Creating a reason to buy

When I first joined sales at Google, I noticed that most pitch decks looked almost identical. They usually started with who we are, how many users we have, how consumers spend time on the internet and, unsurprisingly, how much of that activity happened within the Google ecosystem, followed by an introduction to our products and solutions.

Google's sales enablement was incredible at helping sellers become more efficient. Many of us relied on pre-built templates created by analysts or adapted decks from internal repositories. These resources absolutely had their place because they created consistency, helped reps move faster, and made proposal building far more scalable across teams.

But over time, I started questioning whether we were all telling the same story regardless of who was sitting in front of us. Most decks started with “Why Google?”, when the more important question should probably have been: “Why should this customer buy from me right now?”

Later, when I was running onboarding programmes across APAC, this became something I focused on heavily with new reps. I realised many salespeople were entering customer conversations too passively. They relied heavily on generic discovery questions or standard qualification frameworks, expecting customers to educate them about their business first.

But strong sales conversations rarely start there.

The best reps usually lead with insight, perspective, and preparation. They already understand the customer’s industry, competitors, business model, and growth opportunities well enough that the customer immediately feels they are speaking with someone credible. Most decision makers want to feel that the salesperson understands their business and can help them think differently about opportunities, risks, or missed potential.

Instead of starting conversations by explaining how popular our platform was, we started training reps to lead with thought-provoking insights specific to that customer. This could include untapped market demand, high-value keywords competitors were already capturing, visibility gaps, estimated commercial impact, or missed revenue opportunities.

That is why I became obsessed with asking reps to “create a reason to buy” in every customer interaction. Because if there is no reason, there is no urgency.

I also strongly believe sales organisations need to equip reps with the right tools, insights, and data to create these conversations efficiently at scale. Great sales conversations should not rely purely on individual talent. Strong enablement systems should help reps understand the customer deeply enough to bring meaningful commercial perspectives into every meeting.