I’m back, and still sharing lessons in sales and negotiation I learned from Than Merrill and Andy Tanner. There’s one more exercise we did that I’d like to share. This one is about working with a skill that comes in really handy when we are trying to convince others to buy a house we have for sale, become a private money lender to our company, work with us as a contractor, or any other time we need to persuade others.

It’s based on FABE (fay-bee is how they counter-intuitively pronounced it). It came from Susan Williamson, originally. The idea is that you need to share these things to convince someone of the benefit of a product or service:

• Features: What does the item have or do? This item has…
• Advantages: How this differentiates the item. What that means is…
• Benefits: How the item can help YOU. What that does for you is…
• Evidence: Proof that your claim is true. This is true, because…

It’s a good idea to practice this with your elevator speech you give to potential buyers, sellers, or lenders.

In our case, everyone at the table had a bag with an object in it. The objects were fairly hilarious, including wax lips, Preparation H, a pair of clean white men’s undies, etc. You had just three seconds to look at your object, then present the FABE for your item. It goes without saying that this required creativity, especially in finding evidence for some of the items. But everyone gave it a good shot.

I did better on this one. I was rather excited to discover a clear, flat glass “stone” in my bag. Well, as a crafter, I knew of so many uses for that! I conveyed my genuine excitement about my item in listing its transparent, smooth features, the advantage that it has no sharp edges to injure children or pets, and the benefits that it is a blank slate for whatever you want to do with it—cover it with sparkles, make it into a magnet, put it in your terrarium, or skim it across a pond. As evidence, I pointed out how many have already been sold in stores.

The winner on our team was, of course, my dear partner Russell, who sold the heck out of a Pez dispenser. He just whipped through the FABE, then went back in for more. At the end, he said, but wait, there’s more! There are TWO candy containers with the dispenser! It was too perfect. I did come in second, though! Both Russ and I conveyed genuine enthusiasm for our product, which helped. We didn’t just list advantages and features, we acted as if they were amazing new discoveries.

Naturally, we don’t want to “over-act” in our businesses, whatever we are doing. But it IS important to not only share the features, advantages, benefits, and evidence pertaining to your product or service, but to sincerely believe in it. If you don’t, maybe you need to rework your offering to where you really are proud of all it can do for someone.

I hope that by sharing some of the things I’ve learned with you, I’ve helped you make some positive changes to your own business practices, or at least got you thinking about it. Call us at 512-807-8777 if you want to chat more. You can always contact me on Facebook, too (Sue Ann Kendall).

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