What if FAB selling is not so fab after all?

FAB - features, advantages, benefits - is a common sales technique. It’s been around for decades, and it’s still trained out. It’s time to remove it from workbooks, and confine it to the history books.

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Recap on FAB

The technique is simple; it works in three steps:

1)???? Explain a feature of the thing you are selling. This feature is simply a fact.

2)???? Explain the advantage that this feature brings to the potential buyer.

3)???? Position the benefit that this brings. The benefit is often expressed as saving time or money, or bringing peace of mind.

On the face of it, it all seems to make sense: three simple steps, and a reasonable assumption that most people and businesses want to save money or time, or have peace of mind. Unquestionably, sellers are making sales using FAB, so what’s the problem?

The problem is that it's not so FAB when it comes to the buyer's brain, impacting on potential sales.

Ultimately, as sellers, we want our buyers to make a decision to buy. To do this, it helps to understand a couple of things about the adult brain:

1)???? It’s incredibly powerful, able to perform the equivalent of an exaflop - a billion billion (1 followed by 18 zeros) - mathematical operations per second.

2)???? It prefers things that are easier (or at least, look like they’ll be easier), to conserve energy.

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The brain has a limited amount of cognitive resource and energy, and so when faced with a decision, leans toward the easier option. This decision-making shortcut is known as a?“cognitive heuristic.”?Low-effort choices are less mentally taxing.

In their paper, “Cognitive Effort, Affect, and Choice”, Garbarino and Edell[1] concluded that, “the results support our hypothesis that negative affect can be generated by expending cognitive effort and that process-induced affect can influence choice of equivalent alternatives.”

In other words, if your buyer has options, and one option requires them to use their brain a lot, this can lead to negative feelings, so they’ll buy the easier, less taxing option.

And you already guessed it, when you sell using FAB, you’re asking your buyer’s brain to do a lot of work.

The FAB approach requires buyers to process and evaluate detailed information about features, advantages, and benefits, which can impose a cognitive load. Not good for conversion rates.

Now, you can skip this next bit, and simply accept that FAB = cognitive load, or you can dive into the brain detail.

Either way, you’ll get to an alternative to FAB: easy for the seller, and easy for the buyer’s brain.

FAB and the buyer’s brain

When the seller uses FAB, the buyer’s brain has to go through the process of rationalising the information. ?This involves several key brain regions, each responsible for different cognitive functions:

1)???? Prefrontal Cortex (PFC)

The PFC, particularly the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), is involved in higher-order cognitive functions such as attention, working memory, decision-making, and problem-solving. It plays a crucial role in analysing and evaluating information about the features and advantages of a product or service.

2)???? Ventromedial Prefrontal Cortex (vmPFC) and Orbitofrontal Cortex (OFC)

These areas are associated with processing reward-related information, value assessment, and emotional regulation. They play a role in evaluating the benefits and emotional significance of the solution presented during the sales pitch.

3)???? Anterior Cingulate Cortex (ACC) and Insula

These regions are involved in processing emotional responses, monitoring conflicts, and making value judgments. They contribute to the comparison of alternatives and the assessment of subjective preferences.

4)???? Ventral Striatum

Part of the brain's reward system, the ventral striatum is associated with processing rewarding stimuli and reinforcement learning. It responds to the perceived benefits and positive outcomes associated with the solution being offered.

5)???? Temporal and Parietal Lobes

These areas are involved in language processing, comprehension, and memory retrieval. They play a role in understanding the information presented by the salesperson and integrating it into the buyer's existing knowledge and beliefs.

In short, the buyer’s brain has quite a bit of work to do to evaluate the features, advantages, and benefits so that it can make a decision based on both rational and emotional considerations.

By contrast, the seller using the standard FAB – saves time, saves money, gives peace of mind – has a lower cognitive load.

FAB: easy for the seller’s brain, and more difficult for the buyer’s brain.

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What’s the alternative?

The practical alternative flips the equation: the seller’s brain does more work so that the buyer’s brain doesn’t have to. The outcome? Increased sales.

The good news is that it’s a simple process for the seller:

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1)???? Ask questions to uncover the buyer’s primary and secondary motivators

2)???? Position the thing you’re selling in terms of the buyer’s primary and secondary motivators

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The really good news is how this plays out in the buyer's brain.

From the perspective of the buyer's brain, the decision-making process based on primary and secondary motivators is easier compared to the Features, Advantages, and Benefits (FAB) approach.

Here's four reasons why:

1)???? Emotional Engagement

Selling based on primary and secondary motivators directly engages the brain's emotional processing centres, such as the amygdala and the reward system. Emotions play a significant role in decision-making by providing quick shortcuts and intuitive judgements. When buyers feel emotionally connected to a product or service because it aligns with their desires and goals, the decision-making process can feel more straightforward and instinctive.

2)???? Personal Relevance

Appeals to primary and secondary motivators make the decision-making process more personally relevant to the buyer. When a solution is framed in terms of how it fulfils their specific needs, aspirations, or values, buyers are more likely to perceive it as a natural fit for them. This sense of personal relevance reduces cognitive effort and makes the decision feel easier.

3)???? Intuitive Judgment

Decisions based on motivators often rely on intuitive judgments rather than detailed analysis. The brain's emotional centres can quickly assess whether a solution feels right or resonates with the buyer's desires, leading to a swift and seemingly effortless decision.

4)???? Less Cognitive Load

The FAB approach may require buyers to process and evaluate detailed information about features, advantages, and benefits, which can impose a cognitive load. By contrast, decisions based on motivators tap into pre-existing emotional associations and motivations, requiring less cognitive effort.

Overall, selling based on primary and secondary motivators leads to a perceived easier decision-making process for buyers because it leverages emotional engagement, personal relevance, intuitive judgment, and reduced cognitive load.

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Next?

If you’re ready to increase sales by moving from FAB to motivators, you’ll need to change your questioning. There are some specific – simple – questioning tools that are designed to make it easy to leave FAB behind, and increase sales. Feel free to contact [email protected] to discuss.

And watch out for a new mini-series where we take a 5-second look at one cognitive bias a day. It’s speed-dating for your brain. Bias Beware starts later this month, exclusively on the Lever Development Ltd profile.

[1] Journal of Consumer Research; Sep 1997; 24, 2; ABI/INFORM Global

pg. 147