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Thank you very much – I’m very glad to hear you say that.

I don’t feel that my personality lends itself naturally to any form of traditional sales roles, but that does not mean that I would not ever think about becoming involved in some aspect of the marketing process.

I finish up in Korea in three months, and upon my return to Australia, one area in which I intend to explore potential possibilities is the area of professional writing.

I have always found that I the writing process is one from which I personally derive a great deal of enjoyment and satisfaction, and my current intention is to enrol on a part time basis in a Professional Writing and Editing course.

(I will probably seek employment within my old accounting profession as well, but given the likely time requirements which will be associated with my studies, I am not yet certain whether I will seek full time or part time employment)

I would really love to explore the possibilities in terms of the various forms of professional writing, and although I was thinking more along the lines of technical writing, publishing or editing, I would certainly be open to any way in which I could become involved in the design of marketing campaigns or promotional effort of some form, especially in a behind the scenes capacity.

Eventually, I would love to start my own business of some form, and no doubt professional writing offers a great deal of opportunities in that regard, although that said, I am a long way from any form of specific plan in that area.

Thanks again very much for your suggestion. You have made my day.

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Andrew, Have you ever considered a career in sales? You sure have an exceptionally fine intuitive understanding of the sales process and psychology. Thank you for your thoughtful comment – I think you are 100% on track. Generic sales advice is difficult to offer, because circumstances vary so much.

Your example of a cricket bat is excellent, but even there, not all buyers will decide based on features. If you’ll allow me to switch to golf clubs, I’m one of those folks who doesn’t want to hear a long spiel about how this club is weighted or that club has a super wide club face, etc. I’ll make a decision intuitively, by swinging the club and seeing how it feels. I imagine some people might purchase cricket bats the same way.

For advertising purposes, the golf club manufacturer will probably combine a features message with testimonials – e.g., video of duffers like me swinging the club and knocking it 300 yards down the middle of the fairway. I guess the key is identifying the buying style of the customer.

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I would have thought that the relative merits of sales pitches based primarily around ‘benefits’ against those which focus on ‘features’ would depend upon the nature of the target customer with whom you are trying to communicate.

Sales pitches based around ‘benefits,’ I would have thought, would be most useful when trying to persuade a large portion of your audience about why they need the product or service which you offer in the first place. Those based around ‘features’ I would have thought, would have been more useful where you are talking to prospective customers who have already decided to purchase a product or service similar to the nature of what you offer, but are undecided about whether to go with your offering or those of your competitors.

Take cricket bats for example. Every cricket player needs one, no questions asked, so cricket players are concerned with the question of ‘which bat’ and not the question of ‘whether I need one,’ and given that virtually all bats offer substantially the same practical benefit, there would appear to be little value in talking about the benefits the particular bat in question provides. What is relevant are the features of the bat compared to other bats, such as how much power the bat provides relative to its weight, which determine whether or not cricket players will choose one bat or another.

But take another example – the marketing of property investment seminars. Prospective attendees are more concerned about why they should attend one in the first place than they are about which particular promoter they should go and see. In such cases, rather than comparing the features of one property investment firm (or individual speaker) against another, it would be wiser for a firm which specializes in property investment education to focus their marketing on the benefits which attending a property investment seminar can provide.

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If there is something that you want to sell it seems to follow that you would have to explain the benefits of the product, but what causes the benefits? Well, like you say the features!

I really like what you said about 50,000 air pockets, the customers probably don’t know what it means but it sounds pretty impressive and does differentiate the product from the rest on the market.

Interesting idea, one that I will have to try to integrate into my article writing.

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Brad Shorrs last blog post..The Benefits of Talking about Features

Have to say that your post seems to cut against the grain of what most have preached as the preferred sales approach over the years, particularly in the example you selected. Since – in this one particular product area – we were friendly competition, was always glad to make a call after what many of us regarded as the “smoke and mirrors” of Microfoam(R) Cushioning had been presented to a customer. Made my/our job easier when telling “the real story”!

My comment is a bit tongue-in-cheek but do feel that, in most cases, presenting benefits as features in action – where the rubber meets the road, so to speak – is a better way to fly. The fact that, from what I know, the market for Microfoam(R) Polypropylene Foam Cushioning failed to equal that of polyethylene foam cushioning over the long haul would seem to support what I am saying. And the sale of that business division by DuPont tends to underline my point.

Final thought – I always regarded the high COF of Microfoam(R) Cushioning as a touted benefit to be sold against, not just a feature. The old abrasive vs. smooth argument.

Brad Shorrs last blog post..The Benefits of Talking about Features