Applying the 'So That' Test to Sales Strategies

Every rep on your team can explain what your product does. Half can explain the benefits. Maybe three can explain why it matters to the person they're talking to right now. That's the problem. Almost nobody connects the dots to show buyers why any of this actually matters to their specific situation. Features: Our platform has advanced analytics.  Benefits: You can track performance metrics in real-time. So What: And...? Why does that matter to this particular buyer? Kimberly Pencille Collins from #samsales Consulting laid out a framework during a Sales Assembly course this week that forces you to answer six questions before you're allowed to send an email: Question 1: What challenge is this buyer facing? Not generic pain points. Specific, day-to-day frustrations for this persona in this role at this company size. Question 2: Why is it happening? This is where you prove you understand their landscape. Not just what's broken, but why it's broken. This is your insight moment. Question 3: What happens if they do nothing? Cost of inaction. Make the status quo intolerable. What do they lose by staying put? Question 4: What do you actually do? Not "we make your life better" - tangible, concrete, specific. Are you consultants? Tech? Services? Tell them. Question 5: How does this solve the problem? Connect what you do directly back to the challenge you laid out in question one. Question 6: So what does this mean for them? This is where most reps stop too early. You've explained the solution, now connect it to their actual life. "Your teams will be able to create a playbook of simple plays that keep the pipeline ticking while you nurture difficult buyers." That last sentence isn't a feature. It's not a benefit. It's RELIEF from a specific anxiety that VP of Sales has about pipeline coverage. The exercise creates longer emails initially. You can edit down later. But you HAVE to answer all six questions or you're just throwing features at people who aren't thinking about your solution right now. Kimberly's point: This is your mortar. The messaging you're fed from marketing is your bricks. This framework is how you bring it together and become a consultative seller instead of a walking product brochure. Try this on your next three cold emails. Answer all six questions. See what changes.

"This saves you time." - is one of the most used, and least valuable 'benefits' that sellers love to use. 'This will save you time!' Cool. So does skipping lunch. Doesn't mean I'm buying. Most reps stop at the surface benefit and wonder why prospects don't get excited. Save time. Save money. More insights. Faster process. These are lazy benefits. They're true, but they're invisible. The prospect can't feel them. 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗣𝗥𝗢𝗕𝗟𝗘𝗠 𝗪𝗜𝗧𝗛 𝗦𝗨𝗥𝗙𝗔𝗖𝗘 𝗕𝗘𝗡𝗘𝗙𝗜𝗧𝗦 "Save time" means nothing because everyone claims it. Your prospect has heard "save time" from the last 18 vendors. It's noise now. And the shame is: the benefit is actually real. You DO save them time. But you're not going deep enough to make them see it. 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝟯-𝗟𝗔𝗬𝗘𝗥 𝗕𝗘𝗡𝗘𝗙𝗜𝗧 𝗥𝗨𝗟𝗘 Don't stop at the benefit. Go three layers deep. Layer 1: The feature benefit (surface) Layer 2: What that enables (the "so the f what") Layer 3: What they can now picture doing (the visual) Watch the difference: ❌ Surface: "This saves you time on reporting." ✅ Three layers deep: "Look at how many fewer steps this process takes. You're cutting 6 clicks down to 2. Because there's fewer steps, you're not just saving time — you're getting more done in the same hours. Picture this: instead of generating 3 reports a week, you're generating 6. Same time investment, double the output. That's what your Monday morning looks like now." See the difference? One is a claim. The other is a movie playing in their head. 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗥𝗘𝗔𝗟 𝗜𝗡𝗦𝗜𝗚𝗛𝗧 "Save time" is almost never the real benefit anyway. Nobody actually wants more free time at work. They want to accomplish more in the time they have. So flip the pitch: Instead of: "This saves you 2 hours a week" Try: "This lets you reach twice as many prospects in the same time block" Instead of: "Faster reporting" Try: "Picture sending that board deck out Tuesday instead of scrambling Friday" Make. It. Visual. 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗪𝗚𝗟𝗟 𝗙𝗢𝗥 𝗕𝗘𝗡𝗘𝗙𝗜𝗧𝗦 Before your next demo, pressure test every benefit: 1. Can I go three layers deep on this? 2. Can the prospect actually picture the outcome? 3. Am I describing what changes in their day-to-day? If you can't answer yes to all three, you're still at the surface. Generic benefits get generic responses. Specific, visual, layered benefits get people leaning in saying "wait, show me that again." Go deeper, ya'll.

