Why Your ROI Is Not Enough

With limited budgets and lots of important problems to solve, organizations need real savings to invest. So, when telling our value stories, it makes sense that we anchor in the stable ground of savings. But, what happens when the numbers aren’t enough? Founder, Sara Sweat, walks us through a different framework that can get you out of the spreadsheets and into the impact. 

Sara Sweat, MA – Founder & CEO, A Life Curated

Is it just me or have you noticed an increase in marketing approaches talking about how much money everyone is making? It feels like everywhere we turn, we are inundated with messages about the math of success.

“Click this link to find out how I launched my 7 figure business.” 

“Subscribe to our podcast to hear our interview with multi-billionaire so & so – streamed live from their Mediterranean yacht.” 

“Tonight, we’ll hear how ‘great big muckety muck’ grew their company’s profit by over $50M last year.” 

Now, don’t get me wrong – I’m a big fan of financial success. For nearly 25 years, I’ve learned from some of the best and brightest leaders around and studied the techniques that bring and sustain financial freedom. In today’s macroeconomic climate – delivering a realistic and achievable ROI is table stakes for closing a deal or delivering value to a client. But, the dollars and cents is only part of the story – and in my experience, usually the least interesting chapter. 

So, when I work with companies on their go to market strategy or with teams on their sales, marketing, and branding approach – we cover the basics of the financials – but derive our greatest results by focusing on their impact. 

Your impact is defined as the problems you uniquely solve – for people you will never meet. 

Different Isn’t Better

Whether direct or indirect – your business has competitors. Every potential client with whom you interact has to choose between doing nothing or one of the many somethings available to solve their problem. Most companies focus on their differentiators to win the battle of the somethings. 

We extol the virtues of “high tech” versus “high touch”, “configurable” versus “plug and play”, “faster” versus “high quality” – based on the way our solution solves the problem. And, then we ask the question – “do you understand the impact to your organization if we do this differently”? But, different – doesn’t always mean better. 

The more significant question is much harder to answer. “What impact is important to my target client and how does my solution position them to solve it differently than anyone else?” 

The difference maker is not us – it’s how we empower our clients to make a difference that’s important to them. 

The same is true for us as leaders. You will almost always be able to do something better than a member of your team. That’s the gift of experience. You’ve had more at bats, more failures to learn from, & more strategies you’ve tried. And, through those experiences you have developed preferences. 

Early in my career I arranged a prep session with a senior executive from my company. We were reviewing my deck for a sales meeting I’d asked him to attend. The presentation had been developed in coordination with my coach from the client, highlighted the most meaningful impacts of our solution, and was built consistently and in accordance with our corporate brand standard. Yet, I sat in his office for 45 minutes while he adjusted – not the content of my presentation – but the formatting. 

I was too early in my career to feel confident pushing back, so I allowed us to waste precious time curating a deck to his preferences instead of giving him the vital information I needed him to have to create the greatest impact in our presentation. 

And, when the time came for our meeting – it showed. He misspoke about critical details of our existing relationship, offered discounts we didn’t need to concede, and ultimately lowered the value of our deal. 

This was someone who was a brilliant professional. He was good at his job. But, I never invited him to a client call again.  

Why? Because his input didn’t empower me to solve the problems that were important to my client. It solved problems – but the wrong ones.  

If the differences in how you approach the problem aren’t important to your team’s outcomes – you’re actually getting in the way of their impact. 

A few other questions you can ask yourself to ensure you’re connecting with what’s importantly different: 

• What does my client need in order to be successful & what can I give them to do it differently – that will positively impact their outcomes? 
• How is our impact best highlighted & how can my choices serve that end? 
• Will my feedback or suggestions with my team make an important difference to the outcome of our stated goal? 
• What is motivating my desire to jump in with my team or client? 

Meaning; at Two Degrees of Separation 

Meaning is incredibly personal & therefore almost always subjective. So, when dealing with prospective or current clients – how do we know what it is? We ask. 

“What is meaningful to the constituency my target client serves & how does my offering connect them to it better than anyone else?” 

As a leader, I’m sure you’ve asked your team what is meaningful to them. Whether in the context of how they like to be rewarded or getting to the root of what motivates their work, understanding what is most meaningful to the people we’re responsible for leading – is important. 

Equally important is understanding what’s meaningful to those they serve. 

For most of my career, I’ve led client facing teams. Sales, training, and client management professionals who are the face of their companies to the people who are funding them. No matter how many offsite retreats, coffee gift cards, or public shoutouts I delivered – nothing was ever as impactful to morale and retention as equipping my teams to create value for the constituency they served. 

The same principle applies to businesses at large. Clients stuck with us in hard times and referred us in good times when our solution or expertise connected users to what mattered most to their target demographic. 

Author and speaker, Simon Sinik talks about this idea in his book “Start with Why”. The basic tenet being that people don’t buy what you do, they buy why you’re doing it. And, in my experience – that’s completely true – but it’s not enough. 

While helping people connect to your why will help you close a deal, for lasting partnerships to thrive – they have to connect to you why AND they have to believe that you empower theirs. 

If what you do helps me deliver for the people or problems I care about – I’m in. Because that’s the real impact I’m after. More than savings, more than features, more than service alone – if you help me deliver meaningfully – I will find the funding. 

A couple of questions that help: 

• What is the most meaningful problem my prospect or client is consistently trying to solve & how does my solution address that need? 
• What will turn my team into subject matter experts and heroes with the people they serve & how can I ensure they have access to it with ease? 

So, the next time you’re creating a pitch deck, designing a product launch, or creating a leadership approach with your team – take a big step back before you build. Start with a deep understanding of who they serve – and what creates impact for them. When you do – your ROI will transcend your savings & your value will be impossible to deny.