FAB: Reloaded

I’ve read three separate articles this week about FAB, and all three of them talk about using the FAB like it’s the be all end all of sales techniques.  I wrote about Features, Advantages and Benefits (FAB) last year HERE, but it was only the first part of an eight part series (All eight articles are complied HERE).  I love using the FAB in training because it gives Sales Presentation a trainable process which is especially helpful for newer salesmen, but without “The Missing Link” (Which I’ll address in a moment), the FAB is worthless.  A couple of examples:

I read an article today where the writer gave four examples, and the benefit associated with the example.  From a training and development standpoint it was an awful article.  Had a new trainee read that, they’d have thought that because Client A was in X Situation, of course the BENEFIT would address X Situation.  WRONG!

Just because the potential client is in a crummy situation it doesn’t mean the Benefit has to fix the situation.  In fact, the only way to really know the Benefit, a personal win for the individual, is by asking questions to clarify what truly matters to this person.

An example in another article used a maintenance manager.  The CFO had told this manager to cut costs on the maintenance of the manufacturing line.  The manager was concerned that he couldn’t do this without sacrificing his staff’s safety.  The writer then just assumes that the benefit for the manager is reducing costs.  WRONG AGAIN!

The Missing Link
What these articles are missing are the previous step of questioning, and none of them talk about how to find a Benefit.  By just talking about a FAB process and not training the far more crucial part of sales, questioning, people (Especially new salesmen) tend to start making assumptions.   Maybe the writers are assuming that the salesmen are asking questions, or even know how to ask questions to effectively find a Benefit?  Just like the examples assuming a client’s Benefit, that’s a terrible assumption.

As a manager, when you’re talking about FAB with your team ensure that you talk about questioning and finding the REAL BENEFIT each time the subject comes up .  As a salesman, you shouldn’t even be thinking about dropping a FAB on a customer unless you are 100% sure you know that the Benefit is going to help that individual.  Don’t assume you know the Benefit; ensure you know it by questioning in a systematic way.

Have you ever assumed the Benefit and fell on your face?  Tell us about it.

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