P.S.I. Selling Presentation Summaries
- Mike Pinkel
- Jul 23
- 47 min read
Updated: Aug 3
This article contains summaries of the videos on the P.S.I. Selling Presentations Page. Together, they provide an overview of the the core of the P.S.I. Selling methodology.
Each entry below can stand on its own as an introduction to the topic or as a way to quickly review the material in the video. You can also review them all in a series to familiarize yourself with the entire methodology.
Below is a table of contents with clickable links that will take you to each of the summaries:
P.S.I. Selling Overview: Escaping the Sales Doom Loop
Many startup sales teams are trapped in a doom loop.
It starts with promise: The founders prove that they can sell the product. They’ve built something valuable and they’re able to deploy their deep understanding of their customers to close deals.
It’s time to scale: The founders hire experienced sales reps in the hopes that those reps can hit the ground running.
But the reps they hire often fail.
Why? Companies don’t build a robust sales process.
It doesn’t seem like a priority – the founders could sell without one. But sales reps hired externally lack the founders’ perspective and deep customer understanding.
Sales reps need the right tools to sell well.
Founders’ find this confusing: “If I can sell it, a good sales rep should be able to sell it too. If they can’t, the problem must be the sales reps.”
So the company fires the sales reps and starts the cycle again with a new team… and they get the same result, burning precious time and capital the whole way.
This is the sales doom loop, and it's killing promising startups everywhere.
The Problem: Using the Wrong Conversations for Sales
The root of the problem is that companies try to sell using conversations that they’ve imported from other contexts. These conversations absolutely DO work in those other contexts, but if they’re the only tools that an externally hired sales rep has to sell… you’re in trouble.
The Vision Pitch Problem
The vision pitch has a simple message: "We're going to change the world."
This works perfectly if you’re raising money. VCs want to see massive market opportunities.
But when you pitch this vision to customers, they react with apathy: "Okay, great, but what does that have to do with me?"
The How-To Demo Trap
The how-to demo is what it sounds like: It shows the audience how to use the product.
This is also essential for fundraising. Investors need to see that your technology works.
But when prospects see a how-to demo, they think "Cool technology, but why should I care?"
The Solution: The P.S.I. Approach
The P.S.I. approach breaks the doom loop with three fundamental steps:
1. Define Your Value Themes
You need three types of Themes that create persuasive momentum:
Problem Themes show the need for action and shape the search for a solution
Solution Themes show how your product helps and how it's different
Impact Themes define the benefits you offer and estimate their magnitude
These Themes build upon each other: Problems lead to Solutions, which lead to Impacts. Put the three together, and they lead to a purchase.
Problem - Solution - Impact: That’s why we call it P.S.I. Selling.
2. Build Sales Conversations
Most teams have slides. But few have built persuasive conversations.
Themes are the answer. You can build most sales conversations by using your Themes like lego blocks, arranging them in a mutually supporting structure that advances your deal.
For sales decks, start with Summary Slides that outline your Problems, Solutions, and Impacts. Then unpack each type of Theme systematically in the body of the presentation: Define the Problem, present the Solution, demonstrate the Impacts, and drive toward next steps.
For demos, use a similar structure. Begin with Summary Slides, then demonstrate each Solution element while connecting it back to Problems and forward to Impacts.
3. Build a Sales Team That Can Execute
Stop trying to hire only experienced sales reps. It’s hard to hire the best, highly-experienced sales reps into an early-stage sales team: They can make more money with less risk somewhere else.
Instead, focus on "hidden gem" sales reps: Reps with talent and sufficient experience, but who haven't yet found the right setting to excel.
These reps have huge potential and are excited to work for your company. Uncover this talent through rapid-fire sales scenarios, deal strategy questions, and mock sales pitches during the interview process.
Then get them ready with action-focused onboarding that emphasizes practice over passive learning. Define your major sales challenges, create hypothetical prospects that present those challenges, and build simulated sales calls where new reps can solve your sales challenges in a safe environment.
Breaking Free
The sales doom loop isn't inevitable. Companies get trapped because they approach sales conversations the wrong way and hire the wrong people using the wrong criteria.
The key is recognizing that sales excellence comes down to having a systematic approach to proving value and a team trained to execute it.
Sales Messaging That Persuades: Building Themes and Using Summary Slides
Most startup sales messaging misses the mark. Teams focus on the wrong messages when talking to prospects and their efforts to fix the problem just create more confusion.
The solution is to build sales messaging that’s persuasive and deployable using Themes and Summary Slides.
The Problem: The Two Deadly Conversation Types
The Vision Pitch
Many companies try to sell using a vision pitch. The vision pitch has a simple message: "Our company is going to change the world. There's a huge transformation happening and we’re going to take advantage of it."
This works for fundraising because it shows VCs that your company will be hugely valuable if it succeeds.
But it falls flat in sales contexts. Prospects think: "Great, you're going to change the world, but what does that have to do with me? How does it help my business?"
The How-To Demo
Other companies try to sell using a how-to demo. You get this kind of demo when you ask your product or engineering teams to train the sales team to deliver a demo.
The demo they come up with shows the audience how to use the product: "This is how you sign in, here’s how you configure the platform, here’s how you implement workflow one, and here’s how you implement workflow two etc."
The how-to demo is functional and useful, but it doesn't persuade people to purchase.
Prospects think: "Cool tech, but what does this have to do with me?"
Why Common Fixes Don't Work
Startups often realize that they need to stop talking about themselves and start talking about how they deliver value for customers. To make that happen, they typically turn to complex product marketing frameworks.
These messaging frameworks are useful for overall positioning but impossible to translate into actual sales conversations. A typical messaging framework might have 20+ boxes for different types of messages and arrows everywhere showing the relationship between the various messages.
How does a salesperson turn that into a conversation or adapt it to a deal?
Many popular sales methodologies don't solve the problem either. Take MEDDICC as an example. It’s a great framework for qualifying deals. It ensures that you’ve identified the metrics you’ll impact, an economic buyer, their decision criteria, that you’ve identified a pain, that you have a champion etc.
But it's not a guide to having an effective sales conversation. You wouldn't start a call talking about metrics, then discuss the economic buyer, and move on to decision criteria.
The Solution: Theme-Based Messaging
The solution starts with defining Themes. These are the major messages that appear throughout your entire sales process.
Three types of Themes are most important:
Problem Themes
These show the need for action and shape the search for a solution. You're showing that they’ve got to do something while also giving them a sense of the kind of solution they’d need.
Solution Themes
These explain how your product solves a Problem, not just what it does. They also show how you're different from alternatives, including the status quo and competitors.
Impact Themes
These identify the types of business value you create, say how you create it, and estimate the magnitude of each benefit.
Creating Persuasive Flow
Themes support each other, building momentum as they go. Problems naturally set up Solutions, which naturally set up Impacts. Used together, they naturally lead to a purchase.
Here's an example:
Problem: You're behind on lead generation because outbound response rates are too low
Solution: We help you raise response rates with AI-driven customized outbound outreach
Impact: This drives 25% more pipeline, helping you hit annual revenue targets
Notice how each element sets up the next. The Problem definition specifically mentions "low outbound response rates," which perfectly sets up the Solution which mentions response rates. The Solution naturally flows to the Impact: If they believe Solution, they’re ready to get on board with the Impact.
Aim to create three Problems, three Solutions, and three Impacts so you can capture all the key aspects of your product without being overly complicated.
