379 – BASH – The Difference Between Features and Benefits

Yes, this is another bash gift biz unwrapped episode 379.

Attention gifters bakers,

crafters, and makers pursuing your dream can be fun.

Whether you have an established business or looking to start one.

Now you are in the right place.

This is gift to biz unwrapped,

helping you turn your skill into a flourishing business.

Join us for an episode packed full of invaluable guidance,

resources, and the support you need to grow.

Your gift biz.

Here is your host gift biz gal Sue moon Heights.

Hi there.

It's Sue and thanks for joining me here today.

If you haven't been to a bash before hold tight,

you're going to get the full experience in just a minute.

First, we're going to start off with a discussion on the

differences between features and benefits.

These words are often used interchangeably.

When in reality,

they relay separate types of information and should be used for

different purposes.

By the time we're done,

you'll understand features and benefits completely,

and be able to apply this newfound knowledge into your business.

After the training we'll get into showcases from other handmade product

makers, just like you they'll share some information about their business

and you have the opportunity to see how others present themselves

and also get to support others through the discounts they offer,

or potentially find a collaboration partner.

The last bash resulted in some new wholesale orders and of

course, individual product sales.

And yes,

you can be part of a bash to this in particular

had many connections in ideas,

bantered back and forth after we turned off the recording.

So showing up for a bash has even more value than

getting exposure to all our podcasts listeners.

As long as you're an established handmade product business,

I invite you to book your spot go-to gift of biz

on rapt.com

forward slash bash and find one of the bashes that fit

your schedule.

Hope to see you in an upcoming bash.

And now let's get into the show.

Hey, there it's Sue and welcome to another gift.

BizBash I'm here with a bunch of amazing handmade creators who

are going to tell you all about their business a little

bit later,

but first I'm going to get into a short 10 minute

training talking about a topic that sometimes comes up,

but I don't know that we always all get it because

I see this happening all the time.

And I personally consciously have to focus and do this right

myself too.

So I'm hands up that I'm doing this training and I'm

listening it to in myself.

Well, and this has to do with the difference between features

and benefits,

understanding the difference between these two and consciously ensuring that you

are focusing your communication on one versus another continually lead to

the difference between you actually making the sale or not.

There's a little bit of a psychological underpinning to all of

this, and it's just human nature.

So when I say it,

don't be like,

oh, not me,

not me.

I think it's everybody.

And that is we're all a little bit selfish.

We all perk our ears up and pay more attention when

we can relate to the topic because there's something in it

for us,

there's some value it's hit a cord or a sensitive point

or something that's important to us.

And we all pay more attention when that's the case.

It really applies to everything.

Even if you think of,

I know within our community of makers,

we're all such giving people.

I mean,

that's a characteristic.

I see all over a lot of us volunteer or we

give to charities that type of a thing.

There's still an element of self fulfillment in that.

I mean,

think about it.

The charities that you decide to put your time and energy

towards or money towards you are getting something back for that.

It's either,

this is something that you care so much about and believe

in so much,

it's your way of helping advance the cause it might be

a family member who has a disease.

So you're helping raise money for something that is really,

really important to you.

Or you just want to feel good about being a person

who gives all of that is still self-fulfilling.

And not in a bad way.

I'm not saying in a bad way,

but I wanted to give this kind of an example,

because then when you relate it over to business,

you can see that in even a very giving situation where

we pay more attention when there's something in it for us,

think of how much more it's like that when we're selling,

when the stakes are maybe a little less high,

especially if we're buying,

if it's true of our outreach and our service efforts,

it's even more true when we think of our buying behaviors.

Think about that a little bit,

how you are in when your ears perk up and you

pay more attention.

Now, if that's true for us,

then flip that it has to be true for our customers

too. So the trick here is that you want to be

talking about things that are important to them that are going

to peak their interest that are truly things that are in

it for them to get them to pay attention to you.

And attention then comes through first attraction,

getting the attention and then focusing on benefits because that's what

pulls them in.

And then features later,

I think to make this the most clear,

let's define what features are versus benefits.

And I'm going to start with the one that I feel

is the most important.

The first one you want to be bringing people in with,

and that is benefits benefits.

