Are you focused on the feature or the benefit?

Everyone is looking for a way to save time, money and are asking, what's in it for me? When you go to the store you normally look at the item you need or want and then look at the different brands along with price. What makes your decision? Is it that your item has a fun color, cool mechanism that will speed up your cleaning process or cooking time or simply cheaper than the other one?

I was at this at home party a couple weeks back and to be honest, the only reason I was there was because my sister was the one having the party. I didn't think I needed any of these products and thought that it was an absolute waste of my time. Then, the sales lady started to do her demonstration and telling the group about the product and what it does and its features: it's soft, it doesn't spread germs etc. As I am still thinking yeah right, she started to tell me how my life would benefit from these products: saving money, spending less time doing my chores and so on. Ah ha, sold. From hearing that along with the features of the product she instantly got me hooked and I proceeded to have my own at home party.

After the party, I was thinking about how she hardly had to work for the sale. Have you ever thought about what you sell? Maybe you are a caterer and you have a customer coming in for their wedding. They are asking you about prices and what you all have to offer. As you go on and answer their questions, do you tell them why they should hire you? What benefit do they get if they hire you and not the guy across the street? Maybe it is something as simple as including the linens and table settings, saving them the time and money from having to rent them, pick them up, drop them off at the reception site and so on.

The next time you are meeting with a client/customer, remember that there are two parts to your product, its features and its benefits. To have your customer/client get excited about your product, they need to see both.