Belief-based messaging

Belief based messaging starts with the prospect's explanation of the problem. Meet that belief, then give the prospect a reason to test it. Strong messages question the diagnosis or current approach while treating the prospect as someone who knows their world. Much outbound assumes the prospect is incompetent and has no solution in place, which creates the wrong starting point.¹ Lead with a point of view that asks the prospect to reconsider a root cause, then use the conversation to see whether the explanation fits.

Find the belief

Write the prospect's explanation before your own. That gives you something specific to test and keeps the message grounded in their situation.

Sales messaging should meet prospects in their world and focus on what they are already sold on.² To convince or persuade them, understand the prospect's beliefs and thinking.³ A useful message joins the conversation already running in the prospect's mind.⁴

Ask yourself:

• What do they think causes the problem?
• What approach do they trust today?
• What result makes that approach feel sufficient?
• Who experiences the effect when the problem persists?

Write the answers in the prospect's language. Look for the belief beneath the stated pain. "We need more leads" and "our current process hides demand from the team" lead to different messages, even when they describe the same business concern.

Choose the point of view

Choose the belief you want the prospect to examine. A point of view earns its place when it changes how they explain the problem and gives them a reason to keep thinking about it.

Build the point of view around a new way of looking at a root cause the customer might have.⁵ Write down how you will challenge the prospect's current thinking and what you believe is wrong with the world they are operating in.⁶

Raise a problem the prospect may or may not have, then let their response show whether it belongs in the conversation.⁷ An unknown problem can engage a prospect when it connects to something that matters to them.⁸

Use this worksheet:

• Current belief: what they think is happening.
• New explanation: what you think is causing it.
• Consequence: who feels the effect and how.
• Test question: what they can answer from experience.

Keep the point of view narrow enough to challenge. A message that tries to correct every assumption leaves the prospect with no clear point to examine.

Turn the belief into a message

Message

Visible symptom

Root cause

Question

Parts of message:

• Visible symptom
• Root cause
• Question

Put the point of view into a short argument the prospect can understand before you ask for a response. Create useful tension, then give the prospect an easy way to tell you whether it fits.

Give reasons before asking the prospect to reconsider. That framing can reduce the chance that the idea gets rejected immediately.⁹ Lead the prospect away from the old process and toward a more effective one.¹⁰

Use this shape:

You may be treating [visible symptom] as [accepted explanation]. We think [root cause] is creating [consequence]. How are you handling [question]?

The placeholders make the challenge concrete. The visible symptom meets the prospect's existing belief, the root cause gives them a new way to inspect it, and the question lets them respond with their own experience instead of forcing agreement.

Frame the message around a narrative that the prospect's leadership has already accepted or created.¹¹ That gives the point of view a place inside the company's existing conversation. Keep the claim focused on the problem and its cause before you explain your offer.

Use the point of view in conversation

Carry the same point of view into the opening discovery conversation. The goal is to see whether the prospect's explanation holds up when they describe how the problem works in practice.

In outbound, sellers craft the point of view they lead with and center their first discovery conversations around it.¹² State the claim, ask how the prospect sees the situation, and listen for the part of their explanation that confirms or challenges your view.

If the prospect's self diagnosis is wrong, educate or challenge them as an industry peer.¹³ When the diagnosis or solution is wrong, top sellers can challenge it directly.¹⁴ Getting prospects to question their current approach changes the dynamic of a cold call.¹⁵

Ask questions that test the explanation you brought:

• Where does that process break down?
• What happens after the issue reaches the next person?
• Which part of the current approach do you trust most?
• What would have to be true for your explanation to change?

Listen for a more precise cause, a consequence they had not considered, or a reason the current approach still feels acceptable. Move forward when the prospect gives you detail that lets you examine the point of view together. Change the angle when their explanation has no connection to the problem you raised.

Make the belief travel

A belief based message has to work for the person who reads it and for people who feel the consequences elsewhere. Give the recipient language they can use when they explain the issue internally.

When someone in the conversation does not see the pain, explain it from the end user perspective.¹⁶ This connects an abstract process problem to the person who experiences its effect. Ask who encounters the issue downstream and what that experience costs them in time, effort, or confidence.

Use the narrative leadership already accepts or created.¹¹ Make the point of view easy to repeat without adding claims the original recipient cannot defend. The reader should be able to explain the current belief, the new explanation, and the reason to examine it.

What not to do

These mistakes weaken the challenge before the prospect has a chance to consider it.

• In a greenfield deal, explain why the problem deserves solving before comparing competitors.¹⁷
• Give the prospect a reason to doubt the current approach before asking them to change vendors.¹⁸
• Keep the message tied to the prospect's situation. Outbound stops working when the message is irrelevant to prospects.¹⁹
• Avoid a broad send all exercise. Conversion rates plummeted when spray and pray took over.²⁰
• Keep the list tight until the message works for a set of key companies in the ICP and key personas within those companies.²¹