And this can be tricky when we're product based businesses,

benefits are the value,

the purpose,

what your product provides,

how does it help enrich your customer's life?

What's the change that I would experience by having your product

versus not having your product now again,

because it's a tangible product that kind of in the beginning,

it might be a little bit hard to figure out.

If you make a consumable product,

let's say baked goods,

you might be like,

well, what's the benefit of this beautiful cake that I made?

Well, it could be gorgeous enhancement to a wedding,

making a special day,

all the more significant if you make jewelry,

it could be when you put on jewelry that you love,

you feel more confident and bold and are ready to present

yourself in the best light to the world.

That's a benefit of the jewelry,

pampering products.

If you use certain healing ingredients in the products,

I'm getting a health benefit then from a product.

So think about what you offer and what are the benefits.

It's the value,

how it helps me,

how I change by having it,

the feelings I'm getting switching over to features features are the

things that we easily know.

This is what we normally will talk about.

The details of our product,

the size,

the materials we use,

the shape,

shipping returns,

all of those things.

Those are features of your product.

I'm going to give you an example that I see often.

So this is one that could be gray area,

but if you really think about it,

it's not.

How about American may everyone loves to talk about how it's

American made,

right? American made is a feature you're sourcing and you're making

your product in America.

The benefit is reduction of carbon footprint,

right? That's what American made is doing.

That might be a cure or about to a customer.

Okay. So if there's any question with that,

I'm going to ask for questions later,

I'm going to get through everything,

but I'm guessing that it's pretty clear.

I'm looking at all your guys' faces.

It looks like everything's pretty clear.

So the problem comes in that when you go to start

promoting your products,

most of the time we lead and we talk about features.

So we'll talk about how I hand,

make my beads and they're made of glass and,

you know,

whatever, whatever,

whatever. Well,

that's great.

But why do I care about that?

More than somebody else who makes feeded glass jewelry,

right? So when you only speak features,

what ends up happening is you're putting yourself right up against

anybody else who does any other type of product and or

Anita in your case,

your kind of product flash service or services that you provide.

You're putting yourself right up against those people.

And there's really nothing to separate you.

One from another.

I want you to start thinking about features.

What is the value?

How are you different?

And what do you provide to your customer?

That's different over and above what the product is,

how it looks,

the colors,

it comes in the sizes,

et cetera.

Now your actions with this would be,

this is what you start with.

As I'd mentioned before,

that's how you grab the attention because you can't really talk

to people about anything,

unless you've got their attention and you get their attention to

a deeper level.

When you're talking benefits,

then you can go into the features.

And that then brings you over the finish line,

right? Someone decides that they love the handmade knitted,

shawls that you make.

Maybe you have a certain portion of your sales that go

to a certain cause that's really dear to you.

And you tell the story about why.

So they're like,

oh my gosh,

I want the Sol because I feel like I'm doing something

to help this cause.

So that's a benefit,

right? And then the fact furthermore of the yarn that she

uses, et cetera,

et cetera,

that's what pushes them over the finish line that they decide

they're going to buy from you.

Where do you put this information?

Okay. So if you're with me up to this point and

you understand benefits,

bring in the attention and grab somebody and then the features,

bring it over the finish line.

Where do you put all this information?

So let's talk about that for a quick second on your

website. So e-commerce when people land on your website,

think in your mind's eye.

What you've got there.

Now the very first thing they see,

okay. Does it have any benefit statements there?

A lot of people,

when you go to your website,

the first thing you see is maybe a nice picture showing

what you do,

right. Are we just talking about the jewelry or does it

have some type of a benefit statement?

There also bounce rates are a big deal with websites,

right? Someone comes to the website,

they've got to make sure that they have landed in the

right place.

They know,

and like what they see and if they don't,

they bounce a benefit statement,

front and center will help keep people on.

They'll be like,

oh, and then they look more and they might scroll down.

Or they might go through like the navigation at the top

and look further.

Okay, that's what you want to do with your website in

social. And those of you who have been in my ecosphere

for awhile,

know, I harp on this all the time.

What most of the time we're doing as product businesses is

we are selling,

you guys are going to know this on your paws.

I make these gorgeous coasters right there,

$10 for four,

go buy them here.

