Don’t Sell the Sizzle OR the Steak

YOU’VE PROBABLY HEARD THE ADVICE: “Sell the sizzle, not the steak.” And that IS an improvement over just blathering on about the features of your offering.
        But if you REALLY want to get through to whomever you’re trying to influence, don’t just stop with the proverbial sizzle (aka “benefits”). Go beyond the sizzle to why the sizzle is meaningful for them.
        Let’s stay with the steak metaphor for a moment to see how this plays out. Here are three possible headlines.

Selling the STEAK: Grade-A-Prime-Choice-WonderBeef.

Selling the SIZZLE: A taste you’ll savor all night long.

Selling WHY: The best part of a great night out.

A case could be argued for any of those headlines, but there IS a distinct advantage to the last version — even for people pitching high tech products or other things far removed from any whiff of “sizzle”. Here’s why . . .

Selling the STEAK: Focusing on features or functions forces your audience to figure out why your offering is relevant or meaningful for them. And the harder you make it for them to understand the importance, the less likely they are to act the way you’d like them to. Which leads us to . . .

Selling the SIZZLE: Giving people an idea of how they can benefit from your offering speeds up the process and improves your chances of success. This is what separates good presenters and sales executives from average ones.
        But when you just stop at “faster”, “cheaper”, “easier”, or “tastes better”, you risk being lumped in with all the other “good” pitches. Stopping at this point keeps you from REALLY grabbing them. Which leads us to . . .

Selling WHY: When we go beyond the obvious benefits to why those benefits are meaningful for your audience, then you fit your offering into the greater context of your targets’ goals, needs, experience, etc. The “WHY” headline above doesn’t stop with claims of a great taste, it makes the steak the centerpiece of a wonderful evening.
       Answering deeper concerns or desires — higher level concerns or desires — shows that you really understand what’s important to your audience. And they’ll reward your understanding with greater attention, involvement, and acceptance of your pitch.

 

Don't take my word for it . . .

Guy Kawasaki mentions this issue of deeper understanding in a speech on “The Art of the Start” (a primer for entrepreneurs). At one point, he talks about the legions of presenters he sees, most of whom have no clue about how to talk to him and his VC buddies. He dismisses both the people who give him only product details AND the ones who focus on “Here’s how much money it will make you!” In the parlance of this post, he trashes both the ones selling the steak and the ones selling the sizzle.
        Why?
        Because his interests go beyond just making money. He’s looking to invest in companies that add meaning to people’s lives. He wants to back things that will make life better, as well as make money. So having an answer for Guy’s “Why” — Meaning — will get his attention, his interest, and perhaps his involvement a lot faster than the legions of other pitches.

There’s a different story in the book Blue Ocean Strategy by Kim and Mauborgne. One company they highlight is Cirque du Soleil, which completely separated itself from all other circuses by NOT focusing on the typical circus-going crowd. Instead, they’ve been wildly successful by developing intriguing shows for people looking for general entertainment — theatre, concerts, etc.
       Instead of looking at the steak (circus acts) or the sizzle (the typical circus experience), Cirque du Soleil looked to the bigger “Why” context of people wanting a memorable, entertaining night out — and CdS delivered. Suddenly, they had new pools of prospects with lots of disposable income who would never have set foot in a typical circus.

 

How to apply it . . .

There are two keys to doing this right.

[1] Don’t start with your features or functions, and then try to build a case for why those will be meaningful. Instead, start with what your audience values, then connect your offering to what they’re trying to achieve.

[2] When you’re examining what your audience is after, don’t settle for the first answer you derive. Instead, ask yourself “Why?” — as in “Why is that important?” or “Why is that significant?” or “Why should they care?”
       If you want to get carried away, there’s even an approach called “The Five Whys” (also known as “Root Cause Analysis”). Here’s an example of how it works. Typically, this is used to uncover problems or “root causes”, but it works just as well in helping to reveal what is most important to one’s target audience. Looping back to Guy Kawasaki, a smart presenter might ponder why Guy would want to make a lot of money.
       If you get tired of asking “Why?”, you could switch to “What?” — as in “What will achieving this <initial benefit> do for them?” or “What will it mean for them to be able to <fill in the blank>?”

Go past the sizzle and focus on what they’re really after. You’ll scorch the competition if you do.

 

<addition: 11/16>
Last week’s post on Blue Ocean Presentations sparked the ideas underlying this one — that, plus seeing the Guy K. video. I hadn’t realized how similar were these two posts, however, until I just reread the “Blue Ocean” one.
        I considered taking down the earlier post, BUT there’s a great story about cement that you might want to read, plus a pithy line about not just giving someone a reason to buy, but giving them a reason to care. Check it out if you have a moment.

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