“Politicians use a message, and their message is not what school I went to.”
Political campaigns offer a useful model for sales teams. Candidates don’t stand on stage and recite their résumé for an hour. They talk about the lives, worries, and hopes of the people they want to serve.
They also build everything from one clear message. Speeches, interviews, emails, and events repeat the same core promises and pain points in different forms.
Sales messaging benefits from the same logic. You define a message around what you will improve and what you will decrease for customers. That message then shapes questions, proof points, and offers across formats.
This doesn’t mean reading a stiff script. It means using an outline of pains, outcomes, and questions as a guide. People still speak in their own words, but they don’t improvise from a blank page every time.
“All of these different forms of communication should be built on and pulled from the message.”
Once the core message is clear, it can power every channel. Calls, emails, social messages, and networking intros all draw from the same set of pains, outcomes, and questions.
The structure stays stable. The expression shifts. On a call, a rep leads with a problem and asks two short questions. In an email, they might focus on one key outcome and a single question. In a social message, they might tease one pain point and invite a short reply.
The channel isn’t the main change. The audience is. Teams can hold different messages for different industries and roles. The product may stay the same, but the pains and gains for finance, operations, and IT differ. Tailored messages in their language create more interest and trust, while still using the same method.
“Most organizations marketing and sales are not aligned.”
Misalignment shows up as whiplash.
Marketing talks about pains, outcomes, and stories. Sales reverts to features, specs, and “we’ve been around since...” Prospects end up hearing two versions of the company, sometimes in the same week.
A shared message foundation fixes that faster than most “alignment meetings” ever will.
When sales defines a clear set of:
- pains
- outcomes
- proof points
- questions
…marketing can use the same material across the web, campaigns, ads, and content. Sales inherits language that’s actually usable in conversation. New reps ramp faster. And the brand stops sounding different depending on which door the buyer walks through.
Alignment here isn’t abstract. It shows in clearer campaigns, stronger calls, and better handoffs.
“Create a list of three improvements your product or service delivers.”
You don’t need a six-month initiative to improve messaging. A single seller can start tomorrow with three simple lists:
- A list of three concrete improvements your offer creates.
- A list of pain points you help to solve.
- A list of good questions that surface those pains.
These lists shift the focus from “what we sell” to “what changes for you.” They give reps better intros, stronger replies to “we’re fine,” and more natural questions in meetings.
AI adds extra support here. It can help brainstorm pains, refine outcomes, and suggest questions for each segment. It can’t replace human contact, but it can raise the quality and speed of the work.
Messaging itself remains a timeless skill. Conditions change, tools change, and markets shift. The need to say the right thing, in the right way, in a small window stays the same. A message that keeps evolving with that reality gives sellers a clear edge.
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