That's what we normally do.

Right? Product price.

Here's where you go buy versus pulling in the benefits.

When some of the benefits can also be a story that

you tell how you started the company,

what it's done for your business.

You know,

you're bringing them in on a deeper level.

So some of that benefit,

especially on social also is endearing people to you.

Okay. And content for makers.

You know,

I've got a ton of pre-written lines that you can use

for identifying things that you can talk about on social,

but you want to be doing benefits.

This is just coming up to me right now.

But my pillow,

you know,

the guy with my pillow,

he talks about how he was in jail.

He was a druggie.

He like had a hard life and he turned himself around.

He doesn't hide that.

You know,

that's part of the benefit.

You're supporting him when you buy his products.

So there's a lot of other benefits too,

right. Made in Minnesota on and on and on and on.

If you look at him,

he's a really good example of benefits and then sale.

And I'm telling you the story.

So obviously it got to me,

okay. So that's social in person.

If you're at a craft show,

the signage that you have behind the show,

lots of times,

you're just showing prices.

If you sell candles,

I can see that they're candles because they're on the table.

What are the benefits of the candles?

No, one's going to know unless they get into a conversation

with you and you're going to tell them,

so signage helps here too.

With Bennett,

you can have benefits and features on a side,

healthy, clean Burnie keeps your environment fresh and healthy,

even with fresh sense.

Like that's horrible copy,

but you know what I mean?

So you can do what the benefit is.

And then talk about soy wax would with,

you know,

whatever other features,

multiple flavors,

sense, whatever,

but don't forget the benefit.

Most people will just go to the features,

you know,

and list the features.

And finally,

I'd say in any conversation that you have even networking,

why do I care?

That's the biggest question?

Why do I,

as the potential buyer of your products or services care,

and that's how you lead.

And then you take the conversation from there.

And again,

in summary here,

reason you want to be really focused on benefits versus features

and we've already gone through.

So you really understand the difference between the two is the

benefits, draw people in.

They grab attention,

everybody. No,

not everybody they'll grab attention of people who are your potential

customers who care about the same things that your product offers.

And then the features are kind of like just the final

little points that bring them over the line,

push the buy button,

pull out their credit card,

whatever has to happen for that transaction to take place,

or they come on your email list because they may not

really be in the market for what you have right now,

but you've sold them on the fact that you're a valuable

person to know and follow for the point in time when

they are interested and do want your product.

Okay. All right.

So that is my feel on benefits and features.

And if anybody has any questions on that,

I'll take them now.

Or if you are thinking about benefits for your business and

you want to shout them out,

you can do that to anyone,

want to unmute and say anything about this?

I think I see Andrel.

It was a question that I was going to ask and

I think it has today.

It was pertaining to having information about both the features,

as well as the benefits like you were given the example

of the candle,

given the benefits of a candle.

And my question,

I guess,

was can the information that you're given,

being on both.

That's not what I want to ask.

Can some things be both you're describing the features as well

as giving the benefits on your information that may be behind

you, if you,

in person with someone.

Yes. The answer is yes.

For sure.

Like if you're at a show,

you could have the benefits and the features both written out.

I would suggest that the wording of a benefit is different

than the wording of a feature,

but it could still be talking about the same thing.

Like soy candles,

the benefit is healthier inside burning environment is the benefit of

using soy wax.

Did that make sense?

So one's a benefit.

One's a feature and benefits,

honestly. Like it takes people some time to think about all

the potential benefits.

Cause some of them could be physical.

They could be psychological,

they could be helping your mood.

They could be making you healthy or they could be,

you know,

there's a plethora of different types of things that benefits could

be and it's worth giving some thought.

So you have maybe three top things that you can pull

up at any time and talk about.

I don't expect if this is new information to anybody who's

listening. I don't expect it to automatically be obvious necessarily.

You've got to think about it a little bit.

You know,

and even the people who make similar products,

the benefits might be different.

You know,

the things that they want to focus on and talk about

could be different.

One from another,

anything else?

Oh, go ahead,

Joyce. Because it's been quite a while and I am the

one that always just fuels and features and benefits.

So I think as I began to gravitate a bit in

business, as long as that have been,

am now research in the world,

what does benefit mean legacy versus feature?

