Here’s a microlearning on Features, Benefits, and Value.
Find the “crumb.”
In the late 1980’s I was just starting out my career in sales and I was a manufacturer’s representative for Lapine Associates, covering the NYC housewares market.
One of the lines I represented was Nordic Ware, a manufacturer of aluminum cookware and bakeware.
On this day, I was meeting with the renowned Fred Bridge of Bridge Kitchenware Corp.
Bridge Kitchenware had its office/warehouse in the Bowery section of NYC and Fred Bridge was an icon in the housewares industry.
I was presenting Mr. Bridge with the new packaging of our Nordic Ware cast aluminum Bundt* pan and I was looking to secure his reorder.
(This was back in the day when we wrote physical orders with pen and paper).
*Pillsbury licenses the name Bundt for its Bundt cakes from Nordic Ware.
As I recall it, the office was in the warehouse, which was an old building with tall ceilings.
In the center of the room there was an island bar, and there, sitting on a barstool and illuminated by a shaft of light, was Mr. Bridge.
I presented Mr. Bridge with my sample of the new Nordic Ware cast aluminum Bundt pan and was prepared to tell him all the reasons why he should continue to purchase it from me.
However, before I could go into my sales “pitch,” Mr. Bridge asked me a question, “Do you know why Nordic Ware makes the best Bundt pans?”
I was about to answer, but instead, I made the wise choice to listen to what Mr. Bridge had to say.
So, I asked, “Why does Nordic Ware make the best Bundt pans?”
He responded, “The crumb.”
I asked, “The crumb?”
He smiled as he took the Bundt pan out of the box and ran his fingers over its edge – “You see because Nordic Ware Bundt pans have such thick sidewalls, it evenly distributes the heat while baking and makes cakes that have the most delicate crumb.”
I suddenly understood.
It was not the quality of the cast aluminum that made for a long-lasting product or the visual impact of the attractive packaging that was of value to him.
Back in the day, we had an expression, “sell the sizzle, not the steak.”
On that day I learned that it’s not the sizzle that causes people to buy; it’s how the steak tastes and the experience of how it is served.
Only the buyer can ascribe value.
In this case, the value was “the crumb.”
And as a corporate sales trainer with RCG Workgroup, I teach my clients to always focus on selling value so that their buyers can readily reveal their “crumb” too.
When you learn to focus your sales on value, it is almost like letting the buyer sell themselves.
Good luck and good selling.
And, find the “crumb.”
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