Stop describing your product the way you describe it internally

I see it all the time. A B2B company hands me its messaging, and it reads like an internal memo written by engineers for engineers. They describe their products to customers the way they describe them to each other inside the company: the architecture, the modules, the thing they’re proudest of. Nobody outside the building cares.

Switching from features to benefits is a real improvement. You start talking about what the product does for the buyer instead of what it is: faster onboarding, fewer support tickets, shorter sales cycles. But the sentence is still about you. “We reduce your onboarding time.” Your company is still the one doing the action.

The better move is to make the customer the subject of the sentence. Instead of “our platform cuts onboarding time,” say “you get your new hires up and running faster, with less headache.” The change is small, but now the customer is the one doing something, and their day is the thing getting easier.

I’d start any messaging review with one question: would a buyer say this to another buyer over coffee? If not, you’re still talking to yourself.

Most teams know this and still can’t do it. The fix is to go back to a customer who uses the product, ask what changed for them, and write down what they say, close to word for word.