One of the first things we learn in specialty retail is to demonstrate or point out a product's feature to a customer and then translate that feature into a benefit.
That concept was pounded into me at my first Sharper Image new store training. Features - benefits. Features - benefits. As part of the training we were given a random product and had to be able to rattle off at least three features and benefits. Let me tell you, that's easier with some products than with others! Especially when you can't include, "the company is making a huge margin and me a big spiff." But I digress.
While I've always fundamentally agreed that successful retail selling includes features and benefits, I also knew that something was missing in that approach. This becomes even more evident when you apply the features and benefits approach to non-demonstrable products.
What's missing is the emotional benefit to the customer. An emotional benefit is the positive impact a product, or at least purchasing a product, has on a customer's feelings. The emotional benefit can be joy, happiness or hope. It can be something that helps the customer overcome sadness, fear, or worry. It can also instill confidence or make the customer feel sexy and attractive. The list is as long as people's emotions.
Most of our purchases are emotional purchases. Anybody who doesn't agree obviously doesn't buy ice cream when they they're feeling down or fine wine when they're feeling good. Or maybe it's the other way around. Either way, almost everything we buy is as much based on a feeling as it is a rational decision.
This is especially true with non-demonstrable products. A customer doesn't usually decide to buy a beautiful necklace because of the clasp. She buys a beautiful necklace because of how that necklace makes her feel. Most of the time, the emotional decision to buy is a subconscious thought not easily recognized by the customer.
There are two ways to communicate emotional benefits to a customer. The first is to translate a tangible benefit to an emotional benefit. This works well especially well with demonstrable products. Good salespeople already add the emotional benefit to the tangible benefit but the more you can articulate it separately the more likely it is to connect with the customer.
Here's an example using a cellphone.
Feature: "This phone's atomic battery last three times longer than similar phones."
Tangible Benefit: "What that means is you can go up to two weeks between charges."
Emotional Benefit: "You won't have to worry about not having enough battery for your daughter to reach you at the end of the day."
The other way to communicate emotional benefits is to use them instead of the tangible benefit. Again I think a lot of people do this naturally but may feel they aren't properly selling with features and benefits. They are; they're using emotional benefits.
Here's an example using a pair of earrings.
Feature: "These retro-style earrings are absolutely beautiful. They will be perfect with the dress you're wearing that day." (The feature is the beauty.)
Emotional Benefit: "You're going to look beautiful on your daughter's wedding day." (Customer will look beautiful is the emotional benefit.)
The more you know about your customer and the deeper the relationship you build, the easier you'll find it to communicate emotional benefits to your customer.
I encourage you to role play with your colleagues today on using emotional benefits. Afterwards, try to communicate at least one emotional benefit with every customer. As a result, you'll probably make more sales. Then you'll get to realize an emotional benefit as well - the joy of making more money. |
