Believe it or not, most Salespeople don’t understand the fundamental difference between Features and Benefits, as they relate to the sales process. The good news is that if you grasp the concept, you’ll be able to clearly articulate the value of your product or service to a potential customer. But before we share three keys to leveraging features and benefits, we must ensure you have a solid definition of the terms and can tell the difference between Features and Benefits.

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Features

The attributes of a product, program, or service are its features. They are numerous and will almost always outnumber the benefits. For example, a parachute has many features. It can be lightweight, quick-deploy, high strength, and colorful.

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Benefits

The benefits a customer receives are the reasons they will care or buy. These can be intangible “feelings” and are often connected to a deeper meaning. Continuing the parachute example above, the benefits of the parachute are simple, but important – it will save your life when falling to the ground.

Now that we have established clear definitions, we’ll share three key concepts to keep in mind when focusing on the features of your product and how they benefit the customer.

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Resist Your Training

Most salespeople love to talk about features because they have only been taught (or learned) the details of their product. Features, are easy to remember, and often allow you to physically engage the customer by demonstrating your product or service directly. Finally, features are objective. A new car is either black or blue in color. It either has four-wheel drive or it doesn’t. As a result, explaining the features of a product is generally a “safe place” for the salesperson. But you must resist your training to simply list a number of features for the customer. Move forward in the process and explain HOW the features are relevant to the customer and WHY they should care.

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Why Should They Care

If you cannot articulate why a feature matters to a potential customer, then it doesn’t. And if a feature isn’t relevant then it shouldn’t be part of your sales process. Put yourself in the customer’s shoes for a moment and imagine listening to a long list of product features that don’t matter to you. You would not only refuse to buy the product, but you would be annoyed as well! If you have done your homework ahead of meeting with a potential customer and you clearly understand their need, you should be able to connect specific features to their need and ultimately demonstrate value.

Bridge the Gap

All customer problems (needs) are connected to a finite list of universal benefits. These benefits typically relate to money, power, time, prestige, self-understanding, and fear. But the benefits of your product are not always easily interpreted by a potential customer. They need help understanding how the feature(s) of your product will satisfy their need and, in turn, provide some of the universal benefits mentioned above.

When “bridging the gap” you should focus on a specific feature, support it with evidence and/or data, and walk the customer directly to the realization of how it will benefit them by addressing the problem they are trying to solve. Make the connection from feature to benefit and you’re more likely to make the sale as well!

Not all customer needs are the same, so you’ll need to spend the appropriate time understanding what needs you are addressing with your product. But by keeping the above concepts in mind, and by following a measured approach you’ll be able to strategically and methodically move through your product features in a way that will resonate with your potential customers. This will, in turn, make your sales process more engaging and less chaotic!

For more advice on how to explain features and benefits to a potential customer, or build an impactful Sales Process, contact Castus via email (hello@castusglobal.com) or visit our website: http://www.castusglobal.com/

Tagged: sales process, features and benefits, training