The Features, Functions and Benefits Technique

By Zig Ziglar

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Selling the Value of Your Products Effectively
If you're going to help your customers solve their problems, you'll need to sell them on the value of your products. You need to give them enough reason to buy from you and not that guy down the street. The Features/Functions/Benefits technique allows you to do just that.

Let's start with the term "features." What is a feature? A feature is a part, a trait, or a characteristic of your product. Let's say you're selling televisions. A feature may be the remote control -- this is a part, a trait, a characteristic of your product. If you're selling, say, men's clothing, a feature may be the free alterations your store offers. This is a part, a trait, a characteristic of the service your store provides to your customers. A feature of the ballpoint pen you're selling might be a gold enamel clip.

The function is what the feature does. It's the act performed by the feature. Obviously, the function of the remote control is to allow the customer to change channels with the press of a button. The function of the free alterations is the ability of fitting your customer right there in your store. The function of the clip is to hold the pen securely in your shirt pocket.

The most important element of this technique is the benefit segment. It's the most important because customers buy benefits. They don't buy features or functions, they buy benefits. A benefit is the advantage or the value for the customer when using the feature and function. This is a very important concept: The benefit is the reason that the customer buys your product or service, and you must communicate this in the form of a benefits statement. The benefits of the remote control are the convenience, ease of operation, and time savings when changing channels. Your benefit statement could be, "You'll really like this remote control because of the convenience and ease of use."

The benefits of the free alterations are the money you save and the convenience. Your benefit statement may sound like this: "Our customers like this service because of all the money savings as well as the convenience and time saving."

Let's stop and personalize the benefits as we discuss the clip on the ballpoint pen. Now, we're selling two men who want two different things in buying a ballpoint pen. The first man, well, he wants to save money. The second man wants convenience and productivity. Let's do benefits statements to communicate the value in our product. For the first, "Mr. Customer, you're gonna like this pen because it has this clip. The clip holds it firmly to your shirt pocket. That way you won't lose your pen. The benefit to you is that you save money."

For the second man, "Mr. Customer, you'll like this pen because of this clip. The clip holds it securely to your shirt pocket. The benefit to you is that your pen is convenient and productive to use." You can see the benefits have been personalized based on the specific needs of the customer.

Now obviously, you must put these benefits statements in your own words. They must also fit the products and services that you provide. By using the Features/Functions/Benefits technique, you can improve your selling skills and your sales results.

From: Ziggets DVD Training Collection
© 2004 Ziglar Training Systems
DMH-018-010234

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