Feature

Features are about the raw facts and information about your product. "What can your product do?"

Examples

• We have sixty branch offices
• The X3 model can collate up to 100 copy sets
• Basic cost is $42000,-$
• There is a five-year warranty

Impact

Sales Phase	Impact	Comments
Early in the sales cycle	Negative
Later in the sales cycle	Neutral
Middle of the sales cycle	Positive	Complex selling cycles of technical products, buyers may demand lots of product details

Users respond more favorably to Features than decision makers do

Practical tips

• For a potential buyer each feature in a product adds to the overall cost of the product. Imagine a sales person telling:
  • "Our insurance policy covers also all hospital surgery and private accommodation"
  • A buyer would immediately think "That's going to be expensive"
• Claiming advantages without asking first whether the buyer has a need for them because the buyer starts raising Objections. Imagine a sales person tell "One of the main advantages of the policy is that your children will also be covered". But selling that to a person without children...

Example general features are:

• Price
• Physical dimension

Features that are not coupled to needs will be perceived as too expensive and unneccesary in the buyers mind: