Template · Sales engineering

Competitive feature comparison matrix with Harvey balls

Score our product against four competitors on up to 80 weighted features, with Harvey balls, gap flags and ranked talk tracks.

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	A	B	C	D	F	H
1	Competitive feature comparison matrix
2	Example data — replace the blue input cells with your own.
3
4	OUR WEIGHTED SCORE	OUR RANK		DIFFERENTIATORS	GAPS
5	80.0%	1 of 5		5	7
6	Share of the highest possible score	Among the five vendors		Ahead of all, weight qualifies	Competitor ahead by threshold
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8	Overall weighted score by vendor
9	Vendor	Score	Bar			Rank
10	Our product	80.0%	████████████████████			1
11	Competitor A	76.7%	███████████████████			2
12	Competitor B	65.5%	████████████████			3
13	Competitor C	55.0%	██████████████			4
14	Competitor D	51.7%	█████████████			5
15
16	Category score grid: Harvey balls in quarters of each category score

Showing the first 16 of 38 rows and 10 of 10 columns. Cells with formulas show the formula on hover.

	A	B	C	D	E	F	G	H	I	J	K	L
1	Feature matrix: scores, Harvey balls and flags
2	Inputs are the vendor names, buyer weights, the 0 to 4 scores and the evidence. Everything else is a formula.
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4	Vendors and settings
5		Vendor names (type over the defaults)			Our product		Competitor A		Competitor B		Competitor C
6		Differentiator: minimum buyer weight		4	A flag appears when our score is strictly above every competitor and the buyer weight is at or above this value.
7		Gap: competitor lead, in points		2	A Gap flag appears when a competitor scores this many points or more above us.
8		Score scale: 0 not offered, 1 partial, 2 offered with limits, 3 offered, 4 offered and shown in a test or reference.
9	Feature table: capacity 80 features; spare rows stay blank until used
10	#	Feature	Category	Buyer weight (1-5)	Our product	Ball	Competitor A	Ball	Competitor B	Ball	Competitor C	Ball
11	1	Industrial protocol gateway (Modbus TCP, OPC UA)	Connectivity	5	4	●	3	◕	4	●	2	◑
12	2	Cellular and LTE-M connectivity for remote sites	Connectivity	4	3	◕	4	●	2	◑	3	◕
13	3	Store-and-forward buffering during outages	Connectivity	4	4	●	2	◑	2	◑	1	◔
14	4	Device certificate provisioning at scale	Connectivity	3	3	◕	3	◕	2	◑	1	◔
15	5	Time sync via PTP or NTP at the gateway	Connectivity	2	2	◑	4	●	3	◕	2	◑
16	6	Mesh wireless support (LoRaWAN or 802.15.4)	Connectivity	3	1	◔	3	◕	0	○	2	◑

Showing the first 16 of 90 rows and 12 of 21 columns. Cells with formulas show the formula on hover.

	A	B	C	D	E	F	G	H	J	K	L
1	Category scores by vendor
2	Weighted score per category: buyer weight times score, divided by four times the buyer weight. Bars share one scale.
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4	Weighted score by category, with bars
5	Category	Features	Buyer weight	Our product	Competitor A	Competitor B	Competitor C	Competitor D	Our product	Competitor A	Competitor B
6	Connectivity	6	21	76.2%	77.4%	57.1%	46.4%	53.6%	████████████████	█████████████████	████████████
7	Data and analytics	6	21	77.4%	81.0%	75.0%	52.4%	38.1%	█████████████████	█████████████████	████████████████
8	Security	6	26	85.6%	75.0%	65.4%	64.4%	55.8%	██████████████████	████████████████	██████████████
9	Deployment	6	22	93.2%	72.7%	63.6%	54.5%	43.2%	████████████████████	████████████████	██████████████
10	Integration	4	14	62.5%	82.1%	73.2%	57.1%	71.4%	█████████████	██████████████████	████████████████
11	Support and pricing	4	12	75.0%	72.9%	58.3%	52.1%	56.3%	████████████████	████████████████	█████████████
12	All categories	32	116	80.0%	76.7%	65.5%	55.0%	51.7%	█████████████████	████████████████	██████████████
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14	Bar scale: highest category score	93.2%	Bars are the score divided by this value, so the highest bar is 20 blocks.
15
16	Overall weighted score and rank

Showing the first 16 of 25 rows and 12 of 14 columns. Cells with formulas show the formula on hover.

