Benefits vs. Features (What Works Better for Selling?)
In sales, there is a tendency lately to give a lot of importance to selling benefits.
In fact, to sell ONLY benefits.
Putting a lot of emphasis on what the product does for the customers, for improving their life, their business, for fulfilling their needs and motivations.
Sales gurus even advise you to stop talking about features.
Most tell you something similar.
But when customers decide to buy (or not to buy), they consider both benefits and features.
Even if in the end they decide mostly on benefits, in the first instance features and functions are of great importance.
But you see a lot of advice on the internet and in sales courses on this subject that talk about not selling features and focusing only on benefits.
It is also said that benefits sell and features just inform.
But I have bought many times just for features of some products.
Especially in those cases where the benefits are implicit and well known, they are taken for granted and I don’t need any salesperson to explain them to me.
I guess I’m an alien.
Likewise, if only benefits are mentioned and I don’t have enough knowledge about the product itself, if I lack information about relevant features, the speech doesn’t tell me much.
Then you must also keep in mind that there are many benefits that are emotional, subjective, that depend a lot on the person, and do not necessarily coincide with those that you or your brand want to highlight and sell.
So, the fact is that it depends a lot on the market and the product.
And on the type of customer.
When we are bombarded with options every day, features also help us decide, especially when it comes to searching and narrowing down the large number of options.
In a “saturated” market, where customers are already familiar with the general benefits of a product or service, features and functions help to sell, especially in the first sift to differentiate one brand from another. In that sense, it is necessary to mention the features and not to forget them in such a market.
Then the customer will look for the most convincing and persuasive benefits within this filtering of options.
An example would be the smartphone market. I myself, and many people too, look first for features, such as screen size, camera resolution, memory, etc.
Look, I recently received Apple’s promotional email about their latest iPad mini.
Guess what it said in the first few lines: “Mega power. Mini size”, “8.3-inch Liquid Retina display”, “12Mpx central ultra wide-angle ”, “5G superspeed”, etc.
These are all features, they don’t talk at all about what they can do for Apple customers, the benefits of those features, or how they make the customer’s life easier.
And we talk about Apple, which we always say they sell more than smartphones; we say many times that they sell ideas, design, status, security, creativity, easiness, and so on.
Yes, they sell intangibles and benefits that they then mention.
For example, once you enter the product page, they tell you that “thanks to 5G connectivity you can connect to the fastest wireless networks that exist to download files, watch movies or talk to your friends whenever and wherever you want”, they tell you the benefits, but first they caught your attention with features, especially the differential ones, which make it stand out among so much noise.
We are talking about markets that are saturated and well known to customers.
On the other hand, if the product or service is relatively new to the market, or is not known to customers, initial differentiation focused primarily on benefits helps the customer to validate their choices, rather than a speech based on features that do not necessarily suggest anything immediately to the customer.
So, in that type of market, the way to attract the customer is through benefits.
But as we have said, it depends on the market, the product and the relative knowledge of the customer.
It’s not just about selling benefits. It’s not just about selling features.
You have to highlight both benefits and features.
There must be a balance.
There will be cases where if we put too much emphasis on features we won’t connect with customers who are more interested in benefits or advantages.
And vice versa.
You have to sell each feature with its benefit (sometimes more than one for each feature), and customize the message to the type of customer.
However, it is very important to sell benefits that are different from those of your competitors, to solve problems that others are not solving, or not in the same way that your product does: sell competitive advantages.
In this sense, it is very important to highlight both differential features and differential benefits.
Differentials. Those that provide additional value, that help to build the brand and not just sell on price.
As said, you must analyze your type of audience and market and from there decide when to talk mainly about your benefits and when to highlight your features.
In any case, always use both in your sales pitch.
However, remember that what you think are relevant benefits and characteristics or that should be highlighted, do not have to be so for all customers.
There will be many who give importance to characteristics that in principle you do not consider important, and solutions to their problems that you do not know or do not think are the main benefits of your product or service.
How is this solved?
As always, asking.
Asking a lot, but with quality questions, aimed at discovering just that.
Once you know what they really need and can move the client to buy (or not to buy and keep their status quo) the key is to select which pairs of features + benefits can, now yes, resonate in their ears with enough impact so that they stop looking for more options.
So that you will be the best or only option.
Yes, you have to sell sensations, experiences and emotions.
But in selective combination with the functions and characteristics of your product that your customer is really looking for.
The customer needs to know why he should buy, but he also wants to know what he is buying.
Back to sales basics as usual.
Convince and persuade (both)
Reason and emotion.
Head and heart.
Customer and seller.
The right balance of sales.
The one you should look for to sell more and better.
Note: A spanish version of this article is included in Pensamientos Vendedores
If you like to read more about sales topics and tips, here we go:
51 Sales Tips, Keys to Sell More and Succeed Selling
Sell More and Better, Eternal Sales Techniques beyond Internet