Diagnosing Deal Problems
You can also use this flow in reverse to diagnose problems with your deal. The insight of the P - S - I flow is that proving one part of your case for value is easier if you’ve proven the parts of your case for value that logically come before it.
So try it the other way: If you’re having trouble persuading a prospect on a point, the issue may actually be with something earlier in the flow rather than with what you’re saying on that point.
Here’s a diagnostic you can use:
Impact: If your Impact isn't landing, ask yourself if you've proven the Solution. This issue often comes up when reps share bold estimates of ROI from an ROI calculator and the prospect's eyes glaze over. The prospect may feel that rep is skipping a step: Impact estimates are only as credible as the Solution you're offering.
Solution: If your Solution isn't landing, ask yourself if you've proven the Problem. The prospect may not see a serious Problem. In that case, they'll see no need to act. They also may not understand their Problem in a way that leads to your Solution. If that's the case, they may prefer to solve the Problem themselves or to use an alternative product.
Problem: If your Problem isn't landing, ask yourself if the prospect is the right type of company. You may have identified a Problem that matters in their industry, but it's possible that there's something about their organization that makes the Problem less significant for them. Consider pivoting to a different Problem.
Situation: Value ultimately comes back to the prospect's situation. For your product to matter to them, they have to engage in the right business processes, have the right systems etc.
Summary Slides Bring Themes to Real Conversations
How do you make sure your Themes appear in real sales conversations instead of just sitting in a messaging doc?
You use Summary Slides. These are three slides that summarize your Problems, Solutions, and Impacts. These slides lead off most sales conversations, ensuring that your main messages come through clearly.
Here’s how to deploy Summary Slides in two common sales conversations:
Overview Presentations
Imagine that you’re delivering an introductory presentation about your product using slides.
You might have the following sections:
Summary Slides: Provide an overview of Problems, Solutions, and Impacts
Problems: Unpack each Problem, typically with one slide for each Problem
Solutions: Unpack each Solution, typically with two slides for each Solution
Impacts: Unpack each Impact, typically with one slides for each Impact
Next Steps: Suggest a specific next step and say why it benefits the prospect
Software Demos
Let’s say you’re delivering a software demo on a second or third call.
You’d break it up into these sections:
Summary Slides: Provide an overview of Problems, Solutions, and Impacts, but be sure to update the Themes to incorporate the information you learned on earlier calls
Solution 1: Demo the part of the product corresponding to your first Solution Theme. Lead in by getting the prospect oriented, then reference the relevant Problem(s), next conduct that part of the demo, and finally close out the section by discussing the relevant Impact(s)
Solution 2: Demo the part of the product corresponding to your second Solution Theme. Lead in and out of the section in the same way.
Solution 3: Demo the part of the product corresponding to your third Solution Theme. Lead in and out of the section in the same way.
Next Steps: Suggest a specific next step and say why it benefits the prospect
Adapting Themes Throughout the Sales Process
Summary Slides ensure that your Themes evolve with each conversation.
Ask for feedback when you present the Summary Slides at the beginning of each call. Get more detail about the Themes that resonate: What do they mean in the prospect’s context? For the Themes that don’t resonate, find out why and pivot the conversation accordingly.
After the call, update your Summary Slides to incorporate what you learned. This ensures that your Themes become stronger and stronger as the sales process continues.
Ensuring Themes Influence Decisions
Prospects often make final decisions when you're not in the room. For example, your champion might meet with their CFO and other stakeholders to make the case for a purchase during an internal meeting.
How will your champion know what points to make?
Summary Slides. The slides are your tool for communicating value and they’re your champion’s tool as well. Your champion can use the Summary Slides to present the high points of your value proposition and secure approval for the deal even if you’re not there to help.
The Bottom Line
Mastering Themes and Summary Slides gives your deal irresistible momentum. These tools ensure that your conversations focus on value and that you influence every crucial conversation; even the ones where you're not present.
Skillful Discovery: The Foundation of Effective Selling
Most startup sales teams are sabotaging themselves by doing poor discovery. They're either not learning enough about prospects to sell effectively or not using what they learn throughout the rest of the process.
Let’s fix that with better discovery.
The Importance of Discovery
Poor discovery kills revenue in two ways.
Lack of Qualification
Without good discovery, you can't properly qualify opportunities. This leads to reps wasting time on deals that were never going to close.
Lack of Customization
Poor discovery also means that reps can't customize conversations to a specific prospect's needs. Sales teams that can’t customize don’t add value: Prospects could just watch a recorded demo.
That means your sales team isn’t doing much to increase your win rate.
The Three-Stage Approach to Better Discovery
Stage 1: Basic Problem Discovery
If your team’s discovery is a mess, you need to start doing basic discovery right away.
Here’s how:
Build a Problem slide: Create one slide listing three Problems you solve. The slide should give each Problem a clear definition and explain why it’s important.
Start calls with the Problem slide: Reps present each Problem and ask “Is this something you've experienced?" If the prospect has the Problem, the rep finds out how serious it is by asking: "How is that affecting your company?"
Repeat for all three Problems: This ensures that reps come away from calls understanding if they have a way to help the prospect and, if so, what to focus on for future calls.
You can implement this in a matter of hours.
Stage 2: Solid Problem Discovery
When you have time to build proper resources, invest in solid Problem discovery:
Build Summary Slides: Create three slides stating the Problems you solve, Solutions you offer, and Impacts you deliver
Define Problems richly: For each problem, specify four elements:
Scope: Create a good tagline
Existence: Show that the Problem is real
Magnitude: Say why the Problem is worth acting on
Insight: Interpret the Problem in a way that naturally leads to your Solution
Craft suggested questions: For each Problem, craft four questions (inspired by SPIN Selling):
Relevance question: Is the Problem relevant to the prospect?
Problem question: Do they have this Problem?
Magnitude question: How bad is the Problem?
Benefit question: How would would it help If they can solve it?
Your question flow for one of your Problems might look like this:
Relevance: "How are you generating pipeline today?"
Problem: "Are you on track to hit your pipeline generation goals?"
Magnitude: "How far off are you, and what does that mean for your business?"
Benefit: "If you could consistently hit pipeline generation goals, how would that help you?"
Reps should start every early conversation by presenting the Summary Slides. They should ask at least two questions about each Problem while presenting the Problem slide; they can ask more if it fits in the context of the conversation.
During the body of the presentation, reps should weave in additional discovery questions as is relevant to the content.
Stage 3: Pro Discovery
When reps have mastered the fundamentals, they can think about doing pro-level discovery. Pro-level discovery feels like a natural conversation rather than a march through a set of questions.
But the foundation for pro-level discovery is actually a very strong structure. Reps decide what issues they want to cover prior to the call. On the call, they open an issue, explore it, and then transition to the next issue.
There are six basic steps:
Open Issue: “Let’s explore [X].”
Share: “One thing I’ve seen is [Y].”
Ask: “Have you encountered [Y]?”
Tend: “Oh that’s interesting. Tell me more about that.”
Suggest: “You know, sometimes that leads to [Z]. Have you seen that?”
Next Issue: ““One other thing I’d like to talk about is [A].”
Typically, the “issues” are the Problems your product solves. Having this natural type of conversation requires understanding the Problems extremely well.
Beyond Problem Discovery
Once your team has mastered Problem discovery, you can think about other kinds of discovery. Here are a few areas to consider:
Solution Discovery: This aims to understand how your product would fit in their situation and how it compares to their alternatives. Your team can cover this during the Summary Slides if the prospect is engaged or save for mid-call if they seem like they’re done answering questions.