Because I paid for all these many years,

I was really just offering,

I thought it was benefits,

you know,

same day delivery,

whatever blah,

blah, blah.

That was my benefits.

That that was not really a benefit of the feature,

the service.

So now I have to really sit back and think about

what are the benefits that are offering to attract the person

that's on my website,

that's reading.

So basically We'll further The way to further think about this

is if you have the feature of same day delivery,

why would same day delivery be important to your customer?

So you can ask a question.

If you think of it from the customer standpoint,

why do I care that Joyce has same day delivery?

Not the person who just called you at three o'clock this

afternoon, mind you,

I just saw that post earlier,

but someone who calls before 11 same day delivery could be

the convenience.

You forgot.

It's your best friend's birthday.

And you're working all day.

Where are you going to go?

She doesn't need to know.

You forgot.

That could be a benefit.

Like that's a little story as a benefit of all,

you have to take each of your features.

And then just ask the question.

Why would my customer care about that?

Okay. Right.

Yeah. You've got a lot.

And now I know,

you know,

with you focused on corporate too,

then you also think from the corporate hat,

you know,

not just a single one-on-one customer hat,

but corporate hat.

So that was good.

Joyce, thanks for the add.

Anything else before we get into showcases?

Okay. So those of you who are listening,

we're now going to get into why I call this a

bash. It's getting together all different handmade business owners who get

a chance to showcase their business to you.

Now there's a couple of things that you,

as a listener,

obviously the people who are here get to tell you all

about their business.

So it's visibility for them at the end.

I'm going to tell you if you're interested in joining a

bash, how you can do so,

but there's something else as you're listening to everybody talk about

their business.

It's a good example of how to present your business forward.

So you can use,

if you hear something or a style that you're like,

yeah, I'm really listening.

Take some of the wording or the way they present their

business, or some of the ideas of the things that they're

doing. And this might give ideas for you and your business

as well.

If you're interested in supporting them by purchasing some of their

products, some people offer discount codes here and other things.

That's also wonderful people.

We'll also talk about collaborations.

So if your product could go well in someone's shop,

or if you see somebody who's talking here who you think

you combining your product with their product for a special promotion

could be a good idea.

Feel free to reach out to these people too.

That's why I'm having them give you somewhere where you can

reach out to them later.

Okay? All of this is not going to be in the

show notes.

So you got to have pen and paper,

if you want to connect with anybody,

but you're not just listening for them to promote to you.

You're getting to hear how various people are running,

working and what they're doing in their businesses.

All right.

So with that,

the way we'll do this is I'll ask you again,

who you are,

what the name of your business is,

what you sell.

If it's a product that you're selling,

anything else that you think we should know for the immediate

future, and then how people can get in touch with you.

Okay. And let's see Gloria Brown.

I think I'm going to start with you because you were

the first one on,

so you get to start.

How about that?

Hi, I'm Gloria Brown,

the sole provider of all in women,

herbals in Bloomfield,

New Jersey and our products are made from organic,

all natural skin,

tier oils,

butters and botanicals.

And they are free from harsh chemicals.

We do specialize in products where mature,

sensitive or troubled skin.

And they are handmade in small batches for freshness incorporating the

incredible benefits of plants into healthier and cleaner versions of body

care essentials with a family.

And we just love to work with you on special orders.

I'm looking for someone who would like to collaborate on a

product with me.

I have a wonderful massage oil called REO deli,

which means joy in the house right now.

I dabble in making soap,

but it is not an item that I offer regularly.

So is there someone out there who would like to work

with me on creating a soap called deli?

It contains six essential oils and smells so amazing.

Love it.

My website is Olen woman,

herbals.com. That's a H H meaning after you use my product,

you go on dash land woman,

verbals.com. And you can find me on Facebook and Instagram as

well. And you can hear all about her story on a

recent podcast.

Wonderful. Thank you,

Gloria. Okay.

Joyce, why don't you go Hi everybody.

Good evening.

I'm Joyce areola.

I own two horses,

baskets and beautiful south Florida.

There's no other place in the world itself.

Or I can tell you that.

Absolutely beautiful.

Here we create corporate.

