Why clearly communicating customer-centric value beats features in B2B SaaS—and how I learned this the hard way.
Why I Decided to Write About This
Over the years, as an enterprise seller—and later leading commercial teams—I’ve watched promising SaaS deals stall, not because the products weren’t great, but because customers never fully understood their value. The pain resurfaced a few weeks ago when a former team member pitched me an MBA side project: eagerly outlining features yet never answering: “What problem does this solve, and why should anyone care?”
I’ve been there. In the early 2000s—before ‘SaaS’ was even a term—I sold internet-connected software and pitched features, not outcomes. I lost promising deals and couldn’t understand why, even after great meetings, those deals went nowhere. It took years of trial and error, plus frameworks such as Challenger and MEDDICC, to finally grasp value-based selling. This is why I’m writing this article—so young sellers can skip those painful pitches, and buyers can enjoy far more meaningful conversations.
The Silent Disconnect: What Exactly Is the Value Communication Gap?
Picture this: you launch a no-code platform that lets non-technical ops teams deploy digital SOPs to frontline phones—no IT tickets required. The demo is a hit, execs call it a game-changer, but weeks later, the deal dies in CRM purgatory.
You’ve hit VCG-B2B-SaaS—the Value Communication Gap in B2B Software as a Service sales. I know it’s a mouthful (my kids already think I’m crazy when I talk about this stuff 🙂), but the idea is simple: during the sales cycle, the buyer never connects your product to outcomes that matter to them.
Research backs it up:
- 77% of B2B buyers called their last purchase “very complex or difficult.”¹
- 40–60% of qualified deals end in no decision.²
No clear value → No urgency → No deal.
Why Does This Gap Exist? (Inside-Out vs. Outside-In)
SaaS teams live their features, and may casually claim: “We boost productivity by 20%!”—but a seasoned ops leader thinks, “Prove it.” Sellers assume buyers will translate specs into outcomes. Spoiler: they won’t.
If you’ve spent as much time in B2B SaaS as I have, you’ve probably heard the famous quote of a Fortune 500 CIO bluntly telling a vendor:
“I understand what your product does. I don’t understand what it does for me.”
Ouch! If an executive has to spell that out, you should probably close-lost and regroup.
A Long Time Ago in a Galaxy Called Dell: Outcomes Over Features
Earlier in my career, when I was at Dell, I was challenged with the task of introducing enterprise hardware sales for distribution in the region I managed. Hardware sales and SaaS may seem different, but the challenge of clearly communicating value remains the same.
Our consumer-PC team loved specs—CPU speeds, RAM, hard drive sizes—but lost deals to “inferior” competitor products because our team skipped discussing business impact. Top Dell sellers in mature markets did the opposite, always focused on outcomes:
- Virtualization: “Run more apps on fewer servers—slash power, cooling, and rack-space costs.”
- Storage: “When hardware fails—and it will—ops stay live, protecting revenue and reputation.”
- Support: “If systems crash at peak, every minute is thousands lost. Quick on-site help prevents that.”
Outcome-first messaging flipped indecision into action, and the same lesson still applies in SaaS.
Reframing a SaaS Startup: From Safety App to Strategic Platform
Years later, I joined a startup building AI tools for field teams. Initially, the product was marketed narrowly as a safety app; one infrastructure client dabbled with no commitment. We dug into their data and uncovered concrete wins: fewer safety incidents, reduced utility strikes, less rework, and fewer regulatory fines—each tied to real money.
We re-pitched the platform as a field productivity platform, quantified the ROI, and secured a multi-year enterprise deal. Features hadn’t changed—value communication had.
The High Cost of Miscommunicating Value
- No-Decision Deals: 40–60% of opportunities stall² and 77% of buyers say the process is “very difficult.”¹ → longer cycles, shaky forecasts.
- Price Wars & Discounting: Forrester’s Value Gap study links unclear outcomes to heavy discounts³; McKinsey shows every 1% more discount cuts up to 9% of profit⁴ → rapid margin erosion.
- Wasted Seller Time: 2.5 M sales calls show buyers consume rep time yet never buy²; only 20% of sellers meet exec expectations⁵ → sky-high CAC, low productivity.
- Commoditized Positioning: Sales experience drives 53% of B2B loyalty—more than product or price⁶. → lose to the cheapest alternative if your value isn’t crystal clear.
Solving the Gap: A Company-Wide Effort
- Product & Engineering – deliver outcome data (time saved, cost avoided).
- Marketing – speak the customer’s language; “4-week rollout vs. 6 months” beats “easy drag-and-drop.”
- Sales – tailor value to each stakeholder: CFO = financial impact; Ops lead = safety & efficiency.
- Customer Success – prove promised outcomes post-sale.
- Leadership – align comp and culture around customer impact, not just bookings.
When every team speaks value, pitches become problem-solving sessions, and skeptics become champions.
Your Turn
Have you lost—or won—deals due to this silent disconnect? Share your story below so we can all sharpen our game.
What’s Next
If this article resonates, I’ll dive deeper into discovery, champion-building, and aligning teams on value. Let me know what you’d like to explore next!
Sources
- Gartner (2023) – B2B Buying Journey Insights — https://www.gartner.com/en/sales/insights/b2b-buying-journey
- Harvard Business Review (2022) – Stop Losing Sales to Customer Indecision — https://hbr.org/2022/06/stop-losing-sales-to-customer-indecision
- Mediafly / Forrester (2023) – The Value Gap Report — https://www.mediafly.com/resource/value-gap-report/
- McKinsey & Company (2021) – Pricing: The Forgotten Lever — https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/growth-marketing-and-sales/our-insights/pricing-the-forgotten-lever-for-rapid-profit-enhancement
- Forrester (2022) – Executive Buyer Insight — https://www.forrester.com/blogs/only-20-of-sellers-exceed-executive-expectations/
- Challenger (2020) – B2B Loyalty Study — https://challengerinc.com/blog/b2b-loyalty-study
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