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Jack was new to selling concrete flatwork but was young, excited and becoming very knowledgeable about concrete, the tools, work processes and of course the pricing strategies used by his company. Because he wanted to make a great first impression, Jack doubled up on his study hours reviewing all the features about concrete.

After Jack's first 45 days of being out in the field calling on prospective customers, he had exactly zero sales. The only thing Jack thought might be his problem was that he still wasn't knowledgeable enough about the facts about concrete, the processes used by his firm's crews and the amount of preparation and follow-up that had to be administered. Another 30 days and Jack still had no sales.

I recently returned from two conventions where I presented several workshops on how to improve sales. Most of the sales people and estimators in my workshops were very similar to Jack from my opening above. They, like Jack, are quite guilty of the same mistake that less experienced sales professionals make when breaking into sales. In the desire to really "know their stuff," they try to learn all the technical details of their products and processes. While knowing your products and processes is critical, it is the sales professional's primary role to translate the technical aspects of concrete to the customer, turning such "yawners" into real benefits that the customer wants to enjoy.

The 'FTB' sales technique

There is a technique in selling that I have used personally for more than 25 years to very good results. It is based on three components. I will first briefly share what the components are and then demonstrate how they fit together.

Features. Features, or facts, represent the actual characteristics of concrete, the processes associated with concrete and other materials that might be used with the overall job process.