Page 37 - Oscar Adler - Sell Yourself in Any Interview_ Use Proven Sales Techniques to Land Your Dream Job (2008)

ADDRESSING EACH INTERVIEWER’S INDIVIDUAL NEEDS

Exhibit 2-2 ONE FEATURE HAS DIFFERENT BENEFITS
TO DIFFERENT PEOPLE

FEATURE LISTENER BENEFIT

Single woman Sense of protection
Big dog Family Friendly companion

Hyper/overachiever Calming presence

Now let’s return to our example of the vacuum cleaner hose
from Chapter 1. The feature of this particular hose is that “it
stretches to twice its normal length.” For an employee of a clean-
ing service, the benefit we offered in our example is a perfect fit:
“The hose on this vacuum cleaner stretches to twice
its normal length, so you won’t have to bend down as
often to plug it in and unplug it. This will make your
job easier and faster and will save your aching back.”

Now let’s say we are talking with the owner of the cleaning ser-
vice. The feature stays the same—the hose still stretches to
twice its normal length—but because the owner is not the one
who has to bend down continually to plug it in and to unplug
it, that benefit would be meaningless to her. However, the
same feature of an extendable hose could offer a different
benefit to the cleaning service owner:

“The hose on this vacuum cleaner stretches to
twice its normal length, which will save you money
and make your people happier and more efficient,
lowering your turnover rate.”

Note that the feature doesn’t change; only the benefit changes.

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