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"The offer is difficult to explain"
If it takes a paragraph to explain, it takes longer to sell. Hard to explain usually means the offer is carrying more than one decision at once.
What it looks like from the inside
Explaining what you do takes longer than a minute.
Prospects say it sounds interesting and then go quiet.
Every proposal is custom because the offer has no fixed shape.
Referrals describe you inaccurately.
Pricing conversations start before the value is understood.
Where to look first
Offer
How many decisions the buyer has to make before saying yes.
Narrative
Whether the first sentence names a problem they already have.
Customer
Whether you are describing one buyer or an average of several.
What usually causes it
Three read the same from the outside. The tell is what separates them.
The offer bundles several decisions
The tell
You find yourself saying "it depends on what you need" in the first meeting.
You are selling capability, not outcome
The tell
The description lists what you do rather than what changes.
The buyer is a composite
The tell
The messaging tries to be true for three different companies at once.
What good looks like
A sentence that lands the first time, a shape the buyer recognizes, and a shorter path from interest to decision.
Ways forward
Three ways in, depending on how much of this you want to carry yourself.
Read on your own
Read it through first
How to test whether an offer is carrying too much.
Browse the library→Work through it with your team
Run it with your team
Offer and positioning worksheets you can fill in this week.
Get the tools→Bring us in
Bring us in
A focused engagement to reshape the offer and the story around it.
Strategy Intensive→Not sure this is the whole story?
These situations travel together more often than not. Read a neighbor, or tell us what is going on and we will point you at the right starting place.