We create “death by PowerPoint” presentations thinking clients will be impressed, and I’ve sat in too many meetings where brilliant teams overwhelm the client with complexity. We load the slides with all the features we’ve engineered. All the clever solutions. All the tech, because we’re proud and because we know what those features mean. We assume clients will connect the dots, but they rarely do, because they don’t live in our world. The burden is on us to make the translation. To bridge the gap between what something is and why it matters. Between the feature and the benefit. There’s a simple trick to help with that: keep asking “So what?” Every time you state a feature, challenge it. So what? And again. So what? Until you hit something real. Tangible. Pain-relieving. Here’s a real conversation I had with a client, standing next to the MPV Everest: Me: We have two dive bells. Client: So what? You just want to sell me more divers and increase my cost. Me: That lets us work 20–25% faster than with one bell. Client: So what? Me: So yes, slightly higher daily cost, but your overall project is completed faster, and the total cost is lower. That saves you time and money, and don’t forget: it shortens your exposure offshore. Client: Gotta have that! That’s the moment it clicks. Now we’re not talking about kit. We’re talking about value. So next time you’re prepping that deck or tech pitch, don’t stop at the feature. Dig. Translate. Ask “So what?” until it hurts. Your client’s real pain, and your real impact, is usually hiding behind the third “so what.” What trick do you use to cut through? (Photo: our first-ever twin bell operation, taken by our ROV crew. Real impact. Real savings. Real client value.)

You get 10 seconds to hook a prospect's attention. I call it the barbecue test. Here's how it works: Picture this: You're at a barbecue, someone asks what you do. You launch into technical specs and feature lists. Their eyes glaze over in 30 seconds. That's exactly what happens in your sales calls. ❌ The technical manual approach: "Our platform uses machine learning algorithms to optimize data workflows through API integrations that enable real-time processing capabilities." Translation: Nobody cares. ✅ The barbecue test approach: "We help marketing teams stop spending 10 hours a week on manual reports so they can focus on strategy instead." See the difference? Here's my 3-step barbecue test: 1️⃣ The stranger test Explain your product to someone who knows nothing about your industry. If they can't repeat back what you do in simple terms, your messaging is too technical. 2️⃣ The 10-second rule You have 10 seconds to make someone care. Start with the problem they feel every day, not the solution you built. 3️⃣ The "so what" filter After every feature you mention, ask "so what?" Keep asking until you hit something that matters to them personally. I learned this after watching 15 demos where prospects said: "Sounds impressive, but I'm not sure how this helps us." They understood the tech. They didn't understand the value. The fix? I started every pitch with their exact frustration: "You're probably tired of your team asking for the same reports every week." Head nods. Every time. Then I connected each feature directly to that pain: "This dashboard means no more manual report requests -  your team gets what they need instantly." The result? Conversations shifted from "How does this work?" to "When can we start?" Your product might be brilliant. But if you can't explain it at a barbecue, you can't sell it in a boardroom. I've turned this into a simple checklist you can use before every pitch. Drop ‘BBQ’ in the comments and I'll send it to you. _________________________ 👋 I’m Marina Kogan 🌊 I help founders position tech products as must-have solutions.

I review client offers almost every day. 90% look the same... boring. Bc we have a tendency to make our offers and offer presentations all about ME. MY business. MY deliverables. MY process. But that misses the point of why someone wants to talk to you. Bc clients don't really care about how you do what you do... they care about how you can help THEM. So when I review offer docs... I look at it from the prospects point of view. And they should be saying "Yes, that's me. That's exactly what I need" to every line. And the way YOU make that happen?... 1 simple rule: Use "so," "that," or "who" in (almost) every line. Let me show you what I mean. Bad → Good BAD: "You get a roadmap" → "You get my DRIVE Roadmap SO you know exactly what to do every step of the way" BAD: "You get a comms channel" → "You get unlimited Slack access THAT I respond to within 24 hours" BAD: "You get a coach" → "You get a private coach WHO holds you accountable every day." See the difference? In v1, you tell them WHAT they get. In v2, you tell them WHY it matters to THEM. The important part is what comes after "so", "that", "who". That's the shift. Prospects don't want more "things". Prospects want to know you've done this enough & thought of everything they'll need to get them the results they're after.