Impact Discovery: This aims to understand what kinds of business benefits they value and how large those benefits could be. As with Solution discovery, you can cover this during the Summary Slides if the prospect is engaged or save it for mid-call depending on the tenor of the conversation.
Process Discovery: This aims to understand how they’ll make their decision, who the stakeholders are, and what they care about. You should typically save this for the end of the call: Prospects want to understand your value before sharing internal details.
Technical Discovery: This covers things like integration requirements and other specifications needed to implement your product. It’s usually best to save this for the end of the call unless there’s something that could entirely disqualify you from the deal, such as the prospect needing an integration you just don’t have.
Using Discovery Throughout the Sales Process
Discovery becomes powerful when it shapes your future conversations with the prospect.
The most important way to do that is to update your Summary Slides. Incorporate the facts you learn, use the prospect’s terminology, and change your emphasis to reflect their priorities.
Get feedback on your Summary Slides on every call and revise them after every call. This ensures that they constantly evolve to fit the prospect’s situation more closely.
Qualifying with the SPA Framework
Discovery also helps you qualify opportunities so that you can spend your time on deals that can close. Try using the SPA framework:
Situation: Is this the type of company you help? The prospect might satisfy this if they were a 1000-person tech company with 50+ rep outbound sales team.
Problem: Does this company have Problems you solve? The prospect might satisfy this if they were behind on pipeline generation despite sending a high volume of emails.
Authority: Do you have interest from someone with influence over the deal? The prospect might satisfy this if you're engaged with a manager-level person who's seen an overview, verified their interest, and booked next steps that move the deal forward.
Notice that SPA doesn’t require that the prospect has allocated budget or established a timeline. That’s because good sales reps can take opportunities with the right situation, problem, and authority and use those to go and get budget and a timeline.
The Foundation of Sales Success
Good discovery is the difference between adding real value and being a glorified brochure.
Start with Stage 1 if you're doing very little or very poor discovery now. You need an immediate fix. Move to Stage 2 when you can invest the time to build proper resources. Reserve Stage 3 for your most skilled reps who've mastered the fundamentals.
Remember: Discovery isn't just about asking a list of questions. It's about gathering the right information and using it strategically throughout your entire sales process.
Overview Presentations: Setting the Agenda for Sales Success
When a deal goes badly, its natural to look at what happened at the end of the process. Reps may think: "Maybe we should have handled that pricing discussion differently" or "Maybe we should have brought our executives in for that critical call."
But often, the deal's success or failure depends heavily on what happens at the beginning of the process. Some deals naturally move toward a large win. Some deals struggle for life.
One of the most powerful ways to set yourself up for success is to start the deal off with an amazing overview presentation.
Here's how to make that happen:
The Three Goals of Overview Presentations
Overview presentations are slide-based conversation that aim to provide a survey of your product’s value without going into exhaustive depth. They have three objectives:
1. Qualify the Opportunity
Determine if this prospect is worth your time and should be in your sales pipeline. Not every prospect who is willing to talk to you is a real opportunity.
2. Build Interest
Motivate prospects to engage with your sales process, take next steps, and complete the evaluation. Evaluations take work; the prospect has to see what's in it for them.
3. Set the Agenda
Establish what future conversations should cover, who should participate, and how the process will unfold. Doing this well sets you on an efficient path to a successful deal.
When Overview Presentations Make Sense
Sales pros would argue that you should skip the overview presentation and jump straight to a software demonstration. Their take is that overview presentations add an extra step to your sales process and frustrate prospects who just want to see the product.
These are fair points, but they have to be weighed against the fact that demos can go down a rabbit hole, becoming far too detailed far too quickly if the prospect starts asking about specific features. If you neglect the big picture early in your sales process, you may never discover what you really should have been discussing with the prospect.
Slide-based presentations, by contrast, are perfect for keeping the conversation focused on the big picture. There are two situations where overview presentations are particularly valuable:
Complex Products: If you have a complex product, it’s not possible to show prospects everything on a demo. Starting with an overview presentation helps you choose what parts of the product are worth sharing.
Complex Value: If your product’s value is complex, it's not obvious exactly how it will help the prospect. Starting with an overview presentation lets you explore how you’ll deliver value so that you know what business problems to reference when you demo the product.
When do the benefits of overview presentations outweigh their costs?
The $30K Rule: If you're selling a product with an average contract value over $30,000, it’s likely to be worth doing an overview presentation. The complexity of your product and its value probably makes it worth adding a step to your sales process.
Using Powerful Messaging
Great overview presentations focus on three kinds of messages, which we call Themes in P.S.I. Selling.
Problem Themes demonstrate the need for action and shape the search for a solution.
Solution Themes show how your product solves a Problem and how it's different from alternatives and the status quo.
Impact Themes identify the kinds of benefit that your product delivers and estimate the magnitude of each benefit.
These three kinds of Themes work together to create persuasive momentum. Problems lead to Solutions which lead to Impacts which lead to a purchase. You’ll normally create three Themes of each type to capture the different aspects of your product, for a total of nine Themes.
Building a Well-Structured Overview Deck
Try building a deck with these sections:
Summary Slides (3 slides) Summary Slides provide an overview of your product’s value and lead off most sales conversations. There’s typically one slide for Problems, one for Solutions, and one for Impacts.
Problem Section (3 slides): One slide per Problem
Solution Section (6 slides): Two slides per Solution
Impact Section (3 slides): One slide per Impact
Next Steps (1 slide): Say what you should do next to continue the evaluation
The flow of the deck duplicates the persuasive momentum of Themes: The Problem section sets up the Solution section which sets up the Impact section, which sets up compelling next steps.
Managing the Conversation
Here’s how you should deploy the deck on a sales call:
During Summary Slides
Your goal is to make the main messages clear and gather information that helps you shape the rest of the call. Go light on detail: You’re going to unpack each main idea during the body of the presentation.
Get as much feedback from the prospect as you comfortably can during the Summary Slides. The sooner you get that feedback, the more ability you have to customize the conversation to address the prospect’s needs.
During Problem Section
Share your perspective on the Problems and get their reaction. This is a chance to persuade the prospect to see their Problems in a way that sets up your Solution and to ask questions that you weren’t able to cover during the Summary Slides.
During Solutions Section
Don’t drone on about your features! Instead, link your Solutions to the Problems you solve. Show how the product addresses the Problems they’ve verified that they have.
Figure out how they see each Solution fitting at their company. How does it match their current environment and compare to their alternatives?
This should give you a sense of what to focus on during future conversations.
During Impact Section
Share the product’s Impacts, linking them to how they flow out of the Solution. Understand what each Impact would mean in their specific circumstances.
This will help you build a prospect-specific case for value.
During Next Steps
Suggest specific next steps (if the prospect is qualified) but try to make it a conversation about how best to take the evaluation forward.
Qualifying with SPA
You should also use the conversation to qualify opportunities with the SPA framework:
Situation: Is this the type of company you help?
Problem: Does the company have problems you solve?
Authority: Are you talking to someone with influence?
An opportunity can be qualified even if there’s no set budget or timeline. With the right situation, problem, and authority, you can create budget and timeline through a persuasive sales process.
Setting Clear Next Steps
Here are three keys to setting great next steps:
Affirm the Relationship
Have a positive and professional tone, but at the same time don't count on a good relationship alone to drive your deal forward. It's a business relationship and you probably don't know each other that well.
