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You just sent out 100 prospecting emails. You got two responses. Both said they weren’t interested.
You spent hours crafting those emails. You talked about your product’s features. You highlighted what makes your company different. You explained what you do.
And nobody cared.
Here’s the uncomfortable truth. You never earned the right to ask for their attention. Your buyers don’t care about your company, your product, or your features. They care about their problems. They care about their priorities. They care about what’s keeping them up at night.
Until you demonstrate that you understand those problems better han they do, you haven’t earned the right to talk about your solution.
When you shift from product-centric to problem-centric selling, everything changes. Response rates improve. Discovery conversations go deeper. Proposals resonate. Deals close faster. Not because you’re “better at sales,” but because you’re finally talking about what actually matters to buyers.
Key Takeaways
• Buyers don’t care about your product until you prove you understand their problems
• Product-centric messaging relies on “I, we, our, my” language that buyers ignore
• Problem-centric messaging articulates challenges so clearly buyers assume you have the solution
• Earning attention requires relevance, honesty, and expertise in the buying process
• Most sales emails fail because they focus on features instead of problems
Who This Is For
This is for B2B sellers and sales leaders who want stronger response rates, shorter sales cycles, and real trust with buyers. If your outreach gets ignored, your demos don’t convert, or your value propositions fall flat, the issue isn’t effort. It’s that you haven’t earned your buyer’s attention yet.
Why So Many Sales Messages Miss the Mark
After reviewing thousands of sales emails over the years, a consistent pattern shows up. Most of them are written from the seller’s point of view. They sound like this:
“Our company does X. Our product has Y feature. We help teams solve Z.”
The pattern is obvious. I. We. Our. My.
These messages communicate what the seller wants to say, not what the buyer needs to hear. Even when sellers try to improve them with generic benefits like “saving time” or “reducing costs,” the result is still vague and interchangeable.
The messages that work take a different approach. They lead with problems, not products. They demonstrate understanding of the buyer’s world before introducing a solution. They describe challenges so accurately that buyers think, How do they know exactly what I’m dealing with?
What It Actually Means to Earn Attention
Before sending an email, making a call, or showing up to a discovery meeting, ask yourself one question:
“What have I done to earn the right to ask for this buyer’s attention, time, or consideration?”
Most sales training focuses on activity. More calls. More emails. More follow-ups. But activity without relevance is just noise. If you haven’t earned attention first, none of those tactics matter.
Earning attention shows up in simple but intentional behaviors. You research the buyer and their business before reaching out. You understand common challenges in their industry. You lead with relevance instead of introductions. You respect their time by getting to the point quickly.
One of the biggest mistakes I see sellers make is assuming they’ve earned attention just because they’ve done research. Research alone isn’t enough. Buyers don’t reward effort. They reward relevance. You can spend an hour preparing for an email and still fail to earn the right if your message doesn’t clearly connect that effort to a problem the buyer actually cares about. Earning attention isn’t about how much work you did before you hit send. It’s about how quickly and clearly the buyer can recognize themselves in what you’re saying.
When sellers operate this way, sales stops feeling like a numbers game and starts becoming a strategic discipline. Volume still matters, but now it’s targeted and thoughtful instead of indiscriminate.
Shifting from Product-Centric to Problem-Centric Messaging
Start by auditing your current messaging. Look at your emails, call scripts, LinkedIn messages, and value propositions. Count how often you use “I, we, our, my” language. If it shows up frequently, you’re centering yourself.
Product-centric messaging sounds like this:
“We’re a leading provider of sales enablement software. Our platform helps teams close more deals. We offer features like call recording and pipeline analytics.”
Problem-centric messaging sounds different:
“Sales leaders struggle with unreliable pipeline visibility. Reps are working deals, but it’s hard to tell which ones are real and which ones are stalled. Forecasts shift late in the quarter, creating pressure and missed expectations.”
Notice what’s missing. No product. No features. Just a clear articulation of the problem. When you describe a problem accurately and specifically, buyers assume you understand how to solve it. You don’t need to pitch yet. The problem framing does the work.
Why Relevance Beats Polished Writing
Relevance is the currency of attention. If your message doesn’t connect to a buyer’s immediate priorities, it won’t matter how well written it is. Polished language without relevance is still skippable.
Creating relevance starts with understanding which problems your solution actually addresses and which of those problems are likely urgent for the buyer right now.Growth stage, recent funding, leadership changes, or shifting market conditions all shape what buyers care about in the moment. Your opening line should immediately signal that understanding. Not pleasantries. Not company history. Relevance. This isn’t about being abrupt. It’s about being respectful. Buyers appreciate directness when it’s grounded in real understanding.
