Challenge the way you think right now

I love a new idea. I love to take something that has always been done one way and find a completely new way to approach it. There’s always, always a way to do it better. Don’t get too comfortable, because I’m likely to start rearranging the furniture or something just to keep it fresh.

That’s why I love the fact that this blog post completely threw me for a loop me. Now granted, I don’t claim to know the first thing about sales. I don’t know when this post was written or what the context was. I don’t even know what I was looking for when I found it. But instead of leading with the benefit, which is pretty much the set-in-gospel way to hook a prospect, he advocates this:

“Most people who have a need for your products or services already know that they have the need. Those prospects want a clear, very brief description of what you are selling, and they want to know a couple of important features. If they can perceive the benefit of at least one of those features, you will usually get a positive response.”

Mind=blown. Of course people today know when they’re being fed a line. This explains my overwhelming irritation with companies that shroud their actual products in mystery while gushing about what they can DO for me. Creepy, right?! It’s a little like being on a blind date and never actually seeing the guy before he’s promising you 2.5 precocious children and a cozy, ranch-style house on lakefront property.

If the benefit is the 3/4-inch hole your drill bit makes, if it's the ultimate thing your customer is buying when he buys your product... then what role should features play in your messaging strategy?

Features create points of differentiation. They paint a picture that allows you to create emotion. They generate want. And you know what that means: emotion + want = compelling reason to buy.

What I’m seeing is that today’s consumers are sophisticated enough to recognize marketing for the powerful tool that it is, making it a mistake to rely on stale tricks, gimmicks, and even “best practices” in place of honest, true communication that shows a product or service in its best possible light.