Mattress Retailing 101: Two takes on selling features and benefits
Selling features and benefits
David Perry -- Furniture Today, July 20, 2006
Today’s topic: Selling features and benefits.
Overview: Should you sell the features that your beds provide? Or is it better to sell the benefits of a good night’s sleep? Features lead directly to benefits, which is why the “features and benefits” story is often considered together. But they can be considered separately, and presented with different emphases.
Challenges: Do consumers really care about the “hardware” of the mattress? Remember, the consumer is a she, and women are less likely to be interested in the details of how a mattress works than gadget-loving males. The “software” of the mattress is what attracts many consumers: How the bed looks, how the cover feels when you run your hand across it, etc. And how the bed feels is the ultimate quality that interests consumers.
Opportunities: There’s a fine line here. The savvy sales associate doesn’t want to get bogged down in the nuts and bolts of the mattress. Some consumers may be interested in the finer points of mattress construction, but that’s generally not a winning strategy to pursue. But the way the bed is built and the materials it uses are important. A quick overview of encased coils leads to the point that those coils are highly responsive to the body’s contours and help each sleeper rest in comfort. A summary of the nature of visco-elastic foam leads to an invitation to lie down on the mattress and experience the contouring sensation.
This month we present two different takes on selling features and benefits. The first comes from a sales associate who says he likes to stress both features and benefits.
“Whenever a customer comes into my store,” this sales associate told us, “I don’t focus on just selling them a bed. They come into my store because they are suffering from continuously getting a bad night’s sleep. I make my primary objective to find out exactly what is causing them to sleep so poorly. When I go over the different beds with the customer, I point out the features and benefits of each mattress and how that mattress will help solve the consumer’s problem. What helps my sale is the fact that I can ask for the sale with confidence because the customer understands the value of that bed for them and they need it. By focusing on and being sympathetic to the customer’s sleep problems, the sale process becomes much easier and proceeds in a more relaxed manner.”
Now we hear from another sales associate who wrote to us to share his selling strategies. Note that this sales associate also focuses on solving the consumer’s sleep needs.
“As we all know,” this sales associate wrote, “most Americans have difficulty getting a good night’s sleep. Based on my experience, I have found that the best way to close the sale is to keep the customer in the store as long as possible. That allows me to identify the consumer’s sleeping habits and problems. Many women, for example, suffer from hip issues. Men, in general, will tell you, ‘Oh, I can sleep on a rock.’ When I hear this I immediately focus on that person and simply say with a smile, ‘I will give you $100 if you lay on the floor 15 minutes or more.’ Then everything is in my hands. I am in control.”
At that point, the sales associate continued, he starts his presentation.
“I am not a big fan of features,” he said. “I concentrate on benefits, especially the benefits of sleep. There are so many. It’s amazing how people have no clue about the importance of a good night’s sleep. I never show the customer that I want their business. Instead, I educate them about sleep in general and then move on to their issues. They will buy in this way.
“If this approach doesn’t work, they will move to someone who just wants to close the sale, and then they will remember how good you were and they will come back to you. If you understand the frustration of the customer, the money will come to you.”
Summary: One sales associate likes to point out features and benefits, while the other stays away from features and emphasizes benefits. But note that each of these sales associates focuses on finding beds that meet the individual sleep needs of their customers.
In the end, we all are selling the benefit of a better night’s sleep. That’s where you want to end up. Features are a means to that all-important end.
Previous Articles:
Listening skills pay off when it comes to selling
Bedding warranties: Mention or not?
Two sales veterans share views on how to succeed
How top sales associates find their motivation
New feature aims to help folks in the trenches
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Two takes on selling features and benefits
Jul 23, 2006
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