Sales Fundamentals

Too many promising companies never realize their potential because they never figure out how to prove their product’s value. Founders give demos that don’t progress to next steps. Companies hire sales reps who don’t sell anything.

Most companies think their sales challenges are caused by insufficient activity: "Send more followups, go visit more customers, and follow the process we've given you and all will be well."

But the truth is that most sales teams are working hard. The issue is that what they're doing isn't working.

The real problem is a failure of persuasion. The prospect saw your demo. They got your followup email. They just don't care.

What's going wrong? Most startups are product-focused. They're proud of what the product does. That's fair (you'd better be proud of your product!), but it becomes a problem when your sales reps just show prospects what the product does and hope they buy it.

Prospects don't care what your product does, they care about the value it delivers. I'm sure you've told your sales team to "talk about value," but that isn't going to change anything unless you give them a practical approach they can use.

That's what this article is all about. We'll discuss how to define your main value-messages, ensure that your conversations focus on those messages, and tailor them to each prospect you sell to.

After that, we'll share concrete ways to use these messages to build each of the major sales conversations you need. You’ll also see how to keep the process moving forward by always offering the prospect a specific and worthwhile next step.

The core idea of this article is that sales persuasion requires defining the prospect’s problems, showing you can solve them, and identifying the business impacts you’ll deliver. These three kinds of messages are connected: Problems lead to Solutions which lead to Impacts (P - S - I, hence P.S.I. Selling). 

This article serves as an introduction to some of P.S.I. Selling's key principles. You'll also see links throughout it to resources that will share more about the concepts we're covering.

Learning to deploy these principles across your sales process unlocks your company’s potential: Higher close rates, bigger deals, and more revenue.

Defining Value Themes

To understand the challenge better, imagine that you sat in on a typical software demo. What would you see?

The sales rep would start by signing into the product. Then they'd show the prospect one workflow. Then another. Then one more after that. Then they'd click through some administrative features and dashboards and... that would be it.

The prospect would be friendly, ask a few questions, and then never talk to the sales rep again.

It might seem like the problem is obvious: The sales rep is selling features rather than value.

Here’s what’s interesting: The sales rep knows they’re supposed to sell value. But they’re still not doing it.

Why? The core reason is that their company hasn't found a way to define its value-messages in a way they can use on a real sales call.

Solutions That Don’t Work

Most companies would protest that they absolutely have tried to give their sales team the tools they need. And indeed, they have tried. But most of the ways that companies try to help their sales teams are either flawed or incomplete.

One approach is to use a sales methodology like MEDDICC. The trouble is that many of these methodologies are really about deal qualification. They give a manager a checklist of things to look for to confirm that the deal is real. This is useful... but it's not the same thing as giving your sales team a framework for having effective conversations.

Another approach is to have the marketing team create sales assets for reps to use. These are typically exquisitely designed and thoughtfully produced. But they usually can’t be customized to a specific prospect because the sales team doesn’t have access to the right design software. 

That becomes a problem as the deal progresses. The rep learns more about the prospect, discovering that some of your messages apply in unique ways and others don't apply at all. Your sales assets are about 70% on point for this prospect... which makes them 0% useful. Prospects don’t want to spend their time reviewing collateral that’s partly irrelevant or talking to sales reps who seem to be discussing some generic customer rather than them.

A third approach is to use marketing messaging frameworks to define the product's overall positioning. These frameworks are useful at a strategic level but they're too complicated to guide a live sales call. A framework might have 20+ boxes for different types of messages and arrows everywhere showing the relationship between them:

If a sales rep tried to use these concepts on a call, they'd confuse themselves and the prospective customer.

Add it all up and here’s where we are: Despite our best efforts, we don’t give sales reps tools they can actually use to prove value. Reps respond by doing what comes naturally: They show prospects the product, ask them if they want to buy it, and cross their fingers. 

Let’s do better.

Persuasive (and Usable) Messaging

The first step is to define our value-messages in a way that matters to our prospects. Good sales messaging makes a strong case for value rather than just saying what the product does.

It’s built around Themes, not features. Themes mirror the prospect's consideration process by addressing the issues that they care about in the order that they consider them in the course of making a decision.

