Sales Training Seminars and Tips

Sales Techniques - Selling Benefits

"Sell the Sizzle, Not the Steak." This point became overwhelmingly clear recently while I was eating at a local Mexican food restaurant here in Texas. Someone had ordered fajitas. It was interesting to note that as the waiter brought out the plate of sizzling beef strips, all the heads in the room turned to notice what delicacy was heading their way. Hence the statement, "Sell the sizzle, not the steak." Steaks had no doubt been brought to various tables with little or no fanfare. However, when the sizzling fajitas entered the room, everyone took notice.

You may ask what this has to do with sales. It's a question of sales techniques, of selling features or selling benefits.

The "brochure" mentality is prevalent in some sales organizations. The company has spent a great deal of money on brochures, so the easiest of all sales techniques is to simply sell from the brochure. However, the problem is that most brochures list features, not benefits. Features don't sell. Benefits do.

What's the difference, you may ask? One is the sizzle; one is the steak. A feature states what something is, and a benefit states what it does for the client. Ask yourself, "Do the sales techniques I am using answer the benefit question?"

For example, a salesman might say that his product has the feature Super X. The benefits question doesn't get answered. What does Super X do for the client? It actually would be better to state what the feature means to them; how it improves their life, makes their job easier, or adds value to your overall proposition. That's a benefit. That's the sizzle, not the steak. Make sure you sell what it does, not what it is.

I have been selling life insurance for years and what strikes me as extremely interesting is that if you were to ask 100 insurance agents what they sell, I can almost guarantee you they will tell you "life insurance" or "health insurance." But if you were to ask any potential client what they are truly looking for, they would tell you safety, security, and peace of mind.

Unfortunately, sometimes we are not selling what the client is really looking for. Why? Because we are selling the steak instead of the sizzle. We are using the wrong sales techniques, we're selling features instead of benefits. Remember to always ask yourself, "Does the manner in which I am selling answer the benefit question?"

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