Buying Benefits

When it comes to selling, many of us tend to focus on features. Talking about the nuts-and-bolts aspects of our offerings. Saying how you’ll be able to do things faster, more efficiently and better than ever before.

However, by doing this, we’re losing sight of why someone is truly buying what it is we offer.

If I sell a product for busy business owners that promises to make them more efficient at what they do, they’re not buying from me because they want efficiency, they’re buying because they want the benefits efficiency will afford them. If they’re more efficient at their jobs, they’ll have more time to pursue other interests. Spend more time with the family. Practice their golf swing on a Friday afternoon, and get a jumpstart on the weekend.

Efficiency is the feature; the benefit is all the things they’ll now have the time to do.

Take life insurance for example. No living person needs a life insurance policy. But with one, you’re able to make sure your loved ones are taken care of after you’re gone. You’re not buying life insurance; you’re buying security, confidence and peace of mind.

By talking about benefits, instead of features, we’re able to shine a spotlight on what our customers truly value. Focusing on what they’ll be able to achieve when they purchase our product or service. We’re able to draw a connection between their goals and our offerings. And it’s in drawing that connection we use features to show them how they’ll be able to reach those goals.

When we can give customers something of value, everybody benefits.