My product can do 154 neato things

If a stranger stops you on the street and asks what time it is, do you launch into a three-minute rambling description of how your Rolex works?

No…you tell him what time it is. (Duh.)

The gravitational pull you feel to explain every last detail about your product in pitch meetings is somewhat understandable: you’re inundated with product training and all-hands meetings that glorify your offering’s bells and whistles.

Fight product reflux!

"Knowing your product" does not mean you need to share everything you know about it.

Knowing your product inside and out is great, but knowing how to translate product features into value is better.

Use the "So What…?" trick to help you emphasize value and benefits.

When pitching a customer today, imagine the words "So What…?" appearing in a bubble above your head that only you can see. This trick will remind you to explain why the customer should care about the feature you just talked about.

If it helps, ask and answer the question for the buyer: "So what that feature means to you, Bill, is this…!*"

It’s not the buyer’s job to decipher features from benefits.

You’re going to want to watch this 4-minute clip from the movie The Guilt Trip… Seth Rogan realizes his features pitch is losing his audience, so he pivots and saves the sale with a great move.

Once you perfect the art of translating product knowledge into what the customer cares about, you’ll be cooking with gas…like Seth in this fairytale, Hollywood (but also real) scene!