems or goals of the businesses they sell to. This is not their fault as the companies that will happily send them off on an open sales training workshop should help them.

One of the reasons I stopped working with other training companies on open courses was because of the lack of preparation they would get delegates to do around the value they bring before turning up to a training workshop.

Many sales people turned up to an open workshop expecting the magic 'silver bullet' to closing the sale and had little grounding in their true value to the businesses they dealt with.

Benefits won't die. Client value won't die. Yes someone might buy because of different benefits than when you first started your exchange with them. That's OK. That's what happens in sales.

At least start off with a strong understanding of the benefits and the value you bring first. I believe in sales fundamentals and this is one of the biggest sales fundamentals.

Grant Leboff Snipes from the Weeds re. Selling Benefits

Sales Management and Leadership Forum