Make Specific Asks
State specific requests for the content of the next steps and who should participate. Being specific gives you something concrete to discuss and helps avoid uncertainty.
Explain the Benefits of Next Steps
The goal here isn’t so much to sell the benefit of the product but to sell the benefit of the next steps. Here are four categories of next-step benefits:
Information: They'll get information that helps them evaluate the product
Coordination: Getting their people together helps everyone get on the same page
Influence: Involving their executives in the discussion lets those executives influence product configuration
Bargaining: If they want something substantial from you (like a proof of concept), you can say that you’re willing to provide it if they can deliver something that advances the deal (like a meeting with their senior stakeholders)
Evolving Themes Throughout the Process
Another critical outcome of a good overview presentation is the chance to adapt your Themes to fit the prospect. This process continues with every conversation you have:
Overview Presentation: Present Product Themes (Themes that are true about your product in general)
Software Demo: Present Deal Themes (an adaptation of your Product Themes that applies to this specific prospect)
Scoping Call: Present revised Deal Themes based on demo feedback
Proposal Call: Present final Deal Themes tailored to their decision
This process ensures that your Themes become more tailored and powerful as the process unfolds so that they ultimately make an irresistible case for a purchase.
The Foundation of Sales Success
Overview presentations aren't just another step in your sales process; they're the foundation that sets you up for success. They help you qualify real opportunities, build genuine interest, and determine what you should focus on in future conversations.
Software Demos That Prove Value
Most demos end the sales process rather than driving it forward. Why? Most reps give demos that are either confusing or irrelevant.
Let’s do better by building our demo around a clear structure that shows how we solve customer Problems and deliver business Impacts.
Where Demos Go Wrong
The typical demo structure is essentially a series of clicks on buttons.
The sales rep hunts around the product hoping to find something that gets the prospect excited. First they show this feature, then that feature, then that one.
Prospects end up feeling confused; after all, the demo wasn’t structured around any clear messages.
When companies try to do better, they often end up with a “how-to” demo.
This comes about when companies ask their implementation team to lead a training on demos. The demo they create makes sense from their perspective: It covers how to sign in, how to configure the platform, how to execute each major workflow, and how to set up the product’s integrations.
This is functional, but it isn’t persuasive. It shows prospects what the product does but not why they should buy it.
The Structure That Works
Let’s build a demo that proves value. The key is to split the demo into clear sections, each of which has a persuasive purpose:
Updated Summary Slides that specify your product’s value. The rest of the demo is designed to prove the messages in the Summary Slides, not to “show them the product.”
Demo the first major element of your Solution
Demo the second major element of your Solution
Demo the third major element of your Solution
Discuss next steps
Let’s look at the key elements of this structure:
Start with Updated Summary Slides
Great demos start with Summary Slides. These are the set of three slides that outline the Problems you solve, the Solutions you offer, and the Impacts you deliver.
Your company should create a template set of Summary Slides that applies to your product in general. These will typically list three Problems, three Solutions, and three Impacts.
Update your Summary Slides prior to the demo. You’ll normally have done an overview presentation prior to the demo that’s helped you understand how your general messages apply to your prospect.
Change the template Summary Slides to incorporate the facts you learned, use the prospect’s terminology, and reflect their priorities.
Structure Around Solution Elements
Build the body around the various elements of your Solution. These elements aren’t features or workflows.
They’re the parts of your product that solve a specific Problem. Typically, you’ll have three sections in the body of your demo, each corresponding to one element of your Solution.
Within each Solution section, you’ll follow a standard flow:
Orientation: Give a brief overview of this Solution section. Use the phrase "What you're about to see is...."
Link to Problem: State a Problem they validated during discovery. Use the phrase "This relates to...."
Demo Solution Element: Show the part of the product that solves the Problem you’ve mentioned. Tie what you’re showing on the screen back to the Problem you’ve identified.
Draw out Impact: Draw out the business impact of this solution element. Use the phrase “The benefit of this is….”
The Payoff
When done consistently, this approach transforms demos from time-wasting feature tours into compelling persuasive events that drive deals forward.
Scoping: Growing Deals and Building Consensus
Do your deals lose momentum after demos and get stuck in the middle of your sales process? Let's move from a world where deals stagnate to one where they expand and accelerate toward the close.
To make that happen, we need to conduct effective scoping. Here’s how:
The Three Goals of Scoping
1. Establish Deal Breadth and Depth
Good demos get prospects excited about your product but they don’t establish how large the deal will be.
In complex deals, there are many potential use cases for the product, many potential product modules they could purchase, and many potential teams that could participate in the deal. There’s no way to fully explore all of those possibilities on an introductory demo.
Effective scoping takes the momentum from your demo and uses it as a launch pad to explore all the ways you can help the prospect and thereby to make the deal broader and deeper.
2. Create Value Certainty
For complex products, a single demo usually isn’t enough to prove that your product can deliver.
Effective scoping shares more information about your product and shows how it applies in their circumstances to help you make a definitive case for a purchase.
3. Build Consensus
Complex deals require signoff from multiple stakeholders. These stakeholders often care about different things and like to receive information in different ways.
Effective scoping gathers the necessary consensus by engaging different stakeholders in the way they’ll find most useful.
Breadth and Depth: Growing the Deal
Start with a Motivated Champion
It’s easiest to grow the deal when you have a motivated champion who can help you navigate the rest of their organization. Your champion is typically a mid-level manager close enough to the problem to care about solving it but also high enough in the organization to help move things forward.
Here are some factors that make champions motivated to help you explore the rest of their organization:
Team Benefit: The champion thinks your product will benefit their team (of course!).
Credibility: The champion thinks that their colleagues will benefit from meeting you because you’re a trustworthy, knowledgeable person.
Better Price: The champion will get a better price because a larger engagement will result in a volume discount.
Career Advancement: It will help the champion’s career if you sign a larger deal because they’ll get credit for being the driving force behind a valuable company-wide initiative.
Identify Use Cases and Teams
Next, work with your champion to identify all of the potential ways their organization could use the product. This includes the teams that could join the deal, the use cases the product could address, and the modules of the product that might be relevant.
Think of each of these teams, use cases, or modules as a decision component. For example, a prospect with two teams of employees could buy for one team, for both teams, or for neither.
In other words, they’re not making one big decision. They’re making a decision with two different components that together combine to create the whole deal.
Provide Customized Proof
After that, get your champion’s help to book meetings with each decision component.
Your pitch in each meeting needs to sell the value that matters to that decision component. Start by updating your Summary Slides to address the specific decision component you’re talking to.
The prospect’s finance team, for instance, may have wildly different priorities than their sales team. You’ll therefore need to adapt your Problems, Solutions, and Impacts so they’re applicable and potentially reorder them so that you’re leading off with the Themes that matter most to each audience.
Respect the fact that each decision component may be at a different stage in its consideration process. Think of each decision component as its own miniature sales process: One might be almost ready to commit while another is just starting to explore. These two components are likely to need different kinds of information given because they’re at different points in their consideration process.
The goal is to bring each component along until you can combine all of them together for a single proposal that offers them great commercial terms in exchange for a great deal.
Value Certainty: Proving the Case
Consider using some of these types of conversations after an initial demo to prove that you can deliver in the prospect’s context:
Case Study Presentation: Show how a similar company used your product successfully.
