In order to skillfully sell your product line, whether it's digital cameras or houses, your staff needs to know the products' features, inside and out. They need to know how a camera operates, what special features it has, the number of pixels; real estate agents need to know the square footage of the house, the school district it's in, the amount of land involved, and so on.

But the features of a particular product are not necessarily going to be the main selling points. While you always have some customers interested in the technical details of a digital camera, or the specifics of a piece of real estate, you're probably going to sell the product based on the benefits it offers to the buyer.

For instance, with a digital camera, you can talk to a customer about the number of pixels it has, or you can say, "This camera takes really sharp, clear pictures, so that if you get a really great picture of your grandkids, you can get it blown up really large, and it'll still be sharp!" Instead of selling a camera's autofocus features, you can say, "If you see a really cute shot of your grandkids (or your dog, or your grandkids and your dog), you can take it quickly without having to stop to focus the camera." A residential home can have a great view, a really comfortable, easy to use kitchen, a big living room "with lots of room for parties and family get-togethers." It can be only one block from the local elementary school or park, or from the most popular supermarket - convenience is a great benefit.

Appealing to emotions can be an effective sales technique: "This dress will make you look sexy"; "feel the power as you drive this sports car"; "this music will evoke a feeling of peacefulness". Even bringing up a potential problem that evokes fear, and then solving it, can promote sales. "Burning wood can result in dangerous chimney fires; burning this special log will protect you from this."

In sales meetings, don't confine yourself to covering sales stats and the technical aspects of new products; hold brainstorming sessions and have the members of your sales staff come up with benefits of each product. Since each staff member comes with a different personal background and unique experiences, you'll undoubtedly end up with a wealth of benefits and a variety of different approaches to attach to your products.

Don't forget demographics; selling a digital camera to a teenager involves different benefits than selling the same camera to a 70-year-old grandma. But don't make assumptions about the teenager or the grandma; the teenager might want the camera to take photos of the handbags she's designed for sale on eBay; the grandma may be the local Annie Leibovitz and know a lot more about photography than you ever will.

Make sure your staff develops the habit of listening to your customers; they'll tell your staff what benefits they want from your product. You'll be able to match product to customer and, perhaps best of all, you'll get to know your customer's needs in a way that helps you develop a long-term business relationship.

Aldene Fredenburg is a freelance writer living in southwestern New Hampshire. She has written numerous articles for local and regional newspapers and for a number of Internet websites, including Tips and Topics. She expresses her opinions periodically on her blog, http://beyondagendas.blogspot.com She may be reached at amfredenburg@yahoo.com