Prithwi

There is one additional point I might bring in though is, uh.. even within a function, you might have to look at the hierarchy.

So, the ‘What’s in it for me?’, both internal and external as you go up and down the hierarchy. So you’re talking to the CEO of the customer organization, the outcome discussion will have to happen in a certain way. When you are talking to the actual user of your product or tool or service, it might have to happen the other way because they may not care as much about the company valuation or they care about, you know, their life. How does it impact them? Does it improve, you know.. their day-to-day or not. Uh.. so that’s only the other piece, I think. How do you factor that piece in?

Paul
Yeah, you’re right. Um, and if we think about how a decision gets made… and this is true of any decision, there are three factors in B2B.

The first thing that people always think about is exactly what, Prithwi.. you just said, ‘What’s in it for me’. You know.. if I back this proposal, what do I get out of it? The second is, ‘What’s in it for the company’? So, with them, what’s in it for me, with what’s in it for the company. Is there a business case? Is there a good business reason we would do this?

And the third element then is risk. So, what’s my personal risk if I back this and what’s the company risk if I back this. So those three elements together create a perception of value. What’s in it for me? What’s in it for the company? How much risk is there?

People will always think ‘What’s in it for me’ first. When you’re talking to people at different levels, you need to be cognizant that.. what’s in it for them is going to be different. The value for the company, yeah you can measure that.. you can put a number on that. But the ‘What’s in it for me?’ is going to be different.