What If Your Product Isn’t the Point?

“You Had Me at ROI...Then Lost Me in the Multitude of Data Sheets.” B2B buyers need your story, not your specs.

The Feature-First Trap

A familiar refrain from sales: “Can marketing make a one-pager for this new feature?” Then two weeks later, another one. Then a slightly updated version. Then a sheet for just the enterprise use case. Then a sheet with the new roadmap bullet. In Agile organizations, it feels like every sprint delivers a new feature and, of course, every feature demands a new asset.

Before long, you’ve got a Dropbox/Sharepoint/Drive graveyard of data sheet PDFs that sales might never use (or can’t seem to find) and buyers definitely aren’t reading. 

And in the meantime, the main story - the why it matters, who it's for, and what problem it solves - gets buried under layers (and layers) of product detail.

And the reality is - it’s not helping you close deals. 

Your buyer doesn’t care.

Not yet, anyway.

It’s a lot like job hunting. You can have vision, leadership, and real strategic impact, but if a recruiter’s just scanning your resume for 47 bullet points and a specific tech stack, they’ll miss the real story of who you are and what you’re capable of in that role. 

That’s exactly what most tech sellers are doing to their buyers. We’re handing them lists when what they really need is a reason to care.

They’re trying to solve a problem, or avoid a threat, or hit a target they’re on the hook for. And most of the time, your product specs aren’t telling the story of how it actually helps them win.

I get it, leading with features is comforting. It’s measurable. It feels like selling. Particularly if selling to emotion isn’t comfortable for you or you aren’t a natural born storyteller. But it’s one of the biggest mistakes B2B companies make when trying to drive growth.

Modern B2B Buying Is Slow, Risky, and Crowded

Today’s B2B buyer isn’t skimming your website and requesting a demo the next day (this is speaking from extensive personal experience!)

They’re navigating one of the most complex buying environments we’ve ever seen (so far):

• The average B2B buying cycle now spans 11.5 months (6sense). For multi-national purchases, it stretches to 16 months

• 87% of tech buyers say they’re only buying mission-critical tools (Trust Radius)

• And 86% of deals stall mid-cycle, often due to internal misalignment or lack of urgency. (Forrester)

It doesn’t stop there:

• 72% of buying teams now bring in external consultants or analysts to guide their decisions (6sense)

• This leads to bigger buying groups (on average 13 people) (Corporate Visions)

So, are your feature lists convincing 13 decision-makers, each with their own different priorities? Not likely.

In this environment, features alone don’t close deals. Stories do. Buyers need to see themselves in your solution. They need to understand what makes your technology or solution  essential to their needs - what makes you different. That starts with positioning, not product.

Tell a Better Story (No, Not That One)

Let’s be clear: saying “Our platform helps your team collaborate more efficiently with an AI-powered backend” is not a story. That’s just a slightly disguised feature statement.

A real story starts with your buyer’s world, not your product. It speaks to:

• The pressure they’re under

• The roadblocks in their way

• The cost of doing nothing

• And how their life looks different after working with you

It’s structured like this:

1. Here’s what you’re likely struggling with

2. Here’s why that’s happening (and why it’s risky to ignore)

3. Here’s how we solve that, not just with features, but with outcomes that matter

4. Here’s what success looks like for you either as an individual or as a collective organization, not just for our platform

Your product plays a role in that narrative. But your buyer? They’re the lead character!

If your messaging doesn’t make them feel seen, understood, and equipped to win, then it’s not a story. It’s a spec sheet with nicer verbs.

It’s hard not to fall back on the bits and pieces of your platform first and then work your way into why it’s better for them. I’m guilty of this just as much as the next person, even with years of experience. Sometimes it’s hard to see the forest for the trees, particularly for marketing when we’re relying on others to help us understand the big picture of what matters most and what these features mean. 

In a product led growth (PLG) organization it’s especially difficult - many times the features being added to the roadmap are cool and fun or cutting edge, but aren’t necessarily the functionality that will make the difference in the buyer’s life. Shaping that story gets much harder. 

That said, there are certainly times where leading with a feature is a major differentiator or a game changer technology. It does tell a story that your organization is doing big things and is looking for ways to really change the narrative for that buyer.  But it still needs to be positioned such that the biggest feature isn’t a feature - it’s a catalyst for change.

Wrapping It Up: Your Data Sheets Don’t Speak for Themselves

At the end of the day, your product isn’t the point, your buyer’s success is. Features can support that story, but they can’t carry it. If your messaging doesn’t clearly show how you solve real problems for real people, it’s just noise in an already crowded market.

Do before you spin up another one-pager, take a step back. Can you tell a compelling, buyer-centered story in 60 seconds or less? If not, that’s where your real marketing work begins.

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