Application Presentation: Present preliminary ideas for how they would use your product and what it would accomplish specifically for them.
Application Demo: Do light configuration of your product so they see what it would look like in their situation. This isn’t a full implementation; it’s just enough customization so they can visualize what it would look like for them.
ROI Workshop: A joint meeting to develop a business case relevant to their specific setting.
Trial or Proof of Concept: This is a free chance to use the product to evaluate its effectiveness.
Trials are very powerful but they can also be a trap: It’s often easy to give someone a login but much harder to be sure they actually experience what’s special about your product. It’s hard to recover if your prospect has a bad experience with your product.
Only do trials when they’re set up to succeed. For complex products, this may mean waiting to do the trial until after you’ve shared a proposal. Setting a trial up well can take a lot of effort from both sides: You have to configure the product so it’s relevant to them and they have to invest the time and effort to learn a new platform.
Waiting until after a proposal ensures that both sides are motivated and allows you to configure the trial so that it lets the prospect evaluate the options you present in your proposal.
Building Consensus: Getting Everyone Onside
Complex deals require the cooperation of multiple stakeholders in the buyer’s organization.
The challenge is that there are many kinds of stakeholders. You need different types of support from each kind of stakeholder. Moreover, each kind of stakeholder cares about different things and likes to receive information in different ways.
It’s worth mapping out the stakeholders for important deals. Here’s an example:
Team Manager (i.e. Your Champion)
What You Need From Them: Active support. Your champion needs to help you navigate their organization and to make the case for the purchase during internal discussions.
What They Care About: Product solves their team's problem. They’re typically motivated to help because you can resolve a problem that their team feels intensely.
How to Engage Them: Presentations and demos. They care both about the value the product delivers (where presentations shine) and the practicalities of how to use it (where demos are effective).
Vice President
What You Need From Them: Active support. You typically need the VP in charge of the purchasing division to authorize budget for the purchase.
What They Care About: The product is the best use of resources. Executives’ core responsibility is allocating resources among competing initiatives. Your product needs to make the cut, not just be a good idea.
How to Engage Them: Ideally, you deliver a presentation to the VP because that’s the medium that best focuses on big picture value. If you can’t get direct access, have your champion speak to them using your Summary Slides as their talking points.
Users
What You Need From Them: Don't block the purchase. Users aren’t decision makers, but if they revolt in the face of a planned purchase, the prospect may decide to defer the decision.
What They Care About: Product is reasonably usable. Users care most about how the product will impact their daily work.
How to Engage Them: Demos. They want to see how it works. If a demo isn’t enough, you can offer a trial.
CFO
What You Need From Them: Approve the purchase. The CFO doesn’t have to drive the purchase forward, but they do have to sign off on it.
What They Care About: Financially responsible investment. The CFO isn’t there to second guess the VP’s business judgment about what their division needs, but they do need to see that the investment is responsible.
How to Engage Them: Presentations or a written business case.
The Scoping Payoff
Effective scoping grows deals, makes the case for a purchase, and gathers consensus. It takes a promising opportunity and turns it into an amazing result.
Proposals That Drive Decisions
Too many deals die at the proposal stage. Teams think the deal is moving forward after they share a proposal but in fact the prospect barely even engages with it.
Let’s do better. Great proposals drive deals forward because they’re part of a process that proves value.
Here’s how to make that happen:
The Problem: "Send and Hope"
Typical teams get a request for pricing, create a proposal containing a price, email it to prospects, and wait.
And wait. And wait.
Often, nothing happens. Why?
Because they missed the chance to use the proposal as a chance to persuade.
The Solution: A Proposal Process
Great proposals are part of a process for refining your value hypothesis and managing the evaluation to completion.
Here are some of the typical steps:
1. Brainstorming Call
Start by gathering information.
Chat with your champion to refine your Deal Themes: These take the general Problems you solve, Solutions you offer, and Impacts you deliver (which are your Product Themes) and customize them to fit this specific deal.
Come to the call with a draft of your Deal Themes, present them, and get the champion’s feedback.
You should also verify prospect interest in the purchase options you’ll be including in the proposal. You probably have several options in mind for how the prospect could buy; check to be sure that you’re on the right track.
2. Create a Proposal That Proves Value
Your proposal shouldn’t just share a price. Its goal is to connect the value you provide to specific purchase options and to show why that value merits a purchase.
The proposal is a tool both for you and your champion. You’ll present it to your champion and then your champion will present it to their colleagues.
In complex deals, you probably won’t get as much access as you’d like to the prospect’s decision team. Proving value is therefore as much about helping your champion make the case as it is about making the case yourself.
3. Live Proposal Call
Don't just email your proposal to the prospect. Present it live to your champion and as many other stakeholders as possible.
The call allows you to make your case, get feedback, answer questions, and plan the process for finalizing the decision.
Your goal is to end the proposal call having gotten agreement to a schedule for completing the evaluation.
4. Deal Planning Call
You should have another call with your champion within a few weeks of the live proposal call.
The goal of this call is to see where you stand with the evaluation plan. There may be new information to consider, additional resources that would be helpful, or changes that need to be made.
5. Plan for Multiple Negotiation Rounds
Your reward for an effective proposal is to have a negotiation about price!
Complex deals often involve multiple rounds of negotiation: first with the business unit, then with procurement, then with the CFO.
Plan for this by leaving appropriate room to negotiate while thinking through creative win-win trades that meet both sides' needs.
What Goes in the Proposal
Core Elements Every Proposal Should Contain
Value: Include an updated set of Summary Slides discussing the Problems you solve, Solutions you offer, and the Impacts you deliver.
Differentiation: This says specifically why competitors don't solve the prospect’s Problems as well as you do. Your prospect is almost certainly comparing you to the competition; be sure they do so accurately by directly discussing the competition.
Pricing: This covers the different purchase options you’re offering and what's included in each.
Not Included: Call it out if there are items you’ve discussed during the buying process that are not included. If you talked about a specific product module and they are not buying that module, list it in the "not included" section so that there's no confusion in the future about what they've purchased.
Decision Plan: This lays out the steps that will take you from this proposal to a final decision.
Optional Additional Elements
Purchase Options: If you have different pricing models (e.g. seat licenses vs. usage-based), describe each model and its pros and cons.
Timing Incentives: If faster decisions benefit you, consider offering incentives for speed.
Component Value: When prospects are making multiple sub-decisions, address the value of each component they're considering. This would apply if, for example, they’re considering purchasing your product for several different teams and each team will get something slightly different out of the product.
Functionality Overview: Include the overview deck as an appendix your champion can use it during internal discussions.
Implementation Steps: Outline the steps, timeline, participants, and resources needed for implementation.
The Bottom Line
Great proposals don't just communicate your offer. They advance the sales process by proving value, enabling your champion to sell on your behalf, and driving the evaluation forward in an organized way.
Rolling Up Complex Deals with Component Value
Don’t compromise your complex deal by oversimplifying the case for action. Your proposal needs to do more than make a good case for a purchase.
It needs to match the way the prospect is thinking through their choice.
Decision Components
Prospects evaluating a complex deal are sometimes making multiple decisions rather than just one.
Consider a prospect deciding whether to purchase your product for three different teams at their company. They’re making a decision with three components:
Should we buy for the finance team or not?
Should we buy for the operations team or not?
Should we buy for the sales team or not?
The prospect might decide to purchase for all teams, just two teams, only one team, or none. Each component represents a separate decision that together roll up to create the final deal.
