By Rohini Gonsalves
All marketing activity is driven to cause sales. Sales can be caused only if we deliver value to the customer. It is important to understand concepts like features, advantages and benefits.
Features are parts of the product or service. They are intrinsic to the product itself. They make the product unique and compete with similar category products in the market. Features include the look and feel, technical details or ingredients. They make the product or service work in a certain way. The features make the product/service bigger, better, smarter or easier to use.
Advantages are how the features translate into use for the customer. The advantage is what the customer sees in order to choose your product over a competitor in the same category. The customer notices the bigger, better or smarter qualities that the product has as Advantages.
Benefits on the other hand are the way the product/service leaves a customer feeling. It is about the experience of the customer. So while a 5 star energy rating is a feature which gives the buyer the benefit of saving electricity and therefore cost saving is the benefit.
A certain engine in a vehicle is a feature giving better mileage which is a benefit to the buyer. Benefits are essentially about the outcome of having a certain feature. It’s the value that the customer derives from having a certain feature in the product.
As marketers or sellers it is important for us to communicate the features and advantages to the customer such that the value is evident to the customer and the buying decision becomes easier. How do we do that?
We create the ‘Unique Selling Proposition’ (USP). The USP is using the features, advantages and benefits to make it a value proposition for the buyer. It is all encompassing and leaves the buyer with no doubt that this is the perfect product/service for his needs. The USP is the way the product is presented to a prospective buyer.
Consider that an electronic product has used a cheaper variant of a component. So the advantage is the product is now cheaper for the customer. The benefit is the product is now affordable. The USP is communicating that this is the cheapest product in the given category.
When a prospective buyer sees that it is the ‘cheapest’, he is already looking at it favourably. The closure of the sale is easier. We note then that the USP is not talking of the component or its uses or ability of the product itself. Instead it is talking of it being ‘cheapest’. This the USP is oftentimes a deduction from the features, advantages and benefits of the product.
A “99.9% germ free” or “27% more effective” or “isse sasta aur accha kahin nahi milega” etc are USPs of the said products. The USP is the chief component of all advertising campaigns. If an advertisement fails to deliver the USP as a real fact, it fails entirely. The only job of an advertisement is to drive home the USP in an unmistakable way.
It isn’t necessary that a product has only one USP. It is the skill of the seller to come up with enough USPs to present the same product to various Target Markets or Segments. While ‘cheapest’ may appeal to the price sensitive buyer, it will dissuade an esteem-need buyer. He may want to hear the ‘state of the art technology’ pitch. Or another ecologically conscious prospect may want to note ‘least carbon footprint’ etc.
Often the USP has nothing to do ith the features, advantages and benefits of the product. Some products sell only because they are the oldest in the market. People buy because they trust the brand/shop/seller. Others but because it was created by a certain person.
People buy an iPhone, just because it is an Apple product, the house of Tatas is used to sell anything, fashion items are bought simply because they are a certain brand or designer. In this case, one uses these attributes as the USP.
Therefore, one can conclude that deriving the right USP for what one is selling is the starting point and final nail of a sales pitch. There can’t be a successful sales pitch without a strong USP.
“If you don’t distinguish yourself from the crowd, you will be the crowd”
USP is that distinction from the crowd.
About the Author:
The author, Rohini Gonsalves, is a gold medallist in marketing, sales management, and sales promotion from Bhartiya Vidya Bhavan. She holds more than 15 years of experience in the field of marketing and sales, is a marketing consultant and also the founder of Sevarat, a Panjim-based start-up that provides geriatric care services to elderly patients.
Anyone wishing to avail of her services may contact her on:
Mobile: +91 8329 857965
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.sevarat.com
