The Origin of Features vs. Benefits: Influence
Influence is one of the most critical skills you can learn as a sustainability professional. Influence speaks directly to features vs. benefits. Influence is a broad field, but its focus is on human psychology and behavior. There is a ton of academic research on this topic and some great authors to explore. Where the rubber meets the road is in marketing and sales.
I know, I know. Even with an MBA, it’s taken me years to see marketing as more than advertising and sales as more than a stereotype. You’ve probably got an image of a sleazy salesperson in your head right now! Guess what? Sustainability professionals are pretty easy to stereotype too:)
But really. Every single day the skills, strategies, and tactics of sales and marketing professionals influence you. Just take a second and look around you. I like to think of myself as something of a minimalist, and I’m surrounded! Beyond consumerism, my ideas are shaped by talented sales and marketing professionals.
Influence is a powerful skill set, and it will make your work better. Understanding features vs. benefits are one of the first steps in improving your influence.
Features vs. Benefits
One of the most basic mindsets is communicating benefits ahead of features. In the business publishing industrial complex this is called “features vs. benefits” (these are your keywords to Google a wealth of articles).
Features are factual statements (e.g., battery life, storage, fuel efficiency, dimensions, color, etc.) and benefits answer the question “What’s in it for me?”. Simply stated features = brain, benefits = heart. Good marketers and salespeople lead with benefits and close with features (if they need to). In many cases, the decision was made emotionally very early on, and the facts either support or undermine the final decision.
What we’re saying here is that you have to first emotionally and then intellectually appeal to your customers, whoever they may be. “What’s in it for me?” really is a rich question to answer, it asks you to define your audience, step into their shoes, and think about what they get out of what you’re selling. It also helps you get past the jargon.
Features vs. Benefits Case Study: LEDs
Let’s look at an example: LED lighting upgrades. At this moment in time, LEDs are a pretty easy sell. LEDs are cost-competitive, high quality, there is no ‘next best thing’ looming on the horizon, and many utilities have good incentive packages. With all of this momentum, it is straightforward to propose to your stakeholders that state the following features:
- % efficiency gained
- Projected utility savings in kWh
- Projected operational savings
- Total project cost
- Utility incentives
- Proposed timeline
Let’s pause. What do you feel right now? I’m sure there is a portion of your logical self that has a nerdy smirk. Are you excited? Are you engaged? What’s your state?
Now, let’s think of all of the benefits of a LED lighting upgrade:
- Our teams can spend less time replacing light bulbs and more time on other priorities. We won’t have to change these bulbs for 10 to 22 years.
- We will have fewer points of failure—one bulb vs. one bulb and one ballast.
- We can manage less inventory.
- We’ll have a safer organization—fewer trips up the ladder and less time on the cherry picker.
- If we go with bulb X, no one will even notice the change.
- We set ourselves up for the future by fixing this one simple problem.
Let’s pause again. What do you feel right now? What’s your state?
I’d bet, you’re thinking of how LEDs solve other problems for you or the organization. I’d bet you’re thinking and feeling differently.
You need to pull them in with the benefits, and you close with the features. It’s a small investment in extra time and framing that produces a huge shift in how people respond.
We’re emotional animals. Understanding features vs. benefits are one of the keys to getting the outcomes you want.