Do you spell out the benefits?

Thomas

When you give a presentation do you spell out the "benefits" for the prospect or do you think the prospect can make the connection themselves?

Gary Boye

That is one of the most astute questions I ever read here. Very tough to answer. I think it depends on the nature of the "presentation". I don't think there is a clear cut principle involved. There is an "axiom" that says never give a feature without describing the benefits--but that's not necessarily reliable.

AZBroker

For me it would depend on the prospect and what they already know about the product or service. For instance, if I'm buying a car the salesperson wouldn't need to spell out the benefits of having air bags. However, I don't know anything about traction control so unless someone explained how it benefits me I wouldn't have a clue.

Derek

I think you need to always spell out the features, always spell out the detriments, and elaborate on the benefits if the average 12 year old wouldn't already know about them.

AZ's example is a good one.

realtor

You suggested always spelling out the detriments. When I show properties I like to point out such features as location and ammenities. How would I point out the detriments of those features and why?

Derek

WHY? - There is no such thing as the perfect product. Everything has a downside to it. The only question is whether the detriments outweight the benefits in the prospects mind.

If a salesman told you all about how great his product were, all the great things it could do and didn't tell you a single bad thing about it, wouldn't you be a bit skeptical? If he told you all of the features, how you benefit from those features and what you give up to get those features, wouldn't you feel a lot more comfortable? What is the saleman hiding here? He has told you every bad thing there is up front.

HOW? - I'll give you an example that I was given to help you understand that every product has features, benefits, and detriments. Look at Power Steering. Power Steering is a feature of an automobile. The benefit is easier handling. The detriments are cost, maintenance, danger in the event of malfunction, etc.

In your case with selling homes, I would imagine the main detriment to most features would be cost. For example, this home is 2,500 square feet. This can give you more room than a smaller home, but it also costs more. Or, this home has brand new siding and windows. This makes the house more energy efficient, but the home is priced higher than one without these features.


People want to buy from someone they Trust. If you are painting a rosey picture to get them to buy, can they trust you? If you tell them all of the good and bad about each home, can they trust you?

realtor

Not really.

For example, I don't need a salesperson to inform me that buying a home with a pool is going to cost me more than one without. That's pretty basic and it might even make me wonder if the salesperson didn't think I was smart enough to figure that one out on my own.

Also, usually the homes we end up showing have similar features. It seems that you wouldn't have to show too many homes before you would run out of detriments for size, location, etc.

Derek

I'm not saying you should say this stuff in every home that you take them to. You should have this conversation 1 time before you show them a single house. This will let you know what their requirements are. It also gets a commitment from the prospect that those are their requirements. Then you can show them a few homes that are the closest to what they want.

For example,

You: "Do you want your home to have a pool?"
Prospect: "Yes."
You: "In this area, homes with a pool typically sell for 5-10% more than similar homes without a pool. Is that okay?"

They tell you. Now you have a commitment. They said they want a pool, they are willing to pay for it. Now this won't be an issue later.

realtor

Those types of things I cover in the interview but I'm referring to the presentation where I'm pointing out features and benefits in the home.

MitchM

The business I'm in is network marketing and I've been with the same company for ten years this month. Whether it's a product or business appointment we spell everything out as clearly as we can and typically when it's someone looking at the business we do we don't let people make snap decisions. We walk them through presentations and trainings even before they make a decision. We lay out what it's going to take to be successful [success defined by them[ and what their commitment is as is ours.

I've never worked in conventional sales so I don't have any opinon on that.

The best to all.

Mike