It’s not enough to have a good product or service in today’s highly competitive, commercial world. You must be able to articulate well the BENEFITS of your product or service to prospective customers.
Why is it then that so many companies of all sizes make a fundamental mistake of confusing or not having clarity about the difference between features and benefits?
Let me ask you. Do you know the difference between a feature and a benefit? Do you/your sales team articulate the benefits clearly to prospective customers?
Don’t just give mental assent that of course you/they know. Go and listen to them on the shop floor or in the field and I guarantee that you will be in for a surprise.
What you will find is that your top sales people will likely be doing this well or at least better than the rest of the team. The others in the team will always have alibis (read excuses) about the quality and/or quantity of leads or something else that means they don’t have to take personal responsibility and action for their results or lack thereof.
Why bother checking – I hear you ask?
Well because unless you and your team are crystal clear about the difference between FEATURES and BENEFITS you will lose sales……GUARANTEED!
Why? Because your customers will buy based on their perception of the benefits of your products and services. They don’t buy the features, though they’ll think about them after they’ve purchased. They may even refer to the features later as a means of justifying the purchase to others. Yet, what get’s the sale over the line is your customer’s perception of the benefits of your product or service.
Unfortunately the reality is that very few staff can distinguish between the two and as a consequence they talk about features when the customer wants to think in terms of benefits. A sale is unlikely to happen because the parties are not talking the same language.
So here’s the difference:
BENEFITS: answer your customer’s question, “What’s in it For Me?”
FEATURES: merely describe the product or service.
And let’s face it, there are very few products and services that are different in terms of features, so the distinguishing factor might well be the BENEFITS your business is offering. But you’ve got to tell them!
The “Which Means To You” Test to Distinguish Between Features and Benefits
To do this, simply write down the feature and follow it with a “which means to you” statement. Usually this next response will uncover the benefit.
A great way to remember to distinguish between a feature and a benefit is to imagine your prospect saying “So what” every time you mention a feature.
So, knowing the benefits of each product or service is extremely important, but it counts for nothing if you do not incorporate them into your sales team’s training and script.
What you don’t have a script? Well no wonder you and your sales team are missing sales.
In my experience every high performing sales person or team operates from a script without exception!
You deviate from the script at your financial peril.
Different industries call it different things yet the successful players will all have a structure and a script.
The motor vehicle industry has the “Road to Sale”
The network marketing industry has their “Show The Plan/Draw the Circles”
What does your industry/company have?
Don’t have one? Or perhaps you have one but have decided to ignore it or change it because it’s perceived by your sales team as old fashioned.
Let me leave you with this thought – it doesn’t matter what you or your sales manager or sales team think!
Yes that’s right…ultimately it only matters what your customers think……
ARE YOU LISTENING?
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This column was compiled by Paul Wright from excerpts originally published by Damien Parker, Publisher of the
subscription only Positive Business Newsletter & Information Service. The Right Team, Sales Strategists & Business Improvement
Specialists, ABN 49006 576 564 ACN 110 466 138 Tel: 1300 66 44 89, have worldwide licensing & distribution rights for the
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