Wow. Riveting.
But here’s the problem: nobody buys features. Nobody. At least, not until they understand what those features do for them. Telling me your software has “advanced AI-powered automation” is like telling me a blender has titanium blades. Great. Unless I’m moonlighting as a kitchen appliance engineer, I don’t care about the blades. I care about whether it makes my morning smoothie without chunks.
When you lead with features, you’re making me do the hard work of figuring out how those features matter to me. That’s like handing me a box of parts and telling me I should be excited about the car it could someday build.
Here’s why it doesn’t work:
- It assumes I care about your product. I don’t. I care about my world, my problems, and my goals.
- It puts me to sleep. You’re blending into the same pitch I’ve heard a hundred times this week.
- It makes me do the heavy lifting. If I have to connect the dots from “feature” to “actual impact on my business,” you’ve already lost.
What works instead?
- Talk about me. My headaches, my roadblocks, my opportunities.
- Paint the outcome. Show me the smoothie. The before-and-after picture. The business problem solved.
- Make it feel personal. If I sense you copied and pasted this pitch to 200 other prospects, it’s going straight to the trash.
If you really want to earn attention in a crowded inbox, stop selling the blender and start selling the smoothie. Don’t just tell me about titanium blades—show me the smooth, perfect outcome that makes my life better. (yes, I used the smoothie analogy twice in one email. Sorry, been drinking a lot of them lately.)
I know this might be a repeat subject, but over 80% of the emails and Linkedin messages I get still lead with talking about them and their company, and how great they are, ladida dida…..
Leading with features is counterproductive, because in sales, features and benefits don’t close deals. Outcomes do.