You need to address each component's value rather than simply discussing the value of the product in general.
Two Approaches to Component Value
Approach 1: Address Components in Summary Slides
This is a good approach when the decision components are truly separate from each other. It involves building Summary Slides that address each component one by one instead of standard Summary Slides that address the company as a whole.
Here’s the difference:
Whole Company Summary Slides
First Slide: Problems for company overall
Second Slide: Solutions for company overall
Third Slide: Impacts for company overall
Multiple-Component Summary Slides
First Slide: Finance team Problems, Solutions, and Impacts
Second Slide: Operations team Problems, Solutions, and Impacts
Third Slide: Sales team Problems, Solutions, and Impacts
Prospects will go through the multiple-component Summary Slides making decisions on each component as they go: "Yeah, that makes sense for the finance team—check. That makes sense for the operations team—check. That makes sense for the sales team—check."
Approach 2: Address Components in Proposal Body
Use this when decision components are tightly linked to the overall company decision. This approach first proves value for the company in general and then specifies how that value applies to each decision component.
Here’s an outline:
Company Value: Summary Slides covering value to company in general
Differentiation: Compares your product to competitors
Component Value: Says what value is provided specifically to each component (e.g. to the finance, operations, and sales teams)
Pricing Options: Pricing options make it attractive to purchase for all decision components, such as by providing a volume discount
Not Included: Calls out anything that’s not included in the proposal but that might have been discussed during the sales process
Decision Plan: Lays out the steps that will take you from this proposal to a final decision.
Prospects will start the proposal seeing that the product generally makes sense for their company and then get confirmation that they should be purchasing it for all of the decision components.
The Payoff
When done right, proposals that address component value help the prospect think through the choice they’re actually making. Instead of oversimplifying the issues at play, component-value proposals walk the prospect through each piece of their decision so they can commit with confidence.
Pricing and Negotiation Strategy That Wins
Nothing raises stress levels quite so much as a critical negotiation.
Great negotiators cut through the uncertainty with clear strategies about where they are, where they want to go, and how that intersects with the other side's interests.
The Four Critical Questions
Don’t shoot from the hip when you’re coming up with your negotiating strategy. Instead, ask yourself four questions:
1. What is our goal?
Your goal specifies the deal terms you’ve gotta have in your favor and the ones you’re willing to be flexible on.
Here’s an example: "We want to secure a large deal by the end of the quarter. To make that happen, we can be flexible on the unit price."
2. How strong is our position?
The strength of your position shapes how flexible you need to be. Consider how well you've proven value and what alternatives the prospect has.
3. How many rounds remain in the negotiation?
Complex negotiations happen over multiple rounds with multiple parties. You might negotiate with a team manager, then with a procurement analyst, and finally with the CFO.
You could have several conversations with each of these parties.
Don’t give up all your flexibility in the first conversation if there are bound to be many more!
4. What pricing should we offer?
There’s no way to answer this question until you’ve considered the three before it. Consider what you want to offer in the next interaction and potential compromises you might accept.
Five Pro Moves
Here are five principles that apply throughout a negotiation process:
Look for Compatible Interests
You have compatible interests if you prioritize different things. You might prioritize getting a high volume while they prioritize getting a low unit price. That means there’s a win-win trade: High volume for a low unit price.
Identify Pricing Levers Before Making Concessions
Start by identifying what prospects could do to earn better pricing rather than immediately making specific offers. You might share that you’re able to offer a lower price in exchange for a higher volume and ask if that’s interesting to them. If it is, you can start talking about how much they’d have to buy to earn a specific discount.
Be Ready to Explain Your Position
Plan to explain why your offer is fair. This involves being able to say why what you’re asking for is consistent with their interests or at the very least why you don’t have flexibility on issues where you really can’t budge.
Understand Your Counterparty's Role
It’s worth being flexible and creative if the other side is flexible and creative as well: That’s the path to a win-win deal. But sometimes you’re not talking to a creative and flexible counterparty. In those cases, you’re just trying to get through them while giving up as little as you can.
In other words, you’ve got to adapt your approach to your counterparty. Here are some examples of how to do this:
Early conversation with a manager: Not empowered to make deals, just curious about pricing structure. Don't make bold offers, just provide information.
Junior procurement analyst: Just trying to get discounts. Don't waste time on creative ideas; get past them while giving up as little as possible.
CFO or department VP: Thoughtful businessperson who understands underlying interests. Perfect for creative win-win conversations.
Judge Power Dispassionately
You don’t have power just because you’re a great negotiator. A lot depends on the situation. Great negotiators evaluate how much power they really have and adapt their strategy accordingly.
Consider these factors to evaluate your power:
Value: How well have you proven your solution's value?
Differentiation: What would they do without your solution, and how well would that work?
Relationships: Who do you have relationships with, how powerful are they, where do you stand?
Constraints: What constraints is the buyer working under?
Reasonableness: How reasonable is your position compared to industry standards?
The Negotiation Strategy Spreadsheet
The negotiation strategy spreadsheet will help you get ready for your next negotiation. There are three primary sections:
Strategy Section
This guides you through the four key questions: (1) defining your goal, (2) assessing the strength of your position, (3) determining how many rounds remain, and (4) determining your approach.
Here’s an example:
Goal: Large deal by end of quarter, willing to offer good unit price
Position: Strong. They want us, we have deadline leverage
Rounds: Probably 2-3 more rounds with different stakeholders
Approach: Offer a volume discount with an even better price for signing before EOQ
Proposal Section
This helps you do the math for different proposal scenarios.
Here’s a set of scenarios that match our approach above:
Option 1: Signature by June 30th
Better pricing for fast signature
Even better pricing if they buy a large volume as well
Option 2: Signature after June 30th
Standard pricing
Better pricing if they buy a large volume
This adds up to: "If you can get a large deal done quickly, we can give you great pricing."
Negotiation Section
This is a place to predict what they might propose and plan your responses:
Here’s an example:
Their likely position: "You need to match the price of the commodity provider in this space."
Their justification: "Budgets are tight this year."
Our position: "We’re happy to offer a discount for a quick signature, but we can’t match the commodity provider’s price.”
Our justification: “Our value is different from the commodity provider. Here’s the business case we agreed with your business team.”
Our specific offer: “We can offer you an additional incentive for an end of quarter signature.”
The Negotiation Opportunity
The key to success is approaching negotiation as a strategic exercise rather than an emotional battle.
With the right preparation process, you can negotiate a deal that lets everyone walk away happy.
Managing the Closing Process
Are you biting your nails at the end of every quarter waiting for deals to come in? It's not enough for prospects to say yes.
You have to manage the closing process effectively to get deals across the finish line.
Building Internal Close Plans
Effective closing starts with an internal close plan that sketches out the steps needed to close the deal. This document isn’t shared with the prospect; its purpose is to make clear to your team what needs to happen when to get the deal in so you can plan the right sales activities.
Create these at the start of month two of the quarter for every substantial deal you’re targeting for that quarter.
There are three key components:
Work Backwards from Goal Close Date: Often the end of the quarter.
Map Out Required Steps: List everything that needs to happen: contract review, legal calls, security questionnaires, budget approvals, etc.
Build in Buffer Time: Add an extra week or two; something always takes longer than expected.
Creating Joint Close Plans with Champions
Next, co-create a joint close plan with your champion in the buyer’s organization. You want this to happen as soon as possible, but balance that against the fact that buyers may not be willing to commit to a meaningful close plan if it’s early in the deal and they’re not sure how much they want to prioritize evaluating your product.
