Sell the Sizzle & Not the Steak – Features Vs. Benefits

Switch Up Your Real Estate Marketing - Start Selling Benefits

In sales one of the most difficult skills I have had to learn and try to teach other real estate agents is feature, benefit selling in their realty business.

Dale Carnegie and Floyd Wickman always said you need to "sell" and not just "tell" in sales.

I always remember the story of a group of hardware salesmen trying to sell a drill bit. Every one of them would explain to the customer the type of bit, the size of bit, what the bit is made of, how strong it is and feature after feature they describe to the customer the drill bit.

What Carnegie and Wickman taught me was to sell the benefit instead of the feature to the customer.

The benefit to the customer of a drill bit is what? It is not the size, the type or what material the bit is made of. The benefit to the customer of a drill bit is that it will make you a “hole”... that is what the customer ultimately wants... a hole!

So why do sales people struggle so much with selling the customer on the benefit instead of boring the customer with all the features?

I know this is a major problem in sales and more specifically in the real estate industry.

For the last 21 years, consistently I noticed MLS listing descriptions are all jammed packed with only features.

For example in an MLS listing a typical feature is an air conditioner... virtually every listing you see will only state “air conditioning”. Air conditioning is just a feature of the home; instead, sell the customer on the benefit of air conditioning in that MLS listing.

What about something like “imagine relaxing with your family and friends during a hot summer day in the cool comfort of your central air equipped home”?

See the difference?

The consumer buys emotionally and justifies logically.

We need to emotionally connect our real estate clients to the benefit of air conditioning.

Sell the Sizzle (benefit) and not the Steak (feature).

Go back and read all your MLS remarks, your feature sheets, ads and internet remarks on your website this week.

Our customer needs to hear "what is in it for me?" this is the benefit and not the feature of sales.

When you only present the feature, in the customers mind they are saying "so what?"

The drill bit is this long... "So what?"

The drill bit is made of titanium... "So what?"

The drill bit turns this many times per second... "So what?"

I just need a hole Wade!

When writing your next presentation, MLS listing remarks or even your feature sheet try following this simple but powerful technique.

FACT – BRIDGE – BENEFIT – TIE DOWN.

Here is how it works.....

FACT – Mr. And Mrs Seller we will be displaying your home with texting mobile device technology.

BRIDGE – Why this is so important to you is...

BENEFIT – Today buyers expect and want information instantly. Using this mobile technology will allow a potential buyer to instantly receive a photo tour and details of your home like bedroom, bath, price and size of your home in seconds while capturing their phone number and notifying myself of their interest and number so I can quickly call them to arrange a showing, answer questions and sell them on buying your home.

TIE DOWN – Mr. And Mrs. Seller you would want the agent you choose to sell your home to market it using a texting mobile device technology system wouldn’t you?

Let us try the same technique for a buyer now.

FACT – Mr. And Mrs. Buyer this home has a large patio.

BRIDGE – What this means to you is...

BENEFIT – The perfect place to enjoy a family get together or summer time dinner parties. Kick back... relax... spend some quality friend and family time.

TIE DOWN – Mr. and Mrs. Seller, can you see yourself enjoying this patio space with your friends and family?

I hope you see the power of this mind shift in your marketing and can really begin to develop the skill of benefit vs. feature selling and “move” your buyer and sellers emotionally.

Stop telling and start selling with this simple but powerful technique FACT – BRIDGE – BENEFIT – TIE DOWN and take your sales business to another level this year.

Stop "telling" the drill bit and start "selling" the customer on the hole!

Strength and Courage,

Wade

Please pass this "tidbit" onto someone who would enjoy it!