Why Honesty Builds Trust Faster Than Features
One of the fastest ways to earn trust is transparency. If a buyer needs eight things and you can confidently deliver seven, say that. Trying to hide limitations erodes credibility. Naming them builds it.
Buyers trust sellers who are honest about what will and won’t work. Honest conversations eliminate doubt early and create alignment before a deal ever reaches a proposal.
Expertise in the Buying Process Matters
Your buyers are experts in their business. You’re the expert in how to buy your solution. Helping buyers navigate stakeholders, timelines, trade-offs, and common pitfalls earns enormous trust. When you guide the buying process instead of rushing it, you remove friction and create momentum.
This positions you as a partner, not just a vendor. And that shift changes how buyers engage with you throughout the sales cycle.
The Long-Term Impact of Earning Attention
Earning attention isn’t just about one email or one deal. It compounds. Buyers remember sellers who were helpful even when they didn’t buy. They take future calls. They refer colleagues. They come back when priorities change.Your pipeline improves because it’s filled with buyers who actually have problems you can solve.
Your confidence improves because you’re no longer chasing attention. You’re earning it.
Start by Removing Self-Focused Language
You don’t need to overhaul everything at once. Start with one change. Eliminate “I, we, our, my” language from the first half of every buyer interaction.
Lead with problems. Then context. Then, only after you’ve earned it, your solution. This is the foundation of problem-centric selling. Stop talking about yourself. Start demonstrating understanding.
Earn attention before asking for anything in return.
FAQs
1. How do I learn about buyer problems if I’m new to my industry or product?
Start by talking to your existing customers. Ask them what problems they were experiencing before they bought your solution. What symptoms were they seeing? What metrics were suffering? What conversations were they having internally? Also talk to your most experienced sellers and ask them what patterns they see in why buyers ultimately purchase. Read industry publications to understand common challenges in your target market. Over time, you’ll develop deep expertise on the problems you solve.
2. What if my product genuinely is innovative and buyers don’t know they have the problem?
Even with innovative products, the problem exists before the buyer realizes it. Your job is to help them see the problem through education. But you still lead with the problem, not the product. For example, before Slack, people didn’t know they had a “workplace communication” problem. But they did know they were drowning in email, information was siloed, and collaboration was difficult. Articulate those symptoms to help buyers recognize the problem you solve.
3. How do I balance problem-centric messaging with the need to differentiate from competitors?
The differentiation comes from how specifically and accurately you articulate the problem. If you can describe their challenges better than competitors can, you’ve already differentiated yourself. When you do talk about your solution, focus on your unique approach to solving the problem rather than listing features. Your differentiation should be clear in context of the problem, not independent of it.
4. What if I’m required to use company-approved scripts that are product-centric?
Use the approved scripts as a starting point, but look for opportunities to reframe within those constraints. You might not be able to change the official script, but you can often adjust how you deliver it. Add problem-centric context before diving into the script. Reference buyer challenges in your questions. Find ways to bring the buyer’s problems into the conversation even within structured frameworks.
5. How much research should I do before each outreach to earn the right?
This depends on your sales model. For high-volume transactional sales, you might spend 2-3 minutes per prospect reviewing their LinkedIn profile and company website. For enterprise sales, you might spend 30 minutes researching their business, recent news, industry challenges, and key stakeholders. The standard is: you should know enough to lead with something relevant to their specific situation, not generic to all companies in their industry.
6. What if buyers seem more interested in features than problems?
This usually happens when you haven’t articulated the problem compellingly enough yet. Buyers who immediately ask about features are either trying to comparison shop (which means they’re not well qualified) or they haven’t felt the urgency of their problem yet. Go back to discovery. Ask more questions about what’s happening in their business, why it matters, and what happens if they don’t solve it. Create urgency around the problem before diving into features.
7. How do I know if my problem-centric messaging is working?
Track your metrics. Are your email response rates improving? Are prospects engaging more deeply in discovery calls? Are they sharing information more openly? Are your proposals advancing to next steps more consistently? Are deals moving through your pipeline faster? All of these are indicators that your problem-centric approach is resonating. If you’re not seeing improvement, your problem articulation probably isn’t specific enough yet.
What frameworks can I use?
Use the Earn the Right Framework by asking yourself before every buyer interaction: What have I done to earn the right to ask for this buyer’s attention, their time, their consideration, or their business? Audit your messaging for “I, we, our, my” language. If it appears in more than 20% of sentences, you’re being too product-centric. Rewrite to focus on articulating buyer problems so specifically that they automatically assume you have the solution. The two elements of earning the right are (1) Relevance through demonstrating understanding of their specific problems and priorities, and (2) Honesty through transparency about what your solution can and cannot do. Both build trust faster than pitching features ever could.
Can you recommend books that will help me learn more?
Profit Generating Pipeline by Leslie Venetz, available at www.salesledgtm.com/book