	A	B	C	D	E	F	G	H	I	J	K	L
1	Top gaps and differentiators
2	Ranked from the Matrix tab. Gaps rank by competitor lead times buyer weight; differentiators rank by buyer weight, then lead.
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4	Top 10 gaps: largest competitor lead times buyer weight
5	Rank	Feature	Category	Buyer weight	Our score	Our ball	Top competitor score	Top competitor	Their ball	Lead (points)	Weighted lead	Talk track (input)
6	1	Connector to ERP work orders	Integration	4	1	◔	4	Competitor D	●	3	12	Name the gap first, then show the workaround and what it costs the buyer.
7	2	Rules engine at the edge	Data and analytics	5	2	◑	4	Competitor A	●	2	10	Ask whether this is needed in the first phase or can wait for a later release.
8	3	Mesh wireless support (LoRaWAN or 802.15.4)	Connectivity	3	1	◔	3	Competitor A	◕	2	6	Offer a reference site that runs the workaround today, if it agrees to speak to the buyer.
9	4	Network segmentation templates	Security	3	2	◑	4	Competitor C	●	2	6	Confirm the buyer's integration target before comparing, and show the mapping work involved.
10	5	Connector to CMMS maintenance system	Integration	3	2	◑	4	Competitor A	●	2	6	Put the gap in writing with a date only after the roadmap owner has approved it.
11	6	Signed firmware and secure boot	Security	5	3	◕	4	Competitor B	●	1	5	Show the competitor's limit as well as its strength, using the same test case for both.
12	7	Cellular and LTE-M connectivity for remote sites	Connectivity	4	3	◕	4	Competitor A	●	1	4	Ask which competitor claim the buyer has heard, then answer with evidence.
13	8	Time sync via PTP or NTP at the gateway	Connectivity	2	2	◑	4	Competitor A	●	2	4	Compare total effort over three years, not the feature list alone.
14	9	Asset model import (AAS or equivalent)	Data and analytics	2	1	◔	3	Competitor A	◕	2	4	Separate what is missing from what is slower or more manual.
15	10	Published uptime SLA with service credits	Support and pricing	4	3	◕	4	Competitor A	●	1	4	Log the question for product review so the matrix stays current.
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Showing the first 16 of 30 rows and 12 of 13 columns. Cells with formulas show the formula on hover.

	A
1	Competitive feature comparison matrix
2	Notes: what this workbook does, how to use it and the method behind it.
3
4	What it does
5	Compares our product with four competitors on up to 80 features. Each feature has a buyer weight from 1 to 5 and a score from 0 to 4 for every vendor, shown with a Harvey ball.
6	Flags the features where we are strictly ahead of every competitor at a high buyer weight (Differentiator) and where a competitor is ahead by the gap threshold or more (Gap).
7	Ranks the top 10 gaps and the top 10 differentiators, with a talk-track column for each row. Computes a weighted score per category and overall, with bars and a rank.
8	The example is a fictional industrial IoT platform with 32 features in six categories. The competitor names are placeholders and the scores are illustrative.
9
10	How to use it
11	1. Type the vendor names in row 5 of the Matrix tab. The defaults are Our product and Competitor A to D.
12	2. Enter each feature with its category (spelled as on the Categories tab) and a buyer weight from 1 to 5.
13	3. Score every vendor from 0 to 4. Record the evidence you can show in the evidence column.
14	4. Set the differentiator minimum weight and the gap points in the settings rows of the Matrix tab.
15	5. Read the Dashboard for the scores and the category grid. Use the Gaps tab to prepare talk tracks before a meeting.
16	6. Leave spare rows empty. They stay blank until a feature is entered.

