Most founders I speak to think they’re selling value. But they’re not. They’re selling features.
I see it all the time, they’re overloading prospects with far too much detail. Or they’re flinging discounts and extras around like confetti.
It doesn’t work.
I’ve spent 15 years in SaaS sales, and I now spend my time helping early-stage founders scale through better selling.
What I’ve noticed is that most founders don’t know what value-based selling is. Not just the term, but the mindset. Because value isn’t what you think it is. It’s what the buyer thinks it is.
And too many founders assume they know what value looks like. That’s mistake number one.
What value-based selling means
Value-based selling is about making a business case that your product is worth solving your customer’s specific problems.
I don’t mean all of their problems, just the ones they care about.
I’ve seen companies spend £50k on a product that only solves two problems. They did that because those two problems were worth £50k to them. That’s value. And it’s that simple.
But when you try to justify that £50k by listing ten features, you actually make the deal harder. Now the buyer’s confused. Do they need all that? Could they get something simpler? Cheaper?
You end up creating doubt, not confidence.
Like most things, it starts with better discovery
Value-based selling can quickly go south when you rush through discovery. Founders often think of discovery as a tick-box stage. But discovery isn’t a stage, it really IS the sales process.
Discovery is where you:
- Ask deep questions, not just surface-level ones
- Understand what matters to the buyer, in their words
- Start shaping a business case for change
Ask questions like:
- “What would happen if this problem still exists in six months?”
- “How do you get budget approved?”
- “Who else would need to be bought in for this to move forward?”
You’re not selling yet. You’re learning. You’re building the foundations for a proposal that makes sense to their role, their business, and their specific challenges.
Stop emailing proposals
We’ve all been there. You send a proposal and…. Wait…
You follow up over email. Maybe you even call once. But you’re treating the proposal like a formality. You think the heavy lifting is done.
It’s not. The work starts after the proposal is sent.
If you don’t build that proposal together, you’ve basically dumped a to-do list on your buyer. They might have to:
- Speak to the CFO
- Convince the end users
- Get compliance or legal to review
And you’re hoping they do it all for you.
But if you co-create the proposal, you’re doing that work together. You’re building trust and showing how the solution maps to their business.
That means it becomes so much easier for them to sell it internally.
The mutual action plan
A good mutual action plan means you’ve mapped the internal buying process with them. You know:
- Who needs to see a demo
- What the CFO wants in a business case
- When procurement gets involved
You’ve broken the process down into bite-sized, verifiable steps. And you’ve got verbal agreement at each stage. So instead of being surprised when things stall, you’re guiding the deal forward.
So instead of having the mindset of chasing a contract, you instead focus on the next agreed step.
That’s how deals move forward.
The $15M Deal That Started With Sophie
Back in my AE days, I cold-called a lady named Sophie at a pharmaceuticals. I spent the first meeting just getting to know her. Not her tech stack, but here.
- What she cared about
- How she wanted her career to progress
- What a win looked like to her, personally
That’s unlocked the opportunity. She introduced me to the Group CFO. Thirty-six countries. Huge scope.
We didn’t even show the demo until the final meeting. Everything before that was business case, ROI calculator, whiteboarding.
That deal? $3.5M ARR on a 5-year contract.
It happened because Sophie trusted me. And because she saw me as someone solving a problem, not pushing a product.
Mistakes founders make with value-based selling
- Assuming value means the same thing to everyone
- You think they care about your killer integration. They care about fixing a weekly report that takes five hours.
- Skipping real discovery
- Not asking about business impact. Not knowing who signs it off. Not knowing what happens if nothing changes.
- Following up with generic emails
- “As discussed, our product does XYZ…” That’s not their language. Speak in terms they care about. Revenue, risk, retention.
Value is created, not claimed
If you want to sell high ACV deals, or even just close faster, stop trying to convince people your product is great.
Instead, get great at:
- Learning what your buyer cares about
- Shaping proposals around that
- Removing friction from their internal process
Selling is guiding. It’s removing risk. It’s helping them build their internal business case.
And the best founders I work with? They’re brilliant at this. Not because they’re slick. But because they care. They get to know the person, not just the persona.
That’s what value-based selling really looks like.
Author: Matthew Codd
I’m Matthew, I have 15 years of commercial leadership experience, helping VC-backed B2B technology companies scale revenue and transition from founder-led sales.
I use my experience to help early-stage start-ups with GTM expertise, sales best practice, and hiring insights.
I co-founded Cosmic Partners in 2022. We are SaaS sales recruitment specialists for VC backed B2B tech companies.
