Tag: Features

Features vs Benefits and How This Matters in HPS

A feature is a factual attribute of a product, service, or offering.  It’s something it has or does.  It is usually immediate and certain.

A benefit is the outcome or advantage that the customer is expected to experience because of that feature.  It usually appears later and is not always certain.

There are a few things that fall somewhere between features and benefits, but most are clearly one or the other.

When your purpose in selling is to influence someone’s desire for something you offer, it makes a lot of sense to use benefits instead of features.  This is the idea behind Traditional Selling.

When your purpose in selling is to discover instead of to persuade, then features work better than benefits.  This is the idea behind High Probability Selling.

We do mention benefits in High Probability Selling, but only after the prospect has decided that they want what we are offering, and has indicated that they are likely enough to buy from us if we can meet all of their Conditions of Satisfaction.  Even then, we always balance the benefits (potential positive outcomes) with the detriments (potential negative outcomes). We remain objective.

We would love to hear your thoughts and comments on this topic.  Please leave a reply on this blog post, so others can join in the conversation.

Features, Benefits, Detriments

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.