Three kinds of Themes are critical:

Problems show the need for action. Without a Problem, the prospect doesn't care about your product. Problems therefore define a clear need and show its magnitude to prove that it's urgent to address. Problems also shape the search for a Solution: Prospects look for something that matches their understanding of their Problems. Good Problems therefore share an insight about the Problem that leads prospects to look for a Solution like yours. 

Solutions explain how the product resolves Problems. Solutions involve your product's features, but they organize those features into buckets that the prospect cares about because they're tied to addressing Problems. Solutions also show how your product is different from alternatives, such as the prospect’s status quo and competitors.

Impacts identify the types of business value you create, say how you create it, and estimate its magnitude. Impacts close deals, but they're only persuasive if they're set up by a Problem and made credible by a clearly demonstrated Solution.

The best Themes relate to issues the prospect is already thinking about. A Problem might address a challenge the prospect is aware of but add extra urgency showing its unexpected consequences and include an interpretation of the Problem that leads to your product. 

Effective Themes build on each other. Problems set up Solutions which set up Impacts. Create three Themes of each type (for a total of nine) to cover all major aspects of your product without overcomplicating your messaging:

Now we have to make sure that these Themes appear in real sales conversations. Clever messaging doesn't make any difference if it just sits in a positioning doc!

Our most important tool for bringing our messaging into sales conversations is Summary Slides. The idea couldn’t be simpler: Create an editable sequence of three slides, one for Problems, one for Solutions, and one for Impacts.

Sales reps lead off most calls by presenting the Summary Slides. With these Themes fresh in everyone’s mind, it’s natural for the sales rep to tie the rest of the discussion back to them.

This transforms calls. Instead of being a blizzard of features, your demo is now an organized discussion of how you resolve the prospect’s Problems and drive business Impact:

Tailoring Themes to the Prospect

So now you have good messaging and it shows up in real sales calls.

The next step is to customize those messages so they apply to the specific prospect you're talking to. Prospects are different and they care about different things. You're more likely to motivate a prospect to buy if you speak directly to them.

The first step is to understand the prospect better by using Summary Slides as a foundation for discovery. Reps present each point on the slides and ask the prospect to confirm if it’s on target. If it is, they ask the prospect more questions about it and focus on it during the rest of the conversation. If the point isn't on target, they steer away from it during the call.

Discovery can be hard because prospects may have limited patience. They only want to answer so many questions before seeing what you have to present.

When you have to prioritize, prioritize Problem discovery. If the prospect doesn’t have the Problems you solve, you shouldn’t sell to them at all. If they do, you need to understand them so you can build the rest of the sales process around addressing their Problems.

The second step is to make sure you use the information you gain in discovery to shape the rest of the sales process. It would be a waste otherwise!

Once again, Summary Slides are your most important tool and, once again, the idea couldn't be simpler. Reps should update their Summary Slides after every call.

That makes the second call more tailored than the first. The rep leads off the second call by presenting the customized Summary Slides and naturally focuses the conversation on the customized Themes they've just presented. After the second call, they update the slides again, ensuring that the third call will be even more customized than the second.

The Summary Slides get more and more customized until they become an unbeatable overview of your product’s value for that specific deal:

The third step is to use the Summary Slides to influence the prospect’s internal deliberations. Many important conversations about the deal happen when you’re not there. Take the budget approval meeting, for instance. Your champion will meet with their VP and their CFO to make the request. You'll be waiting patiently (or impatiently!) for an update after the meeting.

But just because you're not part of the conversation doesn't mean you can't influence it. Once again, the idea couldn't be simpler: coach your champion to use the Summary Slides as a set of talking points for those internal discussions. 

Overview Presentations

Up to this point, we've talked about defining and using messaging in general. Now let's look at how these ideas apply to specific kinds of sales conversations.

We'll start (shockingly!) at the beginning. There are usually three things you're trying to do at the beginning of the sales process:

1. Qualify the prospect: If the prospect isn't a good fit for your product, you want to end the process right away before you waste more time.

2. Build the prospect's interest: If the prospect is a good fit, you want to motivate them to participate in the evaluation.

3. Set the agenda for future calls: You need to decide what future calls should cover and who should participate.

Notice what isn't on this list. We're not trying to close the deal right away. We're also not trying to cover every detail of our product.