Our thank you gift as well as our everyday gifting.

We should be around 20 years.

I am looking for someone because I am looking for Florida

theme items,

not so much as food,

but like the little novelty items that I can put in

my gifts to keep safe.

As the people come,

the tourists come here and traveling to and from.

So I'm working for something like Flamingo.

I from Mingo,

but anything that would give me an ideal to put in

my photo baskets.

Like I say,

not really food.

What are some like I have all year long because I

want to be able this time around to keep my page

up on my website all year long,

we just float a little things to do.

Maybe go keeps like Iles was definitely that I'm looking for.

So if you have any ideals and you suggest us hit

me up on Instagram at Joyce's baskets.

Wonderful. Okay,

Laurie, can you unmute yourself and go next.

Okay. Can you hear me?

Yep. Can hear you just fine.

Okay. I'm Laurie Nash and I'm the owner of red cabin

studio and I live in the upper peninsula of Michigan.

So always from Joyce and Southern Florida,

there's kind of straight up though.

I'm a designer illustrator.

Self-taught, I'm a retired occupational therapy assistant.

So I,

this is kind of my retirement fund job and I sell

mostly wholesale.

But what I do is I design a lot of custom

designs that are appropriate for a certain location.

I near Mackinaw island,

if you know about that.

So I design a lot for that and do custom things

that people need.

And then I use the sublimation process too,

which is a heat process to put the design onto mugs,

sorta make ornaments,

totes, just a lot of different items like that.

So I'm just looking to just expand a little bit.

My business has evolved to where I'm focused more on the

design work and the custom part of that.

So Wonderful.

Where can people get in touch with you?

Laurie Instagram is good.

Red underscore Kevin underscore studio.

Okay, perfect.

Wonderful. Thank you so much.

I need to do you,

Hey everybody,

I'm Anita Houseman and I live in a very sweet place.

Hershey, Pennsylvania.

There is no other place like Hershey,

PA taco town USA.

I am the owner of the Hershey gifting company and we

work with individuals and small businesses to creatively help promote themselves

or brand themselves,

and also to help recognize special people and events in their

lives. So our specialty is custom printed ribbon.

We are doing a lot of what we call ribbon on

demand, where we are printing for small businesses and people that

want to add some creativity to their product lines as well

as maybe a special event.

And it's really been fun.

It's, it's kind of something new and it's really been taking

off. So you can find me on social at the Hershey

gifting co and I would love to talk to people if

you would like to place an order.

I do have a special code.

You, if you use bash 15,

you will get 15% off of your first order.

Perfect. Wonderful,

wonderful. Okay.

Do it.

I'm going to go to you.

Awesome. Good evening.

Everyone. I'm happy to be here.

I met Sue,

as she said,

a few days ago on an app called owl.

And I expressed to her something that I'm sharing tonight is

that I'm in the process of launching a brand new private

school in Jacksonville,

My purpose for reaching out to Sue at the time was

to just get some ideas about ways in which I could

connect with parents,

more parent groups,

where I would say your parent teacher organizations,

you know,

you may have your affiliate groups such as the band moms

or cheer moms or soccer moms,

and what could perhaps be a way that I could help

to spread not only the launch of the school,

but then in turn helped to generate revenue for upstart as

well as to be able to give a portion of those

proceeds back to that existing entity.

So I'm excited today to just be able to listen and

share. I've been writing down the names of each of the

platforms that you all have from Joyce's baskets to Alana herbals,

red cabin and Hershey gifting company.

So I'll be sure to reach out to each of you.

You can connect with me.

Dewitt Robinson on LinkedIn is w I T T R as

in Robert O B I N S O N.

So I'm excited about learning more and thank you,

Sue for the invitation to tonight's best.

You're welcome.

I'm thrilled that you're here and I'm looking forward to continuing

hearing about the progression of the project.

I think it's amazing.

Okay, Andrew,

why don't you go next?

Hi everybody.

My name is Andrew Rubin and I own and operate Andrew's

sweet kitchen.

So part of what I do is ask when I asked

about Andrew's sweet kitchen ask,

see the connection.

What I do is I have four Mays,

especially wise in a Graham cracker,

prevailing, Yum,

how come it's not sitting on my desk here and drill.

