Warning: this may be difficult to accept for traditional marketers.

Of course, everyone knows that all great sales and marketing focuses on the benefits, right? And the higher level the benefit is, the better.

There’s only one problem with that: it’s wrong.

Telling your prospects you’ll help them — insert any high level benefit, like ‘make more money’, ‘increase productivity’, or ‘be a hero in your company’ — is usually as impactful, credible and differentiating as a politician saying he or she supports world peace.

Think about it; doesn’t everyone say that?

Yes, you have to understand how your product or service will lead to great benefits, both rational and emotional, but focusing on those benefits is usually not effective to get people interested in the first place.

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In order to really engage people in conversation about what you do, forget features and benefits. Instead, pay attention to what really engages people in conversation about what you do.

If that sounds simplistic, consider that benefits are all about theory. Using the Essential Message approach, I encourage the people and businesses I work with to use prospects’ reactions and responses to uncover Impact Statements, Persuasion Drivers and Provocative Questions.

Traditional benefits may have been helpful when there were few products and services competing for the same share of wallet. In today’s highly competitive, overcrowded market, Impact Statements are all about what truly works. And, what truly works in getting the other person’s interest may be a seemingly minor detail, a major feature, an advantage, or even, yes, a benefit… but who cares?

Next time you’re talking to a client, prospect or someone at a networking event, throw your usual script in the trash and focus on the person in front of you. What really interests him or her about what you offer? In my experience, what truly interests prospective clients is buried deep down on page 753 of the sales manual as an afterthought. (And in many cases, it’s not there at all!)

Talk. Listen. Ask. Listen. Ask. Listen. Listen. Listen… Then craft your Essential Message around what works!

Essentially yours,

Michel Neray
Chief Differentiation Officer
The Essential Message