Everyone talks about features and benefits. Well, almost everyone. A lot of people confuse the two, and then they do not even consider a third category: advantages.
Three simple ideas.
Features are the tangibles of your product or service. How big is it? How long does it take? What color is it? How many calories is it (or isn’t)?
Benefits are what it does for the buyer. Enables the buyer to do more. Saves the buyer time and money. Helps the buyer lose or gain weight.
Advantages are a third category. It comes in between features and benefits. Think of it answering the question, “What does this feature enable me to do with this product?” If all the appliances are white, the advantage is that you can put them into pretty much any kitchen and they will match. If
Advantages are not really third since they come between Features and Benefits. Really, it should be presented as Features, Advantages and then Benefits. I put them third because most people forget about advantages and mix them up with Features and Benefits.
Benefits are important because that is what you are selling to the buyer. It is important to sell the “what is in it for you” because that not only differentiates you from others but also addresses the needs and wants of the buyer. You can call it the “trigger” for the sale.
There are many sites on the web for Features, Advantages, and Benefits. Do a Google Search and you will find many examples of how to do this. One is at Presentation Pointers titled Sell Features, Advantages, and Benefits.
In the end, remember to divide up your product qualities into these three groups when you are developing your sales and marketing message. With this exercise you have a better chance of hitting the trigger points and making the sale.