Why? If you have a complex product (and this article will assume that you do), there's no way to cover everything at the beginning of the process. Proof of value happens in stages.

Slide-based overview presentations are be a good way to accomplish your goals at the beginning of the sales process. Slides keep the conversation at a high level, helping you share enough information to see what's worth discussing further without getting bogged down in details that properly come later in the process. (If you have a simple product, you might skip the presentation and start with a software demo.)

Good overview presentations follow the Problem - Solution - Impact structure. Problems set up Solutions which set up Impacts which persuade the prospect to agree to next steps that advance the evaluation. Good sales reps use the slides to facilitate a discussion about each of the major value Themes by asking appropriate questions during each section:

After completing the overview presentation, you’ll know what to focus on when you do your software demo and you’ll have good reasons to ask additional members of the prospect’s team to attend.

Software Demos

As the sales process advances, it's time to offer more detailed proof that you can help. You're ready to do that because you understand the prospect better and both sides are willing to invest additional time because they see promise in the evaluation.

The second step in a sales process is usually a software demo. Effective software demos show that your product solves the prospect’s Problems rather than showing all of functions it performs. This limits their scope: There is a lot that your demo is not going to cover. And it shapes their structure.

Structure is critical: Without an effective structure, demos naturally become a blur of one feature after another.

A good structure starts with presenting the revised Summary Slides. This allows you to check and refresh your discovery. It also reminds everyone exactly what Problems you're going to focus on.

The body of the demo is built around the major elements of your Solution. Each element of your Solution is a set of features that combine to address one or more of the prospect's Problems.

Each Solution section should put that part of your product in the context of the Problems it solves and the Impacts it delivers:

The talk track within each Solution section looks like this:

• 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….”

By the end of the demo, the prospect should feel that there's a good chance that your product can help them.

After the Demo

For most products, however, there's more work to do before the prospect is ready to buy. You typically need to do some of the following things:

1. Keep the prospect engaged by offering something of value to them

2. Continue the process of proving value as it applies in their context

3. Get consensus for the deal by engaging with all the relevant stakeholders

4. Grow the deal by exploring other use cases, user audiences, and product modules

Sales reps often kill their deals by proposing bad next steps after a demo. Sometimes, they overreach by asking for more than the prospect is ready to do, like jumping immediately to a time-consuming trial or reviewing a detailed proposal. Sometimes, they propose next steps that prospects think are pointless, like a "check in call" with no specific agenda.

Here are three ideas for post-demo calls add value without demanding too much:

• Application Demo: Do a customized demo that’s focused on their situation and use cases

• Application Presentation: Present ideas for exactly how they’d use your product and what the outcomes would be 

• Case Study Presentation: Show how a similar company successfully used your product

If you're trying to grow the deal beyond the scope you discussed early in the process, you might do separate post-demo calls for each use case, user audience, or product module that you want to sell. 

As you progress past the demo, you're likely to engage with multiple types of stakeholders who have different interests. You need to tailor your calls to address your specific audience. You should also bear in mind that you need different things from different types of stakeholders.

Here are some examples:

• Team Manager: You need their active support to drive the deal forward. They want to see that your product helps their team do its job, meaning both that it solves business problems and that it’s easy to use on a day to day basis. 

• Vice President: You need their active support to get budget approved. They’re focused on whether the product solves business problems and is a good use of resources, but they care less about day to day usability. 

• Users: You need to be sure they don’t block the purchase. They care most about your product’s day to day usability. They care less about big picture business value.

• IT: You need to be sure they don’t block the purchase. They primarily want to be sure your product doesn’t create risks or lead to technical problems. They care only a little about its business value.

Use the right medium for each audience. Stakeholders that focus on business outcomes tend to prefer presentations and written business cases. Stakeholders that care about usability tend to prefer demos and trials.

Many sales processes involve a free trial. Trials can close a deal or they can kill it. Keep the following points in mind to run an effective trial:

• Trials need to lead to a decision. Both sides have to put in a lot of effort to do a good trial. It’s not worth anyone’s time to do the trial now if the prospect is still far from a decision and the trial won’t go well if you try to force it to happen sooner than it should.

