Sales Presentation Training - Are You Sure You Really Understand Features and Benefits
Stephen Craine
May 17, 2009
When I´m giving sales presentation training to sales people I´m amazed at how many don´t fully understand features and benefits, and how to use them to close a sale. Most corporate sales organisations understand how vitally important features and benefits are to a sales presentation, and they drum this into their sales teams. But many small business owners, self employed people selling their own services, and people new to sales, are not using this effective selling technique to its full potential.
If you are one of the people that don´t understand how to use features and benefits, then that´s great news. It´s great because you can expect a big increase in your sales results when you add this sales presentation training to your sales skills. It gets to the very core of why people buy, it´s because they want the benefits of the product or service, not the features.
Definition of Features and Benefits
So let´s start with a working definition of both features and benefits.
A Feature is what the product or service does, how it works, what it looks like, the mechanics of it.
A Benefit is what the features do for the customer.
A feature of this sales presentation training is the information it will give you to add to your sales presentations. A benefit of that feature is the extra income you can earn as a result of the additional sales you will close.
Every feature can have lots of benefits. Many features can have the same benefits. The information you find on this page is a feature. The benefits are endless and all result in you gaining something.
Example
If you were buying a new car for your family you would want to know about the safety features. You would be interested in what those features will do for you and your family, how safe you will be, rather than the technical specifications.
Add this sales presentation training to your selling techniques
At some point in your sales process you will have asked the customer some questions to establish their needs, wants, and desires. In your sales presentation your aim is to present a sales proposal that they see as giving them what they want. What they want are the benefits, not the features. Features are just tools that supply the benefits.
If a customer wants a car that is economical to run they don´t want a boring sales presentation on the technical features of the engine and its fuel consumption. They want to know the benefits this technology provides, and that is how many dollars it will save them. Yes, you will include some features of the fuel economy system in your sales presentation, but only the few that are directly related to the main sales benefit you are presenting.
A quick test
Take this quick test to see if you understand the relationship between the buyer´s needs, the product features, and the sales benefits.
Choose a common need or want that your customers express when you are selling to them. Now select the feature or features of your product that can give them that what they want. When I´m coaching sales people on how to give sales presentations it´s at this point that they start presenting. Don´t, you will only be presenting features and that´s not what the buyer wants to hear. Add another link to the chain and now select the benefits of those features that match the buyer´s needs and wants. Start at the top and put this into sales language that you can use in your sales presentation.
It may sound something like this: You said, saving money, compared to what you currently pay out for fuel each month, was important to you. This car has the latest fuel saving technology that will give you 60 miles to the gallon around town. That means you will fill up once every ten days instead of once a week as you currently do. So let´s look at what you´ll save over a typical year.
Add some agreement gaining at the right places and you´ve got the bases of a good sales presentation, with effective use of sales features and benefits. Sales presentation training is all about showing the customer a sales proposal that matches their requirements. It´s an important part of your selling process, and as you invest in learning more of these skills you will make more money.
Hi, I'm Stephen Craine from the website Sales Training Sales Tips.com where you can find sales training and ideas that can be used by all sales people, self employed and small businesses.
If you read and liked the above article you'll find a free sales training tool that I've devloped (that's a feature)really useful in increasing your sales and your income.(That's a benefit)It's called the Need-to-Know Chain. It's a fast working sales training technique that bulds up neural links to help you match customer needs to features and benefits, and it even helps you close the sale. You can download it for free along with our free newsletter, The sales Buzz at Free Newsletter Sales Training. Take a look and let me know what you think, and if you got great results, as my sales teams have, by using it.
If you are one of the people that don´t understand how to use features and benefits, then that´s great news. It´s great because you can expect a big increase in your sales results when you add this sales presentation training to your sales skills. It gets to the very core of why people buy, it´s because they want the benefits of the product or service, not the features.
Definition of Features and Benefits
So let´s start with a working definition of both features and benefits.
A Feature is what the product or service does, how it works, what it looks like, the mechanics of it.
A Benefit is what the features do for the customer.
A feature of this sales presentation training is the information it will give you to add to your sales presentations. A benefit of that feature is the extra income you can earn as a result of the additional sales you will close.
Every feature can have lots of benefits. Many features can have the same benefits. The information you find on this page is a feature. The benefits are endless and all result in you gaining something.
Example
If you were buying a new car for your family you would want to know about the safety features. You would be interested in what those features will do for you and your family, how safe you will be, rather than the technical specifications.
Add this sales presentation training to your selling techniques
At some point in your sales process you will have asked the customer some questions to establish their needs, wants, and desires. In your sales presentation your aim is to present a sales proposal that they see as giving them what they want. What they want are the benefits, not the features. Features are just tools that supply the benefits.
If a customer wants a car that is economical to run they don´t want a boring sales presentation on the technical features of the engine and its fuel consumption. They want to know the benefits this technology provides, and that is how many dollars it will save them. Yes, you will include some features of the fuel economy system in your sales presentation, but only the few that are directly related to the main sales benefit you are presenting.
A quick test
Take this quick test to see if you understand the relationship between the buyer´s needs, the product features, and the sales benefits.
Choose a common need or want that your customers express when you are selling to them. Now select the feature or features of your product that can give them that what they want. When I´m coaching sales people on how to give sales presentations it´s at this point that they start presenting. Don´t, you will only be presenting features and that´s not what the buyer wants to hear. Add another link to the chain and now select the benefits of those features that match the buyer´s needs and wants. Start at the top and put this into sales language that you can use in your sales presentation.
It may sound something like this: You said, saving money, compared to what you currently pay out for fuel each month, was important to you. This car has the latest fuel saving technology that will give you 60 miles to the gallon around town. That means you will fill up once every ten days instead of once a week as you currently do. So let´s look at what you´ll save over a typical year.
Add some agreement gaining at the right places and you´ve got the bases of a good sales presentation, with effective use of sales features and benefits. Sales presentation training is all about showing the customer a sales proposal that matches their requirements. It´s an important part of your selling process, and as you invest in learning more of these skills you will make more money.
Hi, I'm Stephen Craine from the website Sales Training Sales Tips.com where you can find sales training and ideas that can be used by all sales people, self employed and small businesses.
If you read and liked the above article you'll find a free sales training tool that I've devloped (that's a feature)really useful in increasing your sales and your income.(That's a benefit)It's called the Need-to-Know Chain. It's a fast working sales training technique that bulds up neural links to help you match customer needs to features and benefits, and it even helps you close the sale. You can download it for free along with our free newsletter, The sales Buzz at Free Newsletter Sales Training. Take a look and let me know what you think, and if you got great results, as my sales teams have, by using it.
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