August 13, 2026
The buyer - not the seller - connects the dots
In my last message, I wrote about the difference between outcomes and deliverables.
(TL;DR: A deliverable is a thing. An outcome is a change.)
I gave an example of someone hiring a podcast booking company, which was actually an example from my own business.
Last year, I worked with an agency to get me booked on more podcasts.
Q: Why did I want to get booked on more podcasts?
A: Because I knew that going on podcasts would increase the number of new subscribers on my mailing list.
Q: Why did I want more subscribers on my mailing list?
A: Because I knew that a bunch of these new subscribers would buy stuff.
Here’s a critical nuance...
The podcast booking agency did not try to convince me that hiring them would get me more subscribers, and therefore, more money.
I already believed these things before I ever talked to them.
I’m the one who connected these dots, not the salesperson at the agency.
Since the agency didn’t try to convince me of anything, all they had to do to delight me was deliver the outcome that they could control (i.e., more bookings).
If it turned out that I was wrong about more bookings leading to more subscribers leading to more money, that’s on me, not them.
Here’s the thing...
This is why The Why Conversation is so important in a sales interview with a prospective client.
You DON’T want to try to talk the buyer into caring about your deliverables, or to persuade them that what you do will eventually make or save them money.
You DO want to ask questions to find out:
- What direct outcome they believe you can improve for them (e.g., podcast bookings)
- Why they think your outcome will lead to them making or saving money (e.g., bookings -> subscribers -> revenue)
Once you have this info, you can set value-based prices without being on the hook for downstream outcomes that are out of your control.
Yours,
—J