Sales Come First

This week I want to talk to you about the difference between features and benefits, and how to write about benefits in your sales material.

Essentially, features describe the attributes of your product or service. For a product, they might be the size, colour, power, functions and so on.

For a service, it might be people’s wait time, your experience, your techniques and so on.

But a benefit actually describes what the feature will actually do for your prospect.

Let me give you a few examples.

Say you’re selling a lawnmower. Well a feature might be an adjustable handle. But that on its own doesnt actually do anything for anybody. The big benefit here is that the adjustable handle means anybody of any height can use it.

What about if you’re a medical professional. One feature of your service might be that you’ll be seen within 5 minutes of your appointment time. The benefit here is that you wont have to wait around in a waiting room for ages.

How about if you sell information products on making money online. A feature of your product might be how to write more effective emails. But the benefit here is that you will be able to get more people to read your emails, and therefore sell more products and make more money.

And how about a laptop with a brighter screen? Well, the benefit is not the brighter screen. That’s a feature. The benefit is that you’ll still be able to see it when its dark, AND you wont be affected by sun glare.

What about a car that beeps when you go over the speed limit? Again, that’s just a feature. The benefit is that you wont get any costly speeding fines.

Anyway, I could go on and on with examples, but the easiest way to remember is that features describe characteristics, and benefits describe what the characteristics will actually DO for the prospect.

So, let’s move on to how to write really strong benefits.

The easiest way to write bullets is the “SO WHAT” method.

That means, you take a feature, and you say “so what”. This forces you to think about why this feature actually means something to your prospect. Keep doing it over and over again until you can’t come up with any new answers.

Here’s EXAMPLE #1

Actually, I’m having a cup of tea at the moment, so that’ll do. Now lets say that this tea had 33% more caffeine in it. (It doesnt, but lets pretend). Now, that’s a feature, not a benefit.

So I say “So What”. And the answer is that you can stay awake longer.

OK, so I can stay awake longer, but “So What”? Well, this means I can get more work done and be more productive.

And so again I say “So What”. Well, I’ll make more money if I can do that.

And yet again, I say “So What”. But this time when I say “So What” I really can’t think about anything else.

So this tea has 33% more caffeine, which means I’ll make more money because I’ll be able to stay awake and work longer. 

Here’s EXAMPLE #2

Remember the adjustable lawnmower handle? Well, I have to ask myself “So What”.

Well if the handle adjusts, then anyone can use it, regardless of their height.

But “So What?”

Well it means that anyone can mow the lawns, so you wont always be stuck doing it.

So the benefit of the adjustable handle is that anyone can mow the lawns, so you wont always be stuck doing it.

Sounds like a good enough reason to me!

If you want to get a bit more advanced, then try describing the feelings associated with the benefit. Remember, people buy on emotions. For a refresher, go check out my earlier posts.

So for the example of the caffeine in my cup of tea, we can remind the prospect of how they’d FEEL about earning more money. So, a new benefit statement could be:
“This tea has 33% more caffeine, which means you’ll make more money because you’ll stay awake longer and be more productive. Imagine how you’d feel if you could tell your family they were going overseas on holiday this year with all the extra money you earned doing that extra work”

And for the lawnmower example, you could even try adding in some word pictures like:
“The handle adjusts for people of any height. Imagine how good you’d feel lying down on your couch watching TV on Saturday afternoon while someone else slaves away mowing the lawn for a change”

So keep a really close look at any advertising you’re writing and make sure you’re talking about benefits, not features. After all, its what your product or service can do for your prospect that will make them want to buy.

Next week I’m going to do something a little different. I’m going to reproduce a story written by a direct mail legend about focus. Its a story that has stuck with me since I first read it a few years ago, and the lesson it teaches is critical. It explains exactly why I take the approach I take to my copywriting business.

Until then, take care

Hugh Thyer

www.salescomefirst.com