That said, be sure you have a joint close plan in place no later than the time of the proposal.
Joint close plans have two main goals:
Avoid Surprises: Get all the action items on the table and ask how long each one takes. Don’t make assumptions: Contract signatures might take an hour at some companies but a week at others.
Operate Parallel Workflows: Work on all open projects simultaneously rather than sequentially.
The Danger: Staggered Workflows
Staggered workflows are what happens when you don’t have an effective close plan. Your deal gets delayed because you get surprised by additional action items that you could have started work on earlier had you known about them.
Here’s a common example:
Week 1: Share contract
Week 2: Trade redlines
Week 3: Legal call to resolve issues
Week 3 Surprise: Learn that you need to complete a security questionnaire
Week 4: Contract on hold you work on the security questionnaire
Week 4 Another Surprise: Turns out that you need an NDA before sharing the answers to the security questionnaire
Week 5: Security call to resolve issues. Contract still on hold
Week 6: Finally sign contract
Ouch. This rep had a two week delay because they didn’t spot the security review earlier.
The Goal: Parallel Workflows
When you have an effective close plan, you can work multiple action items at the same time to speed up your close:
When Proposal Delivered: Start planning with champion AND start work on NDA in anticipation of a security questionnaire
Week 1: Share contract AND start work on security questionnaire
Week 2: Work contract red lines AND have a call on the security questionnaire
Week 3: Legal call AND security approval
Week 4: Sign contract
Getting all tasks on the table results in a closed deal two weeks sooner.
Stress Testing "Yes" Responses
Sales reps often get fooled by prospects who say “yes” but aren’t really committed to a purchase. This can lead reps to prematurely forecast a deal and start “closing” when really they should be tightening up their case for value and getting a real “yes.”
Train your team to stress test any "yes" to determine if it's real. These are three key steps:
Verify Final Approval: Has the business decision-maker (the VP, not just the manager) given final approval?
Confirm Budget Allocation: Has the CFO actually allocated funds?
Clarify Configuration: Do you know exactly what they've said “yes” to? Sometimes prospects say “yes” because they like the idea of your product but they aren’t ready to purchase any specific configuration that you’ve offered.
Creating and Driving Urgency
Getting deals done on time becomes difficult when you get handed off to procurement because procurement has no incentive to complete the deal on your schedule.
You need to create urgency.
Here are four ways to add urgency to your deal:
Leverage Business Need: Refer back to the Problems they’re looking to solve and note that it’s costing them money every day the contract isn't signed.
Use Compelling Events: Look for events that require that the prospect complete the purchase by a specific date, such as announcing the partnership at a kickoff meeting or a product launch.
Activate Relationships: Ensure executive-level sponsors want this deal to happen. Keep them up to date on progress and feel free to either let your procurement contact know about the executive’s goal or ask the executive to check in.
Offer Incentives: Consider discounts tied to timing: "We're open to the discount you’re asking for, but we need this contract done by quarter end in exchange."
Managing Individual Action Items
Your team will be keeping the buyer on task for many action items. Be sure to follow these three steps to move them forward efficiently:
Set Target Dates: Never just send a request and hope the buyer gets it done. Always ask that the action item be completed by a specific date.
Tie to Urgency Drivers: Tie the target date to something the buyer cares about: "We need this back by June 1 to stay on track for your desired launch date."
Use Relationships Appropriately: Keep business stakeholders informed about progress. When appropriate, ask them to check in with procurement to maintain urgency.
Special Topics
Here are a few tips for handling complex deal closing items:
Use Your Contract Template: Using the buyer's contract won’t save time: It's not designed for your product and your team will just have to insert your contract into their template, which just creates delays for everyone.
Insist on Written Redlines: Don't accept general comments or questions. Your legal team can't guess what would work for the prospect: They need exact proposed language from the prospect.
Conduct Expert-to-Expert Calls: When written exchanges aren't working, have the experts talk directly. The salesperson should prepare your expert, open the call by defining the issues and reminding everyone of the urgency, and then let the experts resolve the issues.
The Organized Closing Advantage
Building an effective closing process helps your revenue machine run smoothly. Train your team to plan effectively, maintain urgency, and get ahead of issues and you’ll be thrilled by the results.
Persuasive Sales Writing: Winning When You're Not in the Room
Being a good talker isn't enough to win complex deals. Prospects usually make their decision during an internal conversation when you're not in the room. Your champion might meet with their VP and CFO to make the case for a purchase.
If you can't influence that conversation, you're leaving money on the table.
Why Sales Writing Matters More Than Ever
The key to unlocking better performance is persuasive sales writing. Here are three reasons why:
Your Writing Goes Where You Can't
You may not be present during that critical internal conversation but your writing can be. The decision makers can refer to your written materials and your champion can use them as talking points for the conversation.
Credibility Opens Doors
Writing well causes you to be included in more critical conversations. The buyer’s executives will see that your written materials are thoughtful and conclude that talking to you is a good use of their time.
Transferable Skills
Good writing skills are good persuasion skills. Learning to write well will teach you to speak and present well too.
Technology Amplifies Good Writers
AI makes it more important to write well, not less. LLMs do the hard work of researching and writing first drafts.
Excellent writers can give LLMs the right guidance to make strong first drafts and then use their editing skills to turn them into excellent work product.
AI multiplies a great writer’s productivity, letting them work on more deals, cover their deals more effectively, and spend more time in front of customers.
The Four-Part Framework for Persuasive Sales Writing
Great writing comes down to four critical steps:
Define Purpose and Issues: What do you want your audience to do or believe? What issues will they consider in evaluating your request?
Use a Matching Structure: Choose a structure that matches the issues they'll consider
Make Powerful Points: Address the issues they'll consider with well-supported points
Follow a Strong Writing Process: Start with a clear outline, write a first draft, then edit effectively
Defining Purpose and Issues
Start by defining your main point: What you want your audience to do or decide? Then define the issues: These are the questions your audience will ask themselves when evaluating your main point.
Example 1
Main Point:
Your prospect should bring their VP to a call.
Issues They'll Consider:
How would this help them?
How would it help the VP?
How would it help their company?
Example 2
Main Point:
Your prospect should approve budget for the purchase.
Issues they'll consider:
What are the product’s benefits?
What are the product’s costs?
Building a Matching Structure
Create a structure that proves your main point by addressing the issues the audience will consider.
Good structures often follow a pattern:
Include a warm-up: Affirm the relationship or give context (optional)
State a clear main point: Say exactly what you're asking them to do or believe
Give reasons: Address the issues on their mind
Specify next steps: Say exactly what they should do next if it’s not obvious (optional)
The structure of your writing should be clear to the reader. Use paragraph breaks to separate out sections in a short email. Use section headings if you have many points in each section.
Here are some examples of good structures:
Structure 1: Affirm-Ask-Benefit Framework
This is the single most common structure for mid-funnel sales emails. It’s designed to persuade prospects to take a next step that advances the sales process.
Affirm (i.e. Warm Up): I enjoyed meeting you
Ask (i.e. Main Point): Let’s meet for another call that includes your VP
Benefit (i.e. Reasons): This makes the best use of your time and lets the VP ask questions directly
Structure 2: Independent Reasons
This is a simple structure that’s designed to cover multiple issues. Each reason can stand on its own without the need for support from the other reasons.:
Main Point: You should make a purchase
Reason 1: Benefits are high
Reason 2: Costs are low
Next Step: Sign contract by September 30th
Structure 3: Linked Reasons
This is a powerful structure in which the reasons build on each other, gathering momentum as they go. It’s very persuasive but also takes more effort to execute well.
