Are you selling your features or your benefits?
In his article LinkedIn Summary: Features vs. Benefits, Jason Alba tackles the distinction.
A feature is like your own set of technical specifications.
In the computer world, you might see that a computer has a Core 2 Quad processor. That’s a feature. What’s the benefit? Great speeds when gaming.
A running shoe feature might be an air-cushioned heel. The benefit might be less heel pain.
Why is the distinction important?
Because no one cares about features. They care about the benefits those features provide.
They don’t care that you’ve worked in the healthcare industry. They care that your work in the industry helps you better understand the patients and the processes required for legal compliance.
It’s all about the payoff.
So, like Jason says, check out your job search communications and ask yourself — which are you selling, features or benefits?
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I had a refresher marketing class last Fall where this finally set in. Who cares if it’s a 30 mega pixel camera, if it’s too hard to use? It’s easy to get caught up in feature glut, even on a resume.