In High Probability Selling (HPS), we sell on features, not benefits.
In most other selling methods, it’s the other way around, and that makes sense.
If your job is to get people to buy from you, benefits are a lot more persuasive than features. Benefits are like bait on the hook.
If your job is to find and identify people who want to buy what you are offering, for their own reasons (without being persuaded), then features work better than benefits. No bait.
So what is the difference between features and benefits? According to Unbounce Academy, “A feature is a part of your product or service, while a benefit is the positive impact it has on your customer.”
I like to clarify that a bit further with some of my own thinking, based on what I learned from working with Jacques Werth and Paul Bunn and others.
A feature is concrete, definite, certain, and immediate. It comes with the product or service and may be an integral part of it.
A benefit is a potential positive outcome for the buyer. If that positive outcome were definite and certain, then it would be a guarantee, which is a feature, not a benefit. Also, the benefit might occur later, and it might be abstract or subjective.
In HPS, we also talk about detriments, which are potential negative outcomes for the buyer. We make certain that the prospect is clear on each of these before we proceed with the sale.
Features, benefits, and detriments all come together during the closing part of the sale, when we are going over the details of the prospect’s Conditions of Satisfaction.