Say Goodbye To Your Competition

The competition is fierce. It seems like everywhere you look, someone else is offering the same product or service that you do. This makes it difficult to stand out and attract new customers. But there's a way to say goodbye to your competition: sell the benefit of your product or service, not its features!

In this post, we'll discuss how focusing on benefits can help you get ahead of the game.

This is just one way to say goodbye to your competition! I'll make a (probably overused) reference to how Steve Jobs launched the first iPod to the market by selling what it did, not how it did it.

What are Benefits? — A benefit is what makes your product or service desirable to customers. It's why they want it in the first place and how it improves their life.

Steve Jobs: "This iPod holds a thousand songs and fits in your pocket."

What are Features? — A feature is a detail about your product or service that differentiates it from others on the market, but isn't necessarily what people buy products for (that would be benefits).

Not Steve Jobs: "This iPod has a 5 GB hard drive."

Benefits: Existing customers return to your business because they found a benefit in the product or service that was either missing from their previous purchase, or something new and different. For example, if you're selling food catering services, some benefits might be "more affordable," "healthier options" (through vegetarian dishes), or "larger portions."

Features: Features are what you're advertising to potential customers. They help differentiate your product or service and how it works from other products on the market, but they don't necessarily make people want to buy them due to their benefits. For example, if you're selling food catering services, features might be "organic ingredients," "to-go packages," or "customizable menu."

Benefits: something that makes a product or service desirable and improves the customer's life. Features are little details about your products or services that make them different, but don't necessarily improve anyone's life.

A benefit is what someone wants in the first place, while features are aspects of the item they may or may not want.

What Makes Your Product or Service Desirable? — Benefits can be tangible, like a reduction in price. Or they could be intangible and emotional, such as nostalgia from the product being "just like mom used to make."

What Makes Your Product Different From The Competition? — Features are what set your products apart from one another. But for you to sell features without selling benefits, you need to make sure that your customer understands the value of those features and how they're better than everything else.

The first step is focusing on what sets you apart from other options out there- in this case, it's selling the benefit of a product or service. With time and patience, this tactic allows you to say goodbye to your competition.

So sell the benefit of a product or service, not its features!