Features Or Benefits - Which Do You Lead With?

Do you know the difference between features and benefits, and which one is more important to a potential customer?Features describe the product itself. When you present features, the discussion is focused on YOU (my product contains these ingredients, my product is produced in this facility, my product is inspected by 10 people.) MY, MY, MY.Benefits describe what the customer gets from using the product. When you present benefits, the discussion is focused on the prospective CUSTOMER (you will feel more energy, you will appreciate the convenience of the packaging, you will pay less than you do now.) YOU, YOU, YOU!Let me give some examples:It comes in a small envelope vs. it fits easily into your pocket or purse
It is in powdered form vs. you can take it on an airplane
It contains B vitamins vs. it gives you energy
It contains antioxidants vs. it is good for your heartGuess what a prospective customer cares about? WIIFM. That means what's in it for me. You can bore them to death talking about monks in white lab coats, or independent research, and specific ingredients. Or you could just tell them what it will do for them!Great sales people listen to their prospects to find out what they want and need. Then they present only those benefits the prospective customer cares about. If the person asks about features of course you will answer the question. But don't lose sight of the benefits.Focusing too much on features also puts more pressure on you. You must remember technical details you might not understand, and then you don't feel qualified to talk about the product. Yet all you really need to know is the benefits. That is so much easier!And by the way, it is not necessary that you personally love or use the product you sell. I do not live on an island and I don't own a boat. But if I knew somebody who lived on a small island with no grocery store, I could certainly explain to them why they should have a boat! What you need is a product that provides value to a thundering heard of people. It's all about providing value to others, and helping others. It is not about YOU. Benefits = Value.In fact if you love your product too much, you could be tempted to leave your company every time you find a product you like better. You might change companies every month! Then you would never have the opportunity to build a big, strong team and with it a big, strong residual income.One more thing to remember: the customer receives value from your relationship with them in addition to the use of the product. If you provide great service to your customers, you create loyalty.You can also add value to your downline. If you provide great training and mentoring, help them succeed, and teach them to focus on benefits and providing value, you will create loyalty in them too.Let's say you sell a protein shake with 10 grams of protein per serving. Tomorrow, another company introduces a shake with 11 grams of protein, 10% more. That is a feature. Is it also a benefit? Will your customers really feel the difference from 1 additional gram of protein? I doubt it. But what is more important is that loyalty you have built. Your customers and your distributors know, like and trust YOU. So you keep your customers, and your distributors!