subject: Are You Making This Deadly Marketing Sin? [print this page] It's very easy to get caught making the deadly sin of trying to market and sell programs, products and services based on features instead of the results that they deliver. By communicating the results that clients will gain by using your product or service rather than just listing the features that it offers, you will be able to increase your conversion rate, which is the number of potential clients that turn into clients.
Definition of Feature: A factual statement about the product or service being promoted.
Example: We have custom programs
When you try to sell this feature, you essentially make your client do all the work to figure out why they want it. You are not being clear what the result is. Think about it this way: Your potential client is probably thinking: "But why do I care about having a custom program? It sounds expensive." In addition, just communicating this feature is not interesting or compelling.
Definition of Benefit: The result your clients get from working with you.
Example: You don't pay for or spend time on services you don't need.
Doesn't that have a different ring to it? A client's perception of each feature's results is what attracts him/her to your product or service. So, while the feature in this example is good (custom programs), it's not enough to just tell your potential client that you offer custom programs. Instead, focus on the results of the feature, which is the fact that it will save them time and money.
By communicating the benefits, you are basically "delivering the dream," meaning that you are selling what your clients really want, not what you want to sell. The benefits that you communicate will get them emotionally engaged with you and your product or service. Once they are excited by the results they will experience, it's much easier for them to make the decision to invest with you. Communicating only the features will, at best, deliver logical agreement with your offer. But without the emotional tie and the results being clearly communicated, you are not doing enough to help your potential client say "yes!" to your offer and feel great about their decision.
Try to approach your products or services as if you'd never seen them. Write out all the features and then ask yourself: "As a potential client of this program, what results will this feature bring me?" Your answers will provide you with insight to the benefits that you offer your clients.
Here are some additional examples:
Feature: Coaching Club
Benefit: You have access to me as your coach and also to the group for ideation, advice, input and partnerships.
Feature: Downloadable eworkbook
Benefit: Instant access to 50+ pages of exact how-to advice, templates and checklists from someone who has "been there and done that" so all you have to do is fill in the blanks.
One last tip: Please don't focus on quality, customer service or price. People have heard that over and over and during this part of the process, it does not add any real value. What they really want to know is that you can deliver the results they want. It's all about the results.
Once you have your list of your features and have turned them into results-based statements like the examples above, you can sprinkle them in your web site copy, sales pages, landing pages, articles, speeches or other promotional material and watch your own results start to increase.
Copyright (c) 2009 Meredith Liepelt
by: Meredith Liepelt
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