A classic line in sales training is: “Sell the hole, not the drill”. What they mean is that people are looking for solutions (benefits), not features. You want to sell the result, not the process.
As Professionals, we tend to geek out on the features of what we do. We have an innate and often unconscious understanding of the benefits. But our Clients aren’t us. Our marketing needs to meet them where they’re at and then guide them to buying from us.
And where they’re at is: “I’ve got a problem” or “I’ve got a need” or “I’ve got a desire”.
Feature:
Something your service is or has, an aspect or characteristic of your service.
Benefit:
The desired result or outcome people get from using your service.
| Feature | Benefit |
|---|---|
| Mobile Meetings | We take the hassle out of scheduling an appointment into your busy life by coming to you when it’s convenient. |
| We offer Virtual Counselling | Some of our Clients prefer the comfort and convenience of being able to attend their counselling session from their home computer. |
| Drop Off Your Shoebox of Receipts | Forget the time-consuming hassle of recording and categorizing all your receipts. Simply dump your paperwork into a box and drop it off each month and we’ll look after it for you. |
Develop Your Features/Benefits Matrix
All of your marketing—your website, your brochures, your infomercials for local networking—should lead with benefits. But, again we Professionals tend to talk features when left to our own devices. That’s why it’s important to go through the exercise of developing your “Features/Benefits” matrix. This exercise forces you to consciously translate your features into “Client speak”, the benefits that they’re looking for.
- List out your features
- Put them in order of importance
- If your list is longer than 5, consider ignoring the others
- For each feature, answer the question: “Why does this matter (benefit) to my Client?”
- Write it as a headline.
- Write it as a bullet, Benefit + Feature
Headline Examples
Hassle-Free Appointments That Fit Your Life
Counselling From The Comfort Of Your Couch
Dump Your Receipts On Us
(We’re Experts At Organizing Shoe Boxes!)
Bullet Examples
- We take the hassle out of trying to schedule your appointment into your busy life by coming to you with our convenient mobile service.
- Hop on your counselling session from the comfort of your own home and forget the travel with our convenient virtual counselling option.
- Forget the time-consuming hassle of recording and categorizing all your receipts. Simply dump your paperwork into a box and drop it off each month and we’ll look after it for you with our “shoebox” service.
