Features vs. Benefits

In selling you will usually hear you need to pitch features and benefits. Sometimes people will tell you that people don't buy features they only buy benefits. If it's true that people only buy benefits what do I do with all the features? How can I know what to talk to my prospect about?

The key is understanding the difference between a feature and a benefit. The fact is, what may be a feature to one prospect can be a benefit to another. It's up to the sales person through the qualification process to learn what the prospect's needs are which will tell them whether or not it's a feature or a benefit.

Think of features and benefits like this. If the prospect sees it as a benefit then it's a benefit. Otherwise it's a feature. For example if you go to a car dealership (relax, this is just a blog you're not really at the car dealership) and you're looking at a red car. Is the color red a feature or a benefit? If you love the color red then for you it's a benefit. On the other hand if it isn't your favorite color and you believe that red cars get more tickets it's a feature that you're not to interested in. See how the color red can be a benefit to some people and not to others?

By the way the color red is always a feature but it isn't always a benefit. The inexperienced sales person memorizes all the features and benefits that they think their goods or service has and then proceeds to tell the prospect all about them. The problem is that as we've just discovered a feature that benefits one may not benefit all. So the presentation that tries to lump everyone into one group will actually create sales resistance with the prospects that don't feel the same way about the benefits you have presented.

That brings us back to qualifying. When you take the time to properly qualify your prospect so that you know what they are looking for you can highlight the features that are in fact benefits for your prospect. By doing so you will build tremendous value and truly help them see how they will benefit from taking advantage of your offer. Having done that you will have laid the foundation for the close which you will find goes much smoother with a client that sees the benefits of your offer presented to them from their perspective.