Most B2B companies obsess over their own sales decks: market size, shiny technology slides, even alien jargon that only investors clap for.

If you had a splitting headache and, instead of giving you medicine, the doctor launched into his five-year plan and a monologue about his amazing stethoscope… you’d walk out.

That’s exactly what too many B2B companies do.

They obsess over decks packed with market-size charts, shiny tech slides, and alien jargon that only investors clap for. But buyers don’t buy slides. They buy solutions.

Why investor-style messaging fails in B2B

When you walk into a clinic with a stomachache, you’re not asking for the doctor’s roadmap or device specs. You want one clear answer: Will this pill stop the pain today so I can get back to work?

That’s how buyers think in complex B2B deals - not in investor language, but in human psychology.

And the environment is genuinely hard. Gartner reports that 77% of B2B buyers describe their most recent purchase as very complex or difficult, with multiple stakeholders and conflicting information to reconcile. 

In that reality, vague visionary messaging doesn’t close deals. Buyers lean toward vendors that feel clear, safe, and relevant.

The translation problem

• Messaging for investors: Vision, future, upside.

• Messaging for buyers: Clarity, risk reduction, proof.

If your marketing sounds like a pitch deck, you may win applause, and lose the deal.

Build marketing like a buyer conversation (not a pitch deck)

Use this consultation-style flow:

1. Start with the symptom
   Name the pain in the buyer’s words (not internal jargon). Show you understand the current state.

2. Diagnose the cause
   Explain what’s driving the pain briefly, in plain English.

3. Prescribe the plan
   Outline how you’ll solve it: steps, owners, timeline, and what changes on Day 1.

4. Set expectations
   What improves immediately? What takes a quarter? What risks exist and how you’ll mitigate them.

5. Show proof
   Logos, metrics, short case snapshots. Make the outcome feel inevitable.

6. Make next steps safe
   Offer a low-risk action: audit, pilot, or limited-scope sprint.

A simple buyer-first messaging framework

Pain → Cost of Inaction → New Way → How It Works → Proof → Next Step

• Pain: “Security reviews are stalling late-stage deals.”

• Cost: “Each stalled deal hides pipeline risk and costs RMxx/week.”

• New Way: “Pre-clear security with an explainable review pack.”

• How It Works: “Week 1 map controls. Week 2 generate artefacts. Week 3 dry run.”

• Proof: “Cut review time by 41% for [Client].”

• Next Step: “Book a 30-minute ‘Security Unlock’ audit.”

Before/after copy swaps (that convert)

• Before (investor): “Our AI platform revolutionises data-driven decisioning.”
  After (buyer): “Know which deals to prioritise this week and why, in one dashboard.”

• Before (investor): “Future-proof architecture for scalable innovation.”
  After (buyer): “Go live in 14 days. Add users later without changing your stack.”

• Before (investor): “State-of-the-art ML accuracy.”
  After (buyer): “Reduce false positives by 32% in month one, see the labelled examples.”

What to keep on the page (and what to cut)

Keep

• Crisp problem statement in the buyer’s words

• One “now vs after” visual (keep it single, not a gallery)

• Three-step plan + indicative timeline

• A killer proof block (logo + metric + quote)

• A friction-free CTA (audit, pilot, calculator)

Cut

• Five-year roadmaps and funding slides

• Acronyms your customer never uses

• Feature laundry lists without context

• Thought-leadership that never answers “what do I do next?”

The bottom line

Stop writing marketing like a pitch deck. Build it like a buyer conversation.
Clarity beats clever. Proof beats promises. A safe first step beats a sweeping vision.

Reality check: Is your messaging designed to impress investors, or to convert actual customers?