Unit 13 Presenting a product or service

Useful Tips

When presenting a product or service, an effective way to convince your audience is to follow the FAB approach:
Feature: highlight the features of the product or service you want the audience to focus on.
Advantage: show how these features make the product or service better than its predecessors or competitors.
Benefit: show how this product or service will improve the user's life.

Conversation

Steve Dunn, sales representative for Compix Inc, is presenting a new Customer Relationship Management (CRM) piece of software called iCustomer.

Steve: Well, good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. I'm Steve Dunn and I want to tell you today about Compix's new CRM application for your iPhone, the iCustomer.
Firstly, I’ll demonstrate exactly what this software is capable of doing.
Then, I'll outline the advantages this has over conventional CRM systems.
Finally, I'll show you how this can help boost the productivity of your salesforce significantly.
So, first of all, as a salesman I can tell you what we all want is up-to-the-minute information about our customers. iCustomer links your salespeople directly with your central customer database so that at any time they can check what exactly the...
...without any time lost. Moving on to my next point, what are the advantages of the real-time information provided by iCustomer over other CRM systems? Well, it means that for the first time ever your salespeople always have up-to-date details about your customers. Current credit ratings example, any problems with recent orders or maybe a new special offer that headquarters wants…
...of course, because it has a phone function. So, finally, what are the real benefits for your salespeople? Two words: increased productivity. Our research shows that salespeople are able to make at least 15 per cent more customer visits per week, leading to an increased sales volume of LIP to 30 per cent and that's not all. With...
In conclusion, if you commit to using iCustomer, we are offering a free consultancy service for your business. Our experts will visit your company and...
Thank you for listening. If anyone has any questions, I'd be happy to answer them.
Customer: Yes, I do. Do you provide software training for users as part of the package?
Steve: I'm pleased that you asked that question. We don't provide training ourselves, but our sister company is responsible for that and I'm sure we could discuss ways that we could incorporate that into the package…


Understanding

Steve follows the FAB approach outlined in Useful tips. Listen again without reading and tick the features, advantages, and benefits of iCustomer that he mentions.

1 Features
A.iCustomer allows your customers to place orders directly with the company.
B.iCustomer provides a link between salespeople and customers' data.
C.iCustomer provides a link between salespeople and suppliers.

2 Advantages
A.Your salespeople always have current information about customers.
B.It's cheap and easy to install.
C.It's more user-friendly than any other system.

3 Benefits
A.You will save money.
B.You will produce a better product.
C.Your salesforce will be able to sell more products.

Saying it accurately

Steve goes on to present another new product, the Top-spy Anti-virus System 4 (TAS 4). Reorder the extracts from this presentation for a new security system so that it follows the FAB approach.

1.By installing TAS 4, you will save time and money by protecting your computers against viruses.
2.It's well worth upgrading to TAS 4 because of its low RAM or memory usage compared to previous versions. Consumer surveys have also shown it to be more reliable than other systems currently available.
3.TAS 4 is a comprehensive Internet security system including a firewall and antispyware.

Match Steve's phrases or sentences on the left with those on the right that serve the same purpose.

1.I want to tell you today about...
2.Firstly, I'll demonstrate... Then, I'll outline... Lastly, I'll show you...
3.Moving onto my next point, ...
4.What are the advantages of...?
5.In conclusion, ...
6.If anyone has any questions, I'd be happy to answer them.
7.I'm pleased you asked that question.

A.First of all, Next, And finally, I'll...
B.Let's look now at...
C.My talk today is about...
D.Please feel free to ask questions.
E.To sum up,...
F.That's a good question.
G.Why is this important? Because...