Selling from a Point of View

The Business Value Hypothesis

Over the years, I’ve learned that the difference between an average sales conversation and a great one always comes down to one thing: perspective.

Most enterprise sellers show up ready to listen and respond. The best ones show up with a point of view or perspective — a belief about what’s happening in their customer’s business, why it matters, and what could change.

That belief, framed as a Business Value Hypothesis (BVH), is your testable theory about how you can create measurable impact. It’s not a pitch deck or an ROI calculator—it’s a thoughtful, human conversation starter.

The Business Value Perspective

A great BVH has three parts:

1. The problem you see that’s holding the customer back

2. The impact you anticipate—what that problem is costing them

3. The change you propose to make it better

It’s your best, most educated guess—and should always be open to challenge.

When you come to a conversation with a hypothesis instead of a script, something powerful happens.

You shift from “Tell me your pain points” to “Here’s what I think might be happening—does that fit?” The dynamic changes instantly. You’re no longer just asking questions—you’re making a deposit in your Relationship Bank Account and earning the right to have a real, strategic dialogue.

Discovery

A thoughtful BVH leads you directly into discovery. Not the kind of discovery that most sales people practice — the pointed closed end questions of how much, how long, how big — which customers hate (because they know their answers are being used to shape a proposal.

Instead, the thoughtful BVH leads you into facilitated discovery, where the sales person helps the customer discover different ways of solving problems. This is “co-creation” rather than selling. This provides a platform for you to explore the assumptions that shaped your business value hypothesis, and is a learning process for both seller and buyer.

But building a great BVH takes more than analysis. It takes three deeply human qualities:

• Curiosity — the willingness to dig below the surface, to keep asking why.

• Empathy — the ability to sense not just what your buyer says, but what they feel.

• Authenticity — the courage to show up as yourself, to be honest about what you see and what you don’t know.

When those three are in balance, something special happens. The conversation becomes co-creative. You’re not pitching anymore—you’re helping the buyer make sense of their world.

In my experience (and backed up by extensive research) most deals die from indecision, not competition. Buyers fear making the wrong choice. A strong Business Value Hypothesis lowers perceived risk, making it safe for the customer to act by showing that you understand both the business challenge and the emotional risk of doing nothing.

If you want to stand out in 2026, start building and testing your BVHs. For now, one per key account is enough. Refine it, test it, learn from it.

Because selling from a point of view isn’t about being right—it’s about being real.

Find a deeper discussion on the Business Value Hypothesis here.