Features Versus Benefits

We are trained as sales people to sell ourselves and the dealership.  Have you ever put any thought into why dealerships train that way?  Because the dealer down the street has cars also.  The deciding factor is you, the sales person.  When presenting the car with your fine tuned walk around you share the features and benefits.  Have you ever put any thought into what is better, features or benefits?  I worked at a dealer that wanted to give a frequent shopping card to everyone who purchased a car.  On this card when activated was a certain amount of points.  Of course they made it big, something like 10,000 points.  Those 10,000 points equaled like $10.  Is that example a feature or a benefit?  It’s a benefit but it truly isn’t much of a benefit to the guy or girl who purchased the car.  I never had someone make a decision to buy a car because of the card.  I have had someone tell me that they would buy this car if it had a sunroof.  But what if you gave a free membership to a local golf club?  Now we are talking!  That is a benefit.  Im a buyer…not only a buyer but I’m trading in my paid off car for this membership.

I want to explain the differences between features and benefits.  As sales people we all know that if we can get your shopper emotional they will make a decision right then.  You can normally see it in their eyes, that emotional high.  On the test drive the married man on his lunch break keeps saying to himself “my wife is going to kill me”.  Immediately you start thinking “oh no….he has bad credit and even if he buys its coming back”.  I can’t tell you how many people bought a car from me and within the next few days wanted to bring it back because they made an emotional decision.  I did kind of feel bad but they ultimately made the decision.  Of course I wowed them with the features and overcame their objections but had I shared more benefits they might have not wanted to bring the car back.  Benefits can be an emotional thing and it can be shiny also but most likely it is a connection.  Something that hits deeper than a feature.  The excitement of features wear off.  Let’s take the guy that wanted the sunroof.  You know just as well as  I do 2 years from now he will forget he had a sunroof and hasn’t opened it in 12 months.  You can close with features but benefits keep them.  Benefits brings them back and it also makes them excited.  No one is going to their neighbor and saying “check this sunroof out!” and the neighbor says “I have to have one of those” and buys the car from you because you have cars with sunroofs.  That would be a bad decision.  If you sold a car and offered a benefit to have them excited about their purchase they will share the benefit with their friends.  I learned this late in my career selling cars and my sales people lived off my repeat and referral business after I was promoted to management.  Remember the guy up the street has cars with features also.

Offer your clients both features and benefits.  What’s better?  You decide and post your reply below.