Selling or Telling?

I have sat in on quite a few software presentations from vendors and have noticed that they are generally selling features.  Or should I say “telling” me about the features.

I have heard that there is a subtle differentiation from selling and telling.  In an audio book that I listened to some time back called Spin Selling by Neil Rackham.

Basically he says that “Telling” is just running through a list of features that you want to present, while “Selling” is building a relationship, uncovering needs or problems and finding solutions.

SPIN is his acronym for a process that he suggests for doing that… another topic for another blog post.

Back to my point… do software presentations tend to “sell” or just “tell”. I have seen so many that just rattle through a list of features that is it frustrating. I know that the initial point of contact may be a sales presentation and it is not designed to actually turn instantly into a sale. The list of features is used to uncover what might be a hint at a solution for you. So the presenter just rolls through them one at a time and builds to the crescendo of what he thinks is the best feature of all (usually 3d or visualization).

There are many ways to present… face to face, webinar, con call, etc. All of them seem to march toward a list of features. But some of them are different.

What have you seen as lacking or great in a presentation on software?