Professional Distributor - 26

Let's improve your demonstration skills
Practice feature, advantage, benefit selling ... and create some videos.

H
BY ALAN SIPE
CONTRIBUTING EDITOR
Alan W. Sipe has spent the last 42
years in the basic hand tool industry
including positions as president of
KNIPEX Tools North America, senior
vice president of sales and marketing at Klein Tools, manager of special
markets at Stanley Tools, and sales
manager at toolbox manufacturer
Waterloo Industries. Currently, Sipe
is the owner of Toolbox Sales and
Consulting, a company specializing
in sales strategy, structure, development, and training. Sipe can be
reached at alansipe@gmail.com or
847-910-1063.

ere it is ... May. All the cool stuff you ordered
at your recent major jobber show or from
your recent promotions is in and your
mobile store is filled to the top. Your credit line is
stretched to, or even past, its limit. Adding to this
situation is the fact that COVID-19 is giving everyone good reason to keep their distance and be
conservative with their purchases. Additionally,
since most of us are not driving our vehicles very
much, our cars are not breaking down and the
rate of collisions has decreased.
If you are still making your calls, each one must
be more productive than ever. And if you are working from home, getting those sales is more difficult
than ever. So, what's a mobile jobber to do?
The answer is to demonstrate your products better than ever. Remember: a presentation without
demonstration is a wasted conversation.
As a wagon jobber, you offer the technicians
several benefits that other merchants can't or won't.
Things like on-the-spot sales/service, repair or
replacement of broken products, specialty products
that are very hard to find elsewhere, a wide variety of
products, excellent credit terms, and the knowledge
to present the right tool for the job to be done.
What you cannot do is compete on price.
Therefore, you must be a better salesperson than
any online picture or description, and significantly
better than the next mobile jobber coming through
the door.
Let's get to the point. If you want to sell more
stuff, make your calls, give great demonstrations,
and ask for the order. Do that enough times and
you will sell something. Do it better and better each
time and you will make more sales.
It is very important for you to know the product
features, advantages, and benefits before you start
your presentation. The feature simply is what it is:
"This unit has a USB port." The advantage is what
it does: "This USB port will power and charge your
phone, tablet, and other electronics." The benefit
describes how it impacts the user: "This handy
feature will help you keep your electronics ready
for use at any time and stop those annoying deadbattery delays."
Again, the feature is simply what it is. The

26 Professional Distributor I May 2020 I VehicleServicePros.com

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advantage is what it does. To you, the benefit may
be so logical that you may feel silly mentioning it.
Present it anyway! You are not selling to yourself;
you are selling a product to your prospect. Don't
assume what they do or do not know.
In fact, presume they know nothing and you
will be better off. Think of it this way: your demonstration is no different than singing a song or
performing in a play. Every time AC/DC performs
"Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap," they sing every word.
They leave out nothing, even though their fans know
every word. Performing a demo is no different. Leave
out nothing. That one little feature or benefit that
you omit may be exactly the one that convinces your
prospect to buy.
I always found it easiest to do a tool demo from
end to end so I wouldn't forget anything. For example, when presenting a screwdriver, demonstrate the
features starting at the tip and end at the handle;
present all the important features the tool has in
that order.
Bring your presentation logic home to the prospect. Make it meaningful to the person you are
speaking to. Explain what the benefit to them is.
Tell the BMW technician how your tool will help
them do their specific job better and faster. "You
know how hard it is to get way down into a BMW
steering column to turn the fasteners? This 24"
screwdriver will make that task a breeze." Or, "You
know how easy it is for a drill bit to skid when it
starts and gives you an off-center hole, or worse, it

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