Selling Benefits Versus Features

Many business start ups are based on a hobby or because friends and family have said ‘someone will pay good money for that!’ It makes sense to follow your dreams demonstrating your passion and hobbies are often a good way to start.
But, just because you, your friends and family love the idea, it really doesn’t mean that everyone else will also be raving fans. Nor does it mean that there will be enough people interested, never mind willing to part with their hard earned cash to generate a good enough revenue for you.

If you are just trying to earn a little extra cash, then selling your goods and services to your friends and family will work just fine. That famous phrase, of ‘selling to a warm market’ just will not work if you want to start a business if your ‘warm’ list too small.

The real work begins when you have to start selling to people and/or businesses that do not know you, are not related and have plenty of other options. Instead of just listing what your products and services are (the features) you absolutely must show what the benefits are. We are not talking about lightweight issues but the real reasons why people buy goods and services.

If you buy a car, it will have a very full list of its features. For example, the time taken to go from 0-60 miles per hour, the miles per gallon of petrol, cost to run, the materials used to construct the car, security features etc. The corresponding benefits for these features include saving money and increasing safety.

The real reasons why people are motivated to buy are varied. These ‘benefits’ that motivate a sale, help a buyer to:

• Avoid pain or gain pleasure
• Fulfil needs and/or wants
• Save time 
• Increase security and safety
• Feel and look good
• Save and/or make money
• Become successful

It’s How You Say It
Make sure that you truly understand the benefits for each of the features of your products/services and include them in all of your marketing materials. You should then find it pretty easy to answer the question ‘why should I buy your products/services’ and come up with a meaningful list that you can incorporate into your marketing materials.  That includes sales pages, newsletters, product descriptions and advertising.