The P.S.I. flow is an example of a linked reasons structure. Problems lead to Solutions which lead to Impacts (P - S - I):
Main Point: You should make a purchase
Problem: You're behind on lead generation because outbound response rates are too low
Solution: We help you raise response rates with AI-driven customized outreach
Impact: This drives 25% more pipeline, helping you hit annual revenue targets
Next Step: Sign contract by end of quarter
Structure 4: Issue-by-Issue Comparison
This is useful when your prospect will consider multiple issues in making a decision. A great example is a competitive comparison: Prospects will often rate each vendor according to multiple criteria and then use those ratings to make their decision.
The issue by issue comparison is a great way to define the issues the prospect should consider and then say why you win on those issues. Often, the issues the prospect should consider are the same as the Problems your product solves:
Main point: Our product is better
Issue 1: We solve Problem 1 well; competitors don’t
Issue 2: We solve Problem 2 well; competitors don’t
Issue 3: We solve Problem 3 well; competitors don’t
Next Step: Sign contract by September 30th
Making Powerful Points
Points are conclusions that the reader cares about. Together, they support the main point by addressing the issues on the prospect’s mind.
Your most important points should be supported by reasons, examples, and applications:
Reasons: Say why the point is true; imagine using the word "because"
Examples: Cite a case where the point was true; imagine using the phrase "for example"
Applications: Apply the principle to the reader’s own situation; imagine using phrase "in your situation, that would mean"
This short paragraph has a clear point backed up by a reason, example, and application:
Our product will cut distribution costs (point) by shortening delivery times (reason). One comparable store chain saw distribution costs drop by 20% (example). In your case, that would mean savings of $1 million per year (application).
Following an Effective Writing Process
Effective writing begins with an outline, progresses to drafting, and concludes with editing.
Outlining
Sketch an outline before you start writing.
Great outlines do four things:
Define the main point: What do you want them to do or believe?
Identify the issues the reader will consider in evaluating the main point
Use a structure that matches those issues. Separate sections with paragraphs or headings.
Specify points that address the issues the reader will consider
Drafting
First drafts are always too long. That’s OK: Focus on making a clear main point and on providing strong support for your most important points.
Editing
Next, follow a clear editing process by focusing on these five things:
Make the main point obvious: Don’t bury it in the middle of a paragraph; consider putting it in its own paragraph so it stands out.
Break up long paragraphs: Separate points belong in separate paragraphs so they’re easier to digest. If you have many points, break them up using section headings.
Be direct and specific: Bad: “We’re the premier solution!” Good: “We got the highest ratings from Gartner for lifetime value."
Cut out fluff: Don’t say this: “It was wonderful to see you! It was so much fun. Wasn't it great? That was just the best!"
Check tone: Clear writing can sound a little harsh; add back a little fluff if you find that what you’ve written seems harsh.
Making Writing Work
Good sales writing is about being clear, persuasive, and helpful. It makes sure that you can influence every important conversation, even the ones where you’re not in the room.
Forecasting: More Accuracy, Less Friction
Let's stop the forecasting madness by squashing common forecasting mistakes that create friction and reduce accuracy.
Why Forecasting Mistakes Matter
Here's the typical broken process:
Sales reps input their forecasts
Managers see obvious mistakes
Managers request updates (often late Friday or over the weekend)
Updates get delayed
Managers get complete inputs late in the process
Forecast accuracy suffers
Everyone hates this. Managers hate being under the gun. Sales reps hate rushing additional inputs. The company is hurt by reduced forecast accuracy.
Here’s the thing: Most obvious forecasting mistakes fall into a few categories. If we can squash those mistakes, we can get better forecasts and get back to selling.
Deal Forecast Categories
Sales reps typically are required to forecast the odds that each specific deal comes in in a given quarter. Here’s a typical set of deal forecast category definitions:
Pipeline: Default category unless there's a good reason to use another forecast category. Early stage, uncertain, or less than 30% likely to close this quarter.
Upside: Solid deal that’s moving forward, 30%+ likely to close this quarter. This usually means you've delivered a proposal, the prospect is engaged, and there's enough time to complete the deal.
Commit: 80%+ chance that the deal closes this quarter. This usually means you've been selected as the vendor of choice. You might still be working on the commercial terms or the contract, but enough time remains to complete the deal by the end of the quarter.
Common Mistake 1: Deal forecast category doesn't reflect timing
Example: Rep has a deal that's 80% likely to close. There are two weeks left in the quarter and they haven't started contracting. It’s unclear when it will be signed.
Rep puts it in "commit."
This is wrong. It may be 80% likely to close eventually, but it’s not 80% likely to close this quarter. There's not enough time unless the process moves unusually quickly.
The Benchmark Deal
The way to help reps forecast timing is to create a benchmark deal. The benchmark deal charts how long a deal normally takes to close after hitting certain milestones.
Sales reps can estimate their deal’s timing by looking at what milestone it’s at and comparing it to the benchmark deal.
Reps should predict timing using the benchmark deal unless there’s a specific reason to do otherwise.
Example Benchmark Deal:
Day 1: Deliver proposal
Day 14: Prospect makes final vendor selection
Day 42: Signature (assuming selection)
Total: 6 weeks from proposal to signature
Common Mistake 2: Forecasting deals to close faster than benchmark without explanation
Example: There are three weeks left in the quarter, the rep just delivered the proposal, and there’s no committed next step.
The rep forecasts the deal for this quarter but can't explain why it will move faster than the benchmark.
This is wrong: It’s OK to have a forecast that’s different from the benchmark deal but the rep has to be able to explain why. For example, it would be fair to forecast a faster than normal close if the buyer has a history of quick contract turnarounds.
Amount Forecast Categories
Reps are also called upon to forecast an amount for each quarter. Most companies ask for two forecasts: an upside forecast and a commit forecast. These often have definitions like this:
Upside Forecast: Amount you'll close if things break your way (40%+ chance of hitting this number).
Commit Forecast: Amount you're highly confident about (80%+ chance of hitting at least this amount).
There are two key principles that sometimes trip reps up: (1) Upside includes commit and (2) forecast amount is potentially different from any specific deals.
Common Mistake 3: Upside doesn't include commit.
Example: Rep has one $100K deal in upside and one $100K deal in commit. Rep forecasts $100K upside and $100K commit.
Wrong! Upside should be $200K. If things go well, they'll close both deals for $200k. Their upside forecast should include their commit forecast as well as any additional revenue they think falls into upside.
Common Mistake 4: Zero Commit Despite Lots of Upside
Example: Rep has ten good upside deals ($100K each) but no individual deals quite reaches commit. The rep forecasts a $0 commit because no specific deals are in commit.
Wrong!
With ten solid upside deals, there's an extremely high chance that at least one will close.
The commit should be at least $100K. There's room for debate about exactly what it should be, but zero is not right.
Building the Habit
Make these concepts part of your regular sales vocabulary:
Always include timing in deal forecasts
Use the benchmark deals to estimate deal timing
Remember that upside includes commit
Understand that forecast amounts and individual deal forecasts could be different
When teams internalize these concepts, forecasting becomes a valuable strategic exercise rather than a frustrating administrative burden.