Tech companies keep throwing money at the same problem, expecting different results. Customer acquisition costs climb higher each quarter while profit margins shrink under competitive pressure. The traditional playbook of features and benefits isn’t working anymore, leaving even successful companies trapped in destructive price wars that erode their bottom line.
Finding Limits of Sales Training
Dr. Amir Kahani has seen this movie before. After 20 years in tech, he’s watched companies make the same mistakes over and over. “Tech companies today face the same pressure repeatedly. It’s getting harder and more expensive to win customers. The ones you have acquired are less profitable than before. And too often, you end up in price wars that cut margins,” he says. You’d think the solution would be obvious. Train the sales team better. Run more marketing campaigns. Build cooler features. But none of that seems to work. “Most companies try the usual fixes, but the problem doesn’t go away,” Dr. Kahani points out. His path from salesperson to CEO across multiple tech companies showed him something different. The problem wasn’t about selling better. It was about what companies were actually selling in the first place.
Define Your UBC (Unique Business Contribution)
He didn’t stop at experience. He went back to school, earned a PhD in economics, and dug deep into how people actually make buying decisions. What he found changed everything. “Here is what I have learned after 20 years in tech. The answer isn’t more sales abilities. It’s about how your company defines and proves its unique business contribution and how customers see it.” That research led him to create something he calls the Value Selling Organization methodology. But don’t call it sales training. “It is not sales training. It’s a full business strategy built around one question: How do you uniquely help customers reach their goals?” The results speak for themselves. One company using VSO saw their profit per customer jump 50% within months.
Unify The Message
Here’s what Dr. Kahani noticed in most companies he worked with. Everyone was saying something different to the same customer. Sales talked features. Marketing pushed value propositions. Product teams built stuff. Customer success handled renewals. Nobody was on the same page. “Each department uses a different pitch. Sales talk about features, marketing runs campaigns focused on value, product builds functions, and customer success managers handle renewals,” he explains. Meanwhile, the person writing the check has one simple question. “But the customer CEO only wants to know: will this solution help my business grow profitability? If your team cannot show that, closing deals becomes harder, prices drop, and customers leave.”
Measure Trust Like Revenue
VSO fixes this by getting everyone focused on what Dr. Kahani calls your Unique Business Contribution. Forget features for a minute. Forget generic value propositions. “VSO aligns your company around your UBC instead of selling features or value. You prove how your solution strengthens the customer’s business,” he says. When that happens, things start clicking. “You secure faster deals at better margins. Customers benefit because results are clear, and your stakeholders win because everyone pulls in the same direction.” The method breaks down into three steps that make sense. First, figure out your UBC. That’s “the unique way you contribute beyond product features or value.” Second, get everyone speaking the same language. “Marketing, sales, product, and customer success all speak the same language, which is that your customer CEO wants to know business outcomes.” Third, start measuring trust as you measure revenue.
The whole thing comes down to trust. Dr. Kahani’s research showed that trust drives everything that matters. Purchases, renewals, upsells, loyalty. All of it. VSO cuts through the noise and focuses on what CEOs actually care about. “You stop being a vendor and start being a partner,” he explains. The best part? You don’t have to blow up your whole operation. Teams can learn this stuff in six weeks. They figure out what customers really want, then position solutions as the path to get there. “Because in the end, CEOs buy profitable growth they can believe in,” Dr. Kahani says. Companies using VSO aren’t just closing more deals. They’re reducing customer acquisition costs, boosting lifetime value, and building trust into every interaction. It’s not about selling harder. It’s about selling smarter by actually understanding what customers need.
Connect with Dr. Amir Kahani on LinkedIn to explore his Value Selling Organization method.
