Two things that will never change
John Foust
Jul 1, 2024
Luke told me about a business panel discussion in which he participated. He represented the ad department of the local newspaper, and others represented industries like banking, accounting and various office services.
The moderator asked each panelist to introduce themselves, identify their company and position, then give a brief, one– or two–sentence statement of one thing they would like the audience to know about their specialty.
The brevity requirement was broken immediately. The accountant’s statement was several minutes long and, according to Luke, completely forgettable. The banker rambled for a minute or two and ended up saying how much she liked her job. The other panelists were equally vague and unmemorable, until it was Luke’s turn. After introducing himself, he said, “People don’t buy features; they buy benefits.”
That was it: People don’t buy features; they buy benefits. In one sentence, he summed up the most important thing that a salesperson needs to know — whether it’s selling through advertising or selling in a one-to-one conversation.
Luke’s strategy was right on target. “My kickoff statement was easy to remember,” he said. “Some of the people in the audience had never considered the concept of seeing products in terms of features and benefits. As the meeting progressed, their interest gave me a chance to cover important details about advertising. Some of them even wanted to set appointments.”
His experience reminds me of the story about the old sea captain who was famous for his years of success in always delivering the ship’s cargoes on time. In the face of countless storms and dangerous high seas, he never lost a ship, a crew member or a passenger.
Every morning, the old captain went through a strange ritual. He opened the safe in his quarters, opened an envelope and pulled out a small piece of paper. After staring at the paper for a few minutes, he locked it up again and went about the day.
When he retired, the first mate said, “Captain, we feel the secret to your success is on the piece of paper in your safe. May we see it?” The captain smiled and handed the key to him. A few minutes later, the first mate opened the envelope in front of the entire crew.
They were stunned when they learned that the paper read, “Port left. Starboard right.”
The old captain’s focus was on the most basic of sailing basics. From a canoe to a battleship, port is always the left side and starboard is the right side. That will never change.
In advertising — as in any kind of selling — people don’t buy product features; they buy what those products can do for them. That’s the most basic of advertising basics. And that, too, will never change.
As long as advertising people remember that in every sales presentation — and as long as they remember that in every ad they create — they’ll stay on course.
© Copyright 2024 by John Foust. All rights reserved.
John Foust has conducted training programs for thousands of newspaper advertising professionals. Many ad departments are using his training videos to save time and get quick results from in-house training. Email for information: john@johnfoust.com
