The Value Trap: Why Prospects Say Yes But Never Buy

Ever had a prospect tell you "This looks great!" and then... nothing? Yeah, me too. A lot.

During my early days at Fulcrum, I kept hearing the same thing: "Yes, this could definitely add value to our workflow." Music to my ears! Except none of these enthusiastic prospects ever became customers.

Turns out, I was falling into a classic first-time founder trap - confusing polite interest with genuine value. This meant we picked up some wrong design partners and started building for a problem that wasn’t urgent or consistent

Nobody tells you this when you're starting out, but hearing "this adds value" is basically the equivalent of getting a "maybe" text after a first date. It's a nice way of saying "I see what you're trying to do, but I'm not convinced yet."

I spent months chasing these lukewarm leads before finally figuring out what was missing.

After countless failed sales calls and ghosted follow-ups, I discovered: in the SaaS world, there are really only three types of value that get people to pull out their wallets:

• Revenue Jump 💰  
  • Your solution helps them make more money 
  • There's a clear line between your product and their revenue 
  • They can see the dollar signs 
• Cost Reduction ✂️  
  • You're saving them significant money 
  • The math is simple and compelling 
  • The savings are big enough to justify the hassle of change 
• Efficiency Multiplier ⚡  
  • You're saving them tons of time (and I mean TONS) 
  • You're eliminating major headaches in their processes 
  • The improvement is obvious and measurable 

Your solution needs to move these needles so dramatically that prospects will actually go out of their way to help you succeed. A small improvement just won't cut it.

Think about it - switching to a new tool is a pain. Your prospect needs to:

• Learn your product
• Change their workflow
• Convince their team
• Maybe even fight for budget

They're not going through all that for a 10% improvement. They need to see that value in their promotion, salary raise or looking good in front of their boss.

At the same time, you can't just walk in and declare "I'll double your revenue!" First, you need to really understand:

• Their current environment
• Key priorities and pain points
• Business goals
• Strategic plans
• What keeps them up at night

At Fulcrum, I used to jump straight into showing our solution. Don’t ever do that, even if someone asks for it. The conversations that actually led somewhere? They were the ones where I spent most of the time asking questions about their business and really digging into their challenges.

Only then could I connect our solution to one of those three key value props in a meaningful way.

Now, whenever I talk to potential customers, I ask myself:

• Can I clearly articulate how we'll impact their revenue, costs, or efficiency?
• Is the improvement dramatic enough to justify the switch?
• Do I understand their world well enough to make these claims?

If I can't answer these questions with specific numbers and examples, I know I need to dig deeper.

Take a hard look at your value proposition. Which of the three categories does it fall into? And more importantly, is the impact dramatic enough to make prospects actually change their behavior?

Remember: "Adding value" is just the price of admission. The real question is: are you moving the needle enough on revenue, costs, or efficiency to make people care?