If you can reach through the camera like,

oh, I'm trying to just pray and read practice.

So for those are those who are listening only,

it looks delicious.

Another one of my specialties is homemade caramel popcorn.

So my website is girls kitchen.

That com I specialize in just a small amount of things,

but I make things in small batches to ensure the freshness

of everything,

as well as just making sure that it's something that's tasting

and just give it to someone as a gift.

You know,

I have different flavors of popcorn as well.

So I can't really say that I'm looking to elaborate because

right now this is really new to me.

So I'm just really trying to get it out there.

And Alita,

I do really like the idea of the ribbon,

putting my name on the ribbon to help my marketing skills.

I am located in Houston,

Texas. Okay.

So we have a lot of listeners in the Texas area

in, in Houston.

So those of you who are out there who are in

Texas, check it out,

check it out.

Perfect. Wonderful.

Okay, Gloria,

I see that you are,

we've caught you in the car tonight.

It looks like,

are you able to unmute and talk to us?

Yes, I am.

I'm not driving my husband driving.

Okay, good.

I would have been asking you to pull over to the

side. Okay.

Hello everyone.

I'm basket located in the beautiful Myrtle beach area.

We help our customers with,

to give them whether it be through small pop by gifts

or large gift best is if you're having the events,

if you need it,

you want the customized,

the gift baskets.

That's something that we do at QC skip questions.

You can find us on the web at King's gift baskets.

That calm.

Wonderful. Okay.

I think I got everybody right?

Yes, yes,

yes. That's why I have my notes here.

Perfect. So now you've gotten information from everybody.

Those who are listening to the show,

go back,

rewind. If you need to reach out to people,

that's why they're here.

And if you also would like to come and be part

of a batch like this,

I only have two more going on this summer.

Only two,

because summer people are out doing things,

you know,

et cetera.

So if you're interested,

go to gift biz,

unwrapped.com forward slash fash.

I only take a certain amount of people because as you

can see if we have too many people,

this is going to go on too long.

So if you're interested,

grab a spot now so that you can join us.

Okay. I loved having you here.

Thank you so much.

It's so exciting and interesting to hear what everyone's up to.

I already am seeing some new connections and new linkage happening

here tonight.

So it's been wonderful being together.

Thank you for listening to my benefits and features conversation.

Hopefully you'll take that to heart and be able to incorporate

some of that into your business and for all of you

who did showcase it.

Thank you so much after I finish and turn off the

recording, stay for a second so that we can talk.

And for everyone else,

thank you for joining in on yet.

Another gift biz bash.

Before you move on to your next activity today,

make sure to get your name on the list for at

least one gift biz bash.

You can see the dates and times for upcoming sessions and

get signed up over at gift biz,

unwrapped.com forward slash bash.

And if you're enjoying the podcast and would like to show

support a rating and review would be wonderful.

It helps spread the word about the show too.

So it's a great way to pay it forward.

There's also another way to get something tangible in exchange for

your support.

Visit my merch shop for a wide variety of inspirational items

like mugs,

journals, water bottles,

and more featuring logos images and quotes to inspire you throughout

your day makes a great gift to,

and we've just added some new products for the season,

which is my favorite design right now.

It's a toss-up with that gorgeous lemonade image and a quote

about refreshing and the beautiful butterfly design what's yours.

Turnaround is quick and the quality is top notch,

nothing but the best for you.

Take a look@alltheoptionsatgiftbizon.com

forward slash shop.

All proceeds from these purchases helps me offset the costs of

producing this podcast and now be safe and well.

And I'll see you again.

Next time on the gift biz unwrapped podcast.

I want to make sure you're facing with my free Facebook

group called gift is breeze.

It's a place where we all gather and our community to

support each other.

Got a really fun post in there.

That's my favorite of the week.

I have to say where I invite all of you to

share what you're doing to show pictures of your product,

to show what you're working on for the week to get

reaction from other people and just for fun,

because we all get to see the wonderful products that everybody

in the community is making my favorite post every single week,

without doubt.

Wait, what aren't you part of the group already,

if not make sure to jump over to Facebook and search

for the group gift biz breeze don't delay.