Putting Benefits Before Features


Having spent so many years in retail, I always enjoy being on the listening end of a sales persons presentation.

As I listen patiently and attentively, I privately critique the sales person as they make their pitch.

I look for certain things, the basics, are they making eye contact with me, do they have a healthy knowledge of their product, do they ask me open-ended questions? Etc., etc.

The one thing that I have noticed about the majority of sales people, even the ones I see on infomercials, is that they spend the majority of their presentation discussing their products features, and not it's benefits.

As a consumer it is very important to know all the features of a product, however, I find it much more important to know the benefits of the product.

What is it going to do for me?

How much money will I save?

How will it make my life easier?

These are the questions your potential customer wants to have answered. They want to know how they will benefit from your product.

For example, I was in my bank the other day opening a safe deposit box. As I sat filling out the paperwork, the branch manager wisely seized his opportunity to be proactive. He asked me if I was registered for their on line bill payment. When I replied that I had not, he proceeded to tell me all about it.

He told me how easy it was to sign up, how easy it was to access, and how easy it was to pay my bills over the computer.

He even gave me an on line presentation right there in his office. The only thing missing was the pop corn.

During his entire verbal and visual presentation, he never once mentioned a benefit to the product. The features were great, but how did this benefit me?

What he should have included in his presentation, was that by using on line bill paying, I would no longer have to purchase checks, and I would no longer have to purchase stamps, I would be saving money!

The benefit to this product was, I could save money!

We all want to save money, but this point was never mentioned.Needless to say, I enjoyed the presentation, and I did sign up for the on line bill paying.

The next time you are selling one of your products, take the "features and benefits" and reverse them. Tell your customer up front what your product can do for them.

Think "benefits and features" not "features and benefits"

Tell them how your product can save them money, how it will make their life easier, tell them how it will benefit them. It will make all the difference.

Jay Conners is a former loan officer with more than fifteen years of experience in the mortgage business. You can read more articles just like this by subscribing to his free news letter by visiting his site at http://www.jconners.com a mortgage resource center. He also owns http://www.callprospect.com a mortgage lead company.