How to Master the Difference Between Features and Benefits Once and For All

Sell the Hole, NOT the Drill

Most of you have heard the old saying to sell benefits, not features. A feature is a 100 year old tree in the back yard. A benefit is the refreshing shade it will provide with hours of time spent laughing with your kids as they swing from its branches. Most of us know this yet it is still tough not to pitch our product, company, or opportunity. We need to stop because we are all losing money.

This article will serve as a different spin on that old advice with some practical application that is intended to help you make more sales. The quote below will lay the foundation for what I’m talking about…

"Nobody who bought a drill actually wanted a drill, they wanted a hole. Therefore, if you want to sell drills, you should advertise information about making holes – NOT information about drills." - Perry Marshall

Your product is not what you probably think it is. In fact, it might surprise you to hear that people don't care about your opportunity or your product at all.

I know it’s hard to hear, but they really don't. What they do wish for is a solution to their problem. Their problem could be a lack of money, lack of time with family, or maybe they hate what they do but don’t know of any other options. Whatever it is, your success increases dramatically as you learn how to position your product or opportunity as the solution to that problem. However, before that happens, you've got some barriers to break through…

Barrier 1: People hate to be sold.

Barrier 2: People will rarely see you (a complete stranger) as anything more than a sales person trying to get into their wallet.

Your breakthrough to those barriers is in the quote above, and here is what it means...

"Nobody who bought a drill actually wanted a drill." - You didn't (or won't) join a business team because you wanted a business.

"They wanted a hole." - You want more money, time, freedom, control, fulfillment etc...

"Therefore, if you want to sell drills, you should advertise information about making holes – NOT information about drills!" - People don't want your opportunity. They want the benefits that it can provide them.

By providing information on the benefits they are interested in, your prospects sell themselves on using your opportunity as the tool with which to accomplish their goals! That’s right: people hate to be sold, but they love to buy – and the only difference is who is doing the ‘selling’. If it’s you, they’re being sold; but if it’s them, it's their idea and they can't wait to buy!

So here are the Do’s and Don’ts on how you actually make that happen:

DO

• Market and promote information on ‘how to drill a hole’ faster, easier, and cheaper.

• Make sure the information you market and promote is useful and valuable. That’s what a consultant does and what gives your prospect the tools they need to sell themselves.

DON’T

• Market your opportunity and products directly. That’s what makes you the sales person they want to avoid.

• Market and promote information that isn’t related to what people really want (ie your opportunity or product).

Here’s another angle on why this concept is so key…

Let’s pretend that you’re researching an opportunity online. You type “Company X” into Google and hundreds of websites belonging to other distributors come up, pitching the company (i.e. selling the drill). Are you just going to call up one of those people randomly and join them, or are you going to seek out a leader who’s offering real expertise and value? You’re going to join the leader of course!

Why? Because he is positioning himself as someone who can help you get what you really want faster – (more money, time etc). In this case, the leader is doing this through something called Attraction Marketing. So it boils down to this - which person are you going to be?

If you choose correctly, you'll become the hunted instead of the hunter and not only your business, but your lifestyle will change.