Selling “What’s in it for Me”

Of late I've found myself thinking more and more about the business development and sales cycle and how we drive success. This morning I read a post from @Kevin Dass that made me consider this further. Here's some of what he had to say. I'll riff on it further below.

🚨 Hot take: Your pipeline isn’t too small.  It’s too bloated with deals that were never real in the first place.

Here’s what most people get wrong in sales: They think more leads = more revenue. In reality, more clarity = more revenue.

A key phrase I took away from Kevin's post:  “Good convos,” but no timeline, no urgency, no budget.

Lately I’ve been in several conversations where the “so why do I care” question has come up repeatedly. Ensuring the customer understands why your ideas matter…specifically, “what’s in it for me” (WIIFM) is fundamental to successful business development and sales, particularly in complex technology domains like IT strategy, enterprise architecture, and cybersecurity.

I’ve written before about the difference between a use case and a value case (https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/shifting-from-use-case-value-solution-development-ken-camp-ziebc?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_ios&utm_campaign=share_via). It’s easy to build a use case. It’s more challenging to build one that delivers value to the customer. A use case without value is a useless case.

Why Customer Understanding Is Critical

Informed Decision-Making & Stakeholder Alignment

Customers, especially enterprise and government clients, face complex decisions involving multiple stakeholders with competing priorities. Making “what’s in it for me” explicit. It clarifies the value and articulates how your solution impacts their bottom line, mission readiness, risk posture, or regulatory compliance. It also assure that your interests are aligned by mapping technical benefits to business outcomes stakeholders care about, enhancing buy-in and upstream executive sponsorship.

Shortening Sales Cycles & Reducing No-Decision Risks

When customers grasp the business/mission impact friction is reduced giving your internal champions clear messaging to justify investments and counter objections. This reduces indecision and loss to “do nothing,” a major obstacle in enterprise deals. Analysis paralysis kills many a potential deal.

Differentiation in Crowded Markets

In spaces like networking, SD-WAN, or cloud, where technical parity is common, the perceived business impact is often the deciding factor. This is how we move to value beyond a feature checklist. Demonstrating tangible value (cost savings, risk reduction, operational agility) sets us apart from vendors pitching raw features or specs.

Building a Qualified Opportunity Funnel

The business development funnel is viable only when populated with prospects who see concrete relevance…value. If prospects don’t see “what’s in it for me,” they may enter the top of funnel but won’t progress, wasting resources. To drive progress we must deliver value-centric messaging that accelerates movement from awareness to consideration and on to decision.

Business value must translate to mission effectiveness, compliance, or operational agility.

Some Common Sense Recommendations

·      Anchor Messaging in Business Outcomes: For every technical benefit, explicitly connect to ROI, risk mitigation, or mission impact.

·      Use Value Narratives: Case studies and metrics tied to customer-relevant KPIs resonate with senior decision-makers.

·      Sales Enablement: Equip teams with frameworks to rapidly tailor “what’s in it for me” for different industries or government agencies.

·      Funnel Discipline: Qualify leads on demonstrated understanding of value—not just technical fit—to focus resources on winnable deals.

Shaping communications around customer-centric value is not just a sales tactic—it’s a strategic imperative that ensures efficient spend on business development, predictable pipeline progression, and sustained reputation as a consultative partner rather than a commodity vendor.

Helping customers understand “what’s in it for me” is the linchpin that ties together technical innovation, value creation, and robust opportunity development—directly impacting win rates, customer satisfaction, and long-term business growth.