• Trials need clear success criteria and a clear scope. That means you should be synched up on what the prospect needs from the product and agree on what will and won’t be covered in the trial.

• Trials need to be organized. Have a kickoff call with the participants, a mid-course check in, and a post trial debrief or survey. Don’t just give them a login and hope for the best. 

Proposals

As you near a decision, you need to finalize your case for value, share specific commercial options, and manage the process to a conclusion.

Sales reps often get this wrong. They frequently try to wrap up their deals by sharing a price and a pile of generic marketing collateral. When prospects get a "proposal" like that, they ignore it.

Effective proposals are part of a process. These are some of the key steps:

• Brainstorming Call With Champion: Chat with your champion to refine your value Themes and discuss their purchase process

• Proposal That Proves Value: Craft a proposal that advocates for a purchase and includes a plan for completing the evaluation

• Live Proposal Call: Present the proposal to as many stakeholders live as you can

• Champion Sells Internally: Your champion uses the proposal to make the case for a purchase with the stakeholders you weren’t able to talk to live

• Deal Planning Call: Review where you are on the evaluation plan and make any needed adjustments 

The proposal itself typically has elements like these:

• Value: Include an updated set of Summary Slides

• Differentiation: Say why competitors don’t solve the prospect’s Problems as well as you do

• Pricing: Cover the purchase options you’re offering and say what's included in each

• Not Included: Call out any items you’ve discussed during the buying process that are not included

• Decision Plan: Lay out the steps that will take you from this proposal to a final decision

  
  

Negotiate and Close

Prospects often try to negotiate the price, particularly if you have an expensive product. Effective negotiations are built on a sales process that's created a clear perception of value and uncovered useful information about the prospect's situation. It's hard to get good negotiation results if the prospect doesn't want your product very much and you don't understand them very well.

Negotiation conversations take many forms. You might have several over the course of a single deal, each with different stakeholders. Customize your approach to the stakeholder and the situation. Here are some examples:

• Early conversation with a manager: Curious about pricing structure, not empowered to make deals. Don’t make bold offers, just provide general information.

• Procurement analyst: Just trying to get discounts. Don’t waste time on creative ideas; get past them while giving up as little as possible.

• Vice President: Open to creative, win-win negotiations. They understand the underlying business interests and can make a deal.

Good negotiators adapt their strategy to the context of the deal. Here are four questions to consider before each interaction:

1. What is our goal? Your goal specifies the deal terms you’ve got to have in your favor and the ones you’re willing to be flexible on as part of a trade to get what you really want. 

2. How strong is our position? Consider how well you’ve proven value, what alternatives the prospect has, and how each stakeholder on the buyer’s side feels about your product.

3. How many rounds remain in the negotiation? Don’t give procurement all the concessions you can offer if you think you’ll have to negotiate the deal again with the CFO.

4. What pricing should we offer? Consider what you want to offer in the next interaction, potential compromises you might accept, and how to set yourself up for any future interactions.

Once you have agreement on the business terms, you need to project manage the deal to signature. This can be a complex process involving specialized tasks like legal negotiation and security reviews. You may need to work with staff on the buyer’s side who don’t care that much about when the contract gets signed.

Effective project management is therefore a combination of being organized and keeping the prospect motivated. Here are some good steps to take:

• Create a joint close plan with your champion. The goal is to get all the action items on the table and work on them simultaneously where possible instead of one after the other.

• Set target dates for every action item. Don’t just request something and hope it gets done.

• Drive urgency by linking back to the prospect’s business needs, calling in relationships with senior stakeholders who want the contract completed, and potentially offering discounts for speed. 

• Get the experts to communicate directly. Insist that their legal team share written redlines rather than general comments or questions. Use expert-to-expert calls if written exchanges aren’t working, such as having your security team talk to their security team. 

  
  

Conclusion

Building a sales process that proves value unlocks your company’s potential. It makes prospects want to talk to your sales team and gives them the tools to close deals that will power your company’s growth. You can find additional free resources for mastering the principles you’ve just read about on our content page.

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Want to train your team to use the methods you've seen here? Check out our free series of sales training videos.

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For more about the author, check out Mike's bio.