Being Strong When You are Selling!

I was really surprised when I came across someone the other day who had been selling his products and services, by waxing lyrical about the technical features of his wares.

There is an incredibly simple way to increase your effectiveness in your persuasion. It's called "the magic of turning a feature into a benefit"!

Let's look at what a feature is and what a benefit is.

Features are qualities and capabilities of products and services. What can this widget do, what colour is it, what capacity does it have, how fast can it do it....anything that describes the widget and what it does.

Benefits usually are not connected to the widget. A benefit is all about the person who is using the widget. It's about the time and the money that the person will save when using the widget - it's about how their quality of life will improve when the widget is introduced to their lives. It's about how easy tasks become, how much more productive that person becomes, about how much wealth the widget can produce, about how safer and securer that person's life becomes due to the widget.

People make their purchasing decisions and most other decisions based on Benefits. Features may be interesting for a small expert minority, but most of us are more concerned about how a product will improve our lives, than technical specifications.

When you start linking your products to how they will affect people's lives, suddenly you have their ears and eyes and attention.

How do you start talking about the benefits of your products and services?

A magic phrase is our gift to you today. It quickly converts features into benefits and will make you more persuasive, more interesting and on the odd occasion, even improve your love life!

It is a transition phrase that sets you up mentally to focus on the person not the product. In this transition, you link the feature with the buyer's life.
Lets introduce the phrase by taking a feature and linking it to to you.

"This blog has an article on turning features into benefits" (this is the feature, now let's add the transition phrase:) "...and what that means for you is:" (that's the amazing phrase! Now let's see how I link the feature into how it's going to benefit your life!) "....you will become more persuasive, get better results quicker, get your way more often, save time and money, and have the most fun you have ever had!

Now you only need one benefit to turn your communication into something meaningful for the listener, but I thought I'd give you a selection just to oil your imagination.

The wonderful thing about this phrase is that you take your attention off the widget, and you put your full attention onto whoever you are talking to. That's where you find the benefit.

So, have a practice with this.

Pull out a pencil.





Turn these features into a benefit. Add the magic phrase and then show how this pencil can make someones life better. Please find some possible answers at the end of this article. Good luck!

1. This pencil writes in black
2. This pencil has a rubber
3. This pencil is made of wood
4. This pencil has flat sides
5. This pencil has a yellow body

Turning a feature into a benefit by using the transition phrase: "..and what that means for you is..." allows you to look at the person and figure out quickly just how their lives can be improved by your product, service or suggestion.

It takes practice and trust in yourself that you will come up with a compelling benefit that is meaningful to your listener. Start using it and you will indeed become stronger in your sales, more persuasive, you'll save time and make much more money...and who knows? If you directed it at your love life, you may end up with a bigger smile on your face!

(Possible answers/benefits:)

1. This pencil writes in black and what that means for you is that you can see it clearly on white paper in all conditions
2. This pencil has a rubber and what that means for you is that you will never look like you have made a mistake whenever you do!
3. This pencil is made of wood and what that means for you is that when you run out of lead, you can sharpen it and continue writing!
4. This pencil has flat sides and what that means for you is you can put it on the table and it will stay where you put it - you won't lose it by it rolling off the table!
5. This pencil has a yellow body and what that means for you is that no-one will ever steal your pencil - you will have it for life and you will save the vast sums of money you usually spend on lost pencils!
   
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