Marketing materials, in order to be effective, must be about the prospect. The same holds true for your presentations. This means they are benefit-driven, not feature-driven.
If you or your brochure says, “We’re an established, eleven-year-old company,” that’s a feature. If it says, “Your future is secure, because we’re an established, eleven-year-old company,” now we’re getting to benefits.
If your materials claim, “We have an automobile fund,” that’s a feature. If they say, “When you reach the Gold Director rank, you’ll get a new car for free,” that’s a benefit.
Here’s a helpful way to know if something is a feature versus a benefit. If you can put the words “you get” at the front of the sentence, it’s probably a benefit. If you can’t, more than likely it’s not. The effectiveness of the marketing materials you have to work with will dramatically impact your success, so evaluate them carefully. And make sure anytime you’re speaking to a prospect you structure the information to highlight how it benefits them.
-RG
I find that when I fall into explaining the feature it’s because I fail to connect why it would benefit the prospect.
Spending time on asking why it’s important to get what they want helps me to focus on how my company’s features *can* benefit them.
You’re right on, again!
Todd