How to SELL your services, your brand and your communication

by Jo Ann Sweeney - 08:00 on 18 January 2016

One of the worst feelings in business is knowing you have something valuable, whether that’s a product or service or a message but no one seems interested. It’s not just a bad feeling, sometimes it can be the death of a business. So I’m going to share the number one way to dramatically boost your persuasive power…

Mistaking features for benefits is one of the most common selling mistakes that people make.

There’s an old but useful slogan in copywriting circles that goes ‘features tell, benefits sell.’ That’s worth writing on a post it note and sticking above your desk.

Features are what the product or service has. They are the component parts of it.

Benefits are what the customer will gain by having the product or service.

WIIFM?

You might have heard of that other famous slogan WIFFM: What’s In It For Me?

This is the silent question in every potential customers head when you are pitching your product or service.

The Power of emotions

You need to let the customer know the benefits to them. People don’t buy logically, they buy emotionally. That is, they need to be emotionally engaged first and then a little logic can help to convince them afterwards.

You need to work out what the benefits to your target market are and then communicate them.

Think about these examples of features vs benefits…

A Mattress-

Features: Polyester external covering, quilted top, hypoallergenic

Benefits: Will help you get the best night sleep of your life so you can wake up with a smile every day!

Smile Happy Private Dentist-

Features: family friendly, hygienic, good customer service, experienced dentists

Benefits: Each visit will be so relaxing that you’ll actually enjoy going to the dentist and feel pampered afterwards

Come up with a list of all the features and benefits of your business and start communicating them to your potential customers today and you’ll soon see the results of being more persuasive!

If you’re interested in becoming more persuasive, effective and powerful as a communicator and leader then why not join me and a host of inspiring speakers in March at the Evolved Employer Conference in Central London? For information and tickets click here. 

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