Sales Is a Contact Sport
Practical Advice and Ideas for Building Sales Expertise and Increasing Sales Production
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The Product
Every product and service contains features, or facts, characteristic to them that need to be communicated. These facts do not speak to what something does but to what something is about. They tell us about a product and are, thus, left-brain in nature, as is price.
Features Tell and Benefits Sell
Product features are just as benign and unemotional as price when they stand alone. And, similar to price, there is the common sales error often made to “laundry list” the features (facts) of a product while failing to connect it to the emotional reasons of what a product does to fulfill customer needs.
Speaking to what something does for the customer is termed “beneficial language.” Failure to speak “beneficially” about your product results in a failure to connect emotionally to a customer. And, remember, people are emotionally centered creatures and are moved to buy in that realm first and to justify that decision afterward by logic. People do not buy because of what something is; they buy for what something does for them.
A simple exercise that I often take sales professionals through in order to help them make the transition from speaking in a company-focused, product-centered manner to a more customer-centered way begins with a discussion of the features offered in a product. We then translate those features into customer-centered, beneficial language.
The result: A way of speaking to the customer that touches not only the logical left-brain but also speaks to the emotional right-brain is developed. The features touch upon the factual side (left), and the benefits touch upon the feeling side (right) of our brains.
“What’s your product? What feeling will your customer walk away with? Peace of mind? Power? Love? What is he really buying when he buys from you? The truth is, nobody’s interested in the commodity. People buy feelings.”
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About the Book
Sales success is rooted in a fundamental understanding of how customers think, buy, and react to sales professionals and the sales process. Sales Is a Contact Sport takes you on a unique journey towards understanding the basic emotional nature of people and applies that knowledge in building practical sales strategies that produce results.
You'll be introduced to such concepts as:
-People are Complex, but they are Consistently Complex
-Customers Feel First and Rationalize Later
-What All Customers Crave...
-If You Live by Price, You Die by Price...Overcoming the Competitions Lower Price
-Customer Perception Doesn't Need to be Accurate, Just Favorable
-Value is in the Eye of the Beholder
Sales Is a Contact Sport is a practical book...a must read for anyone wanting to take their production results to the next level.
About the Author
A dynamic sales coach, speaker, and leader--Tony Cefalu is a motivator of people and innovator in the field of personal and professional development. An expert in designing and delivering curriculum for a major insurance and financial services company, he is recognized by individuals, sales professionals, and industry peers as a creative problem solver keen on the execution of ideas and delivering concrete results through the pursuit of personal excellence.
A distinguished graduate of the prestigious Air Force Fighter Weapons School and decorated Gulf War Veteran, Tony holds a B.S. from Rochester Institute of Technology and a M.S. and M.A. from Troy State University and Bethany Theological Seminary. A fourteen year veteran of the insurance industry, he also holds the professional designation of CLU.
Tony's blend of academic achievements and real world accomplishments as a salesman, business owner, military officer, world traveler, and professional advisor has helped hundreds of individuals discover new and unique solutions to their own personal and professional growth.
Tony is the founder of Transformation Systems Group, a partnership of consultants and experts dedicated to the development of individuals, small businesses, and organizations looking to discover new capabilities, seize opportunities, and realize their dreams of success.