Losing to no decision… you’re probably confusing TCO with ROI.

If you can prove that value of what you’re selling then you can sell almost anything to a rational thinking buyer. Given that, why do sales push or die due to no decision? It’s likely your marketing message either isn’t building a compelling value case or worse, is focusing on TCO.

I was working with a vendor recently whose entire marketing message was essentially that they were cheaper. Although their Web site was full of technical discussions there was nothing about the value they deliver but rather a lot of comparison information and emphatic statement about how they’re cheaper and easier to deploy. I’d like to say that’s okay but it’s really not. McDonalds sells cheaper hamburgers than Morton’s but that doesn’t make it more attractive to eat at McDonalds or encourage me to eat a hamburger instead of pizza.

Focusing on TCO rather than ROI hurts the sales effort in four ways. First, there’s no compelling reason to move forward with the project unless the customer is replacing an existing solution. Second, you signal the prospect that there’s no difference between solutions and the only reason to choose you is cost, a byproduct of which is an increase in the number of prospects demanding an additional discount. Third, you allow your competitors to set the value message and the direction of the discussion. And finally, you put your project below any other project in the priority list that delivers value.

Always focus on value first.