Stop selling features—start selling benefits

One of my favorite stand-up comedy bits is Brian Regan’s take on buying a refrigerator. The salesman walks him through the store, saying:

💰 This one keeps your food cold for $700.

💰 This one keeps your food cold for $1,200.

💰 And this one keeps your food cold for $2,000!

At this point, Regan asks the obvious question: Why would I pay more for something that does the same thing?

The problem with feature-first marketing

Tech companies make this mistake all the time. They focus on features—which are about them—instead of benefits, which are about the customer.

Of course, a refrigerator keeps food cold. But what’s the real benefit? Maybe the $2,000 fridge preserves food twice as long, saving money on wasted groceries. Maybe its crisper drawer actually keeps produce fresh for weeks instead of days. That’s the difference between a feature and a benefit.

Why benefits win customers

I have an Apple laptop. It cost me around $4,000. But this one machine has made me over a million dollars. That’s a benefit. I don’t care about the clock speed of the processor or the pixel density of the screen—I care that it enables me to produce work that generates serious revenue.

Customers buy outcomes, not specs.

If your SaaS product costs $100,000 a year, you have to ask: What’s the customer getting for that money? If they can solve their problem with AI in a few minutes, why do they need you?

Your website is probably getting this wrong

If the first thing people see on your website is:

🚫 “Harness the power of AI.”

🚫 “Unleash the potential of data-driven insights.”

…you’ve already lost them.

Customers don’t want vague promises. They want to know:

✅ How will this make me money?

✅ How will this save me time?

✅ How will this remove a pain point?

Sell the outcome, not the tool

People don’t buy a drill because they want a drill. They buy a drill because they want a hole in the wall.

If you’re marketing a product, start with the pain point and the benefit—not the technology or features. Otherwise, you’re just another fridge salesman trying to charge more for the same cold food.