Want to Promote Your Business,
Product or Cause?
“Speak to their deepest wants and needs
and you will get their attention.”

by Tom LeBlanc

When you look for a product, a business, or an opportunity
are you interested in all the facts, figures and details
or in how it will change your life for the better?

It’s been said that most buying decisions are first made on an emotional level and then later justified by the logic and the details. If this is true and you are promoting ANY product or opportunity it is vital to understand how most people make their buying decisions. Let me ask you this: When you are looking for a product or an opportunity  which do you care most about… the facts and details … or how the product or the opportunity can change the quality of your life?

Although this applies to both products and opportunities let’s first focus on products for this example. The Product’s Features include all the facts and figures and details. On the other hand, the Benefits (or Results) tell how the product can enhance the quality of your life. They include specifically how the product can help relieve certain painful symptoms you may have. Benefits/Results include how the product can make your life better, easier, more gratifying, or more fun.

When looking for a product and when making buying decisions most people want to know very specifically what’s in it for them and how will the product change and improve their quality of life. That’s why teaching Features versus Benefits is one of the first things I teach my new team members… those who are interested in building a successful business. So, let’s get into it.

Features include all the details about the product:

• Where and how was it made
• How it works
• What it’s made of
• Characteristics (colors, sizes, shapes, models, etc)
• How it was discovered
• How it is delivered
  

Have you ever been approached by someone promoting a product and they go on and on telling  you all about their “great” product by listing all of its features? Some call this “feature dumping” and most people don’t have the time or the desire to listen to it. It’s annoying and makes me want to run the other way.

Although all of these facts and figures are important to know… people FIRST want to know if the product can address their specific wants and needs. And that’s where Benefits come in.

Benefits are described by benefit or results words that fall into two categories… Increase and Decrease words. Here are some of the Benefit/Results words and how they can be used to describe the benefits of a product:

• This product will bring your body back to a natural state of balance that will INCREASE your overall health and will OPTIMIZE your performance in all you do.
• This product can INCREASE your ability to manage stress.
• Drinking this water can help you to look and feel BETTER through proper hydration.
  
• It will improve your circulation.
• It will BOOST your energy and metabolism and give you enough energy to get through even the toughest of days.
• Because of its potent antioxidant qualities it will INCREASE your resistance to sickness and disease.
• It will IMPROVE your quality of life because you will be able to do things you haven’t been able to do in years.
• Because of the way it cleanses your colon it will DECREASE your risk for colon cancer.
• It will help you REDUCE unwanted pounds and SHRINK your waistline so that you can feel proud to wear that new outfit or business suit you want.
• It will help REDUCE or ELIMINATE stress, worry, fear and frustration because of the natural healthy state your body will assume.
• It will LESSEN your dependency on pharmaceutical drugs.
  
• It will REDUCE allergy-producing toxic household cleaning chemicals that will protect you, your family and the environment at the same time.
• It will EASE your mind knowing that spraying this on your fresh fruit and vegetables will REDUCE your chances of suffering from food poisoning or e-coli contamination.
• It will give you a HEALTHIER lifestyle by removing the dangerous oil-based pesticides that cover our fresh fruits and vegetables… the poisons that tap water do not remove.
  

NOTE: The above benefit statements specifically relate to a product I promote. Because I know and understand and have experienced the product it was easy for me to list the benefits. So, all you have to do is think of your product and create Benefit Statements that describe what it will do for your customers. List all the ways your product can help people.

By the way, understanding Features versus Benefits also applies to promoting a business or an opportunity. Speak in terms of how being a part of your business will help change their lifestyle, such as:

• LOW risk, low initial investment makes it affordable.
  
• It will INCREASE your income potential.
• It will ELIMINATE the need for employees, billing, and therefore will save you time.
• It has a LOWER operating cost than any other business model.
• It will give you the feeling that you are a part of a team and family that you can count on for help and support.

So, list all the Benefits of your business in such a way that your potential business partners will know what’s in it for them and how your business or opportunity can specifically benefit them by addressing their specific wants or needs. But… wait a minute….. How will you know what their specific wants or needs are? Good Question!!! Because it’s all about asking specific questions that uncover their wants and needs. And that will be the topic of my next blog post.