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Understanding
'features,' 'functions,'
and 'benefits'
One
of the keys to successful selling is understanding the difference
among features, functions, and benefits and how they relate to needs.
Let's start off with some working definitions.
Needs
A
need is something for which a prospect or customer has expressed a
desire. Strictly speaking, if a prospect hasn't told you that he needs
a beachfront room, he has no need for a beachfront room.
Features
A
feature is any aspect, element, or part of a product. It is also the
name given to that element. In the case of a travel product that means
things like an "oceanfront room," a "tour guide"
on the motorcoach, an "optional excursion to the archaeological
ruins," "First Class" on the airline, and so forth.
Functions
A
function is what the feature does. The function of "transfers"
(a feature of a tour) is to provide transportation from the airport
to the hotel and back.
Benefits
A
benefit is the positive outcome the prospect will enjoy from the feature.
Every feature offers a benefit! Many features offer more than one
benefit. It is the benefit that fulfills the prospect's need and convinces
the prospect that this is the right product.
That
last point bears repeating, so let's repeat it. It is the benefit
that fulfills the prospect's need and convinces the prospect that
this is the right product.
Qualifying
the situation, to use a salesperson's term, is a process of developing
needs. Of course, there are such things as unexpressed needs. The
problem is, from your point of view, it is very difficult to sell
to an unexpressed need. If the client wants to play tennis on vacation
and hasn't told you, then you may present a tennis-less resort, lose
a sale, and never know why. Now you might say, "If she wanted
to play tennis, why didn't she tell me?" The answer is, "Because
you didn't ask." It is the travel agent's responsibility to
elicit complete information about the client's needs. That is
what you get paid for.
The
features of any travel product are the suppliers' answers to the needs
of the traveling public. The Modified American Plan, to cite just
a single example, is a feature of a resort hotel. Its function is
to provide vacationers with breakfast and dinner every day for a set
price. The benefit is that vacationers don't have to worry about where
they will eat breakfast and dinner or what it may cost them, leaving
their days completely free for sightseeing and shopping at their leisure.
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