Showing the first 16 of 37 rows and 1 of 1 columns. Cells with formulas show the formula on hover.

What does this template do?

A feature comparison matrix puts our product next to up to four competitors, feature by feature, so a sales engineer can see where we lead, where we trail and what to say about each gap. The workbook suits pre-sales teams that answer the same comparison questions in many bids.

Each feature has a buyer weight from 1 to 5 and a score from 0 to 4 for every vendor. A Harvey ball shows each score at a glance. Every feature also gets a top competitor score (the MAX of the four competitor scores), our lead or gap in points, and a flag: Differentiator when we are strictly ahead at a high buyer weight, and Gap when a competitor is two points or more ahead. The Categories tab computes a weighted score per category and overall with SUMPRODUCT, and the Gaps tab ranks the largest gaps and differentiators with LARGE and INDEX.

The example is a fictional industrial IoT platform with 32 features in six categories. The vendor names and scores are illustrative. The evidence column lists what to attach to each score.

What’s inside

Up to 80 features scored 0 to 4 for our product and four competitors, each with a Harvey ball
Differentiator and Gap flags, set by a minimum buyer weight and a gap threshold
Weighted score per category and overall, with bars and a rank for each vendor
Top 10 gaps and top 10 differentiators, ranked by weight, with talk-track columns
Dashboard tiles and a category grid of Harvey balls, all calculated from the inputs

Which tabs does the workbook have?

Tab	What it holds
Dashboard	KPI tiles, overall score bars, a category grid of Harvey balls and the top five differentiators.
Matrix	Feature table with buyer weights, scores, Harvey balls, lead or gap, flags and evidence.
Categories	Weighted score per category and vendor, with bars and an overall rank.
Gaps	Top 10 gaps and top 10 differentiators, with talk-track columns.
Notes	What the workbook does, the method behind it and its limits.

What formulas does this template use?

This template holds 1,416 formulas in 1,899 cells across 5 tabs, so 75% of its cells calculate. They use 19 distinct functions; the longest formula is 747 characters and 317 of them read from another tab.

Function	Uses	What it does
`IF`	2,384	one result when a test is true, another when false
`MAX`	597	largest value
`MIN`	515	smallest value
`ROUND`	515	rounds to a number of digits
`CHOOSE`	470	picks the nth value from a list
`OR`	285	true when any test is true
`INDEX`	120	value at a position in a range
`COUNTA`	83	counts non-empty cells
`AND`	80	true when every test is true
`REPT`	45	repeats text
`SUMPRODUCT`	37	multiplies matching entries, then adds them
`COUNTIF`	34	counts cells meeting one condition

The 12 most used of 19 functions. Counted from the workbook itself. Only functions that Excel, LibreOffice Calc, Google Sheets and Apple Numbers evaluate the same way are used, so the formulas survive every download format.

How do you use it?

Type the vendor names on the Matrix tab, in row 5.
Enter each feature with its category and a buyer weight from 1 to 5.
Score every vendor from 0 to 4 and note the evidence you can show.
Set the differentiator weight and the gap points in the settings rows on the Matrix tab.
Read the Dashboard, then use the Gaps tab to prepare talk tracks.

What is it good for?

Preparing the competitive section of a bid or RFP response
Briefing a sales engineer before a technical evaluation
Tracking which roadmap items close gaps against competitors
Reviewing the product's position in each feature category

Questions about this sheet

How is the weighted score calculated?

Each score is multiplied by its buyer weight and the products are summed. The sum is divided by four times the total buyer weight, so a score of 4 on every feature gives 100 percent.

What makes a feature a differentiator?

Our score is strictly above every competitor score and the buyer weight is at or above the minimum set on the Matrix tab. The default minimum is 4.

What counts as a gap?

A competitor score at least two points above ours. The threshold is an input on the Matrix tab.

Can I add features beyond the examples?

Yes. The table holds 80 features. Fill the blank rows, and the balls, flags, categories and rankings update.