Features or Benefits: Which Sells More Product?
It is common knowledge that customers buy benefits, not features. The classic example is that people don't buy drills, they buy the holes that drills make. The drill is the feature, the hole is the benefit.
This is why sales trainers teach you to sell the benefits, not the features.
This makes sense to my academic brain, but it didn't seem to fit real life.
Sometimes Features Come First
Imagine that you are shopping for a new computer at Best Buy. The Geek Squad member asks you, "What are you going to do with your computer?"
You reply, "Email my children, track my finances, and surf the Web."
The Geek Squad person, after taking sales training to sell benefits, replies, "Oh, you need this Computer XYZ. It helps you build relationships with your family members, enables you to understand your finances, and lets you explore the world of the Internet."
Wasn't that the most useless response you could get as a shopper? But he did sell the benefits, not the features.
Hopefully it's obvious: People don't always shop for benefits. They may want the benefits, but they shop for features. How fast is the computer? How heavy is the laptop? How large is the screen, or the hard drive? How much memory does it have? Is it a Mac or a PC? These are all features we use when deciding which computer to buy.
The question is, when do people shop for benefits, and when do they shop for features? Or better yet, when should you sell benefits, and when should you sell features?
Deciding Which Approach to Take
The answer: Sell benefits when the customer is deciding whether or not to purchase in the category. (Will I?) Sell features when the customer is deciding which one to purchase.(Which one?)
Recall that customers typically make two purchase decisions, "Will I?" and "Which one?" Every purchase requires a "yes" to "Will I buy something in this product category?" And then some (most) purchases require that next step of deciding exactly which product to buy.
When your customer is in the "Will I?" stage, you should be selling benefits. What they get out of purchasing a new computer, or a new tablet, or your consulting services. At this stage they are comparing your product category with everything else that is competing for their budget dollars.
When your customer is in the "Which one? stage, you should be comparing your product to your competition, feature by feature. Of course you should push the benefits of the features where you have an advantage, but the conversation is based around features.
Should you sell features or benefits? The answer is that you should be selling both. Just know when to use each approach.
Mark Stiving, Ph.D. is a pricing expert, speaker, and author. To learn more visit his website www.MarkStiving.com or read Impact Pricing: Your Blueprint for Profitable Growth.
