As a salesperson, why would you want to tailor your product demonstration to your customer? Well, the question almost seems redundant if asked point-blank. Yet so many salespeople seem to do what I call, “Vomit the value proposition.” In other words, the product demonstration becomes like show-and-tell where the salesperson just runs down a list of features that most impressed her. I think we can learn a lot from The Apostle Paul’s sermon at the Areopagus. I’ll also give you my four-step process designed to help you tailor your product demonstration to your customer.
Paul then stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus and said: “People of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious. For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO AN UNKNOWN GOD. So you are ignorant of the very thing you worship—and this is what I am going to proclaim to you.
To The UNKWOWN GOD
Earlier in the passage, Scripture records that Paul was in Athens for some days. He spent his time there reasoning with believers in the synagogues and even in the marketplace. It also spends time studying the local culture. In his sermon, Paul even quotes two popular Greek poets and philosophers of the day and references the statue dedicated to an unknown God. Other philosophers of the day referenced the same deity. It would’ve been well known in Athens at the time.
Paul didn’t start by admonishing the Greeks because they practiced idol worship when giving a sermon in the Areopagus. Instead, he referenced their poets, philosophers, and religious practices in his sermon. He tailored his presentation to his audience. Paul’s ability to study a culture quickly and consistently preach a theologically correct gospel message that is also culturally appropriate to the skill I believe we do not talk enough about when studying the apostle. We would do well to learn these lessons. Paul did not simply go down a laundry list of benefits of the Christian faith. Instead, he gave one of the best sermons ever recorded while relating his theological points to culturally specific idolatry, which he knew led to pain and despair, and for which he knew he had a solution.
Tailor Your Product Demonstration to Your Customer
I grew up in a small town called Danville, Virginia. Danville has many great restaurants, but my favorite always was a barbecue restaurant called Short Sugars. When I went there I would always get the same thing, their delicious barbecue sandwich with French fries. The waitress would take my order and scribble the abbreviation down on a small green notepad that I’m sure all of my readers can now visualize. Once my order was taken she would tear off the ticket and hand it to the cook to place in the order queue.
The abbreviation that she wrote for my order was, “FF–BQ.” The method I would like to give you for your product demonstration can use FF-BQ as an anagram to help you remember and apply it. FF-BQ stands for:
- Feature
- Function
- Benefit
- Question
French Fries and Barbeque (FF-BQ)
To illustrate this method, I will give an example from my car sales days. This example assumes that I’ve already performed the five questions mentioned in an earlier post, and I have determined that safety is a key issue for the couple to whom I’m presenting. Here’s how it works:
FEATURE – (F)
Mr. and Mrs. customer, Toyota equipped this SUV with a four-wheel disc, Antilock Braking System.
FUNCTION – (F)
Usually, when a vehicle brakes, a piston, and caliber clamp down on the disk drum and lock the wheels in proportion to the pressure applied to the pedal. The car uses the friction from the tires to stop quickly. With the Antilock Braking System, the pistons and calipers rapidly lock and release in a pulsing action. This pulsing action prevents the wheels from locking up while increasing stopping power.
BENEFIT – (B)
You mentioned earlier that safety is essential to you. While surviving accidents is significant, avoiding them is even more critical. Rather than slamming on breaks and attempting to swerve to miss an object in the road, which would result in the car spinning and hitting the object, the antilock braking system will allow the driver to aggressively brake and steer around the object at the same time without spinning the car.
QUESTION (Q)
Mr. and Mrs. Customer, do you see how the Antilock braking system will make you and your family safer?
Conclusion
One of my heroes, Zig Ziglar, said that getting to the “Big Yes” in sales is all about accumulating a bunch of “Little Yeses.” The FF-BQ method is designed to tailor your product demonstration to your customers while accumulating a bunch of little yeses. Doing so makes your customers feel heard and that you are truly trying to solve their problems.
