Why B2B Products Fail Without Mastering Value Translation
Master Value Translation to Win Across Every Audience
The Insight That Changed Everything
Early in my product career, I experienced something that fundamentally changed how I think about B2B products.
I was running demos constantly—different companies, different stakeholders, different priorities.
Young and eager, I believed I had a winning product. But what amazed me wasn’t just how diverse these organizations were—it was how differently each audience saw the product’s value:
To users, it was an immediate win: "Wow, I can pull these insights for my presentations in seconds!"
To managers, it triggered a broader calculation: "How can this help us streamline operations across the team?"
To C-suite executives, it barely registered—until one key metric appeared: "Hold on, go back to that trend-line."
It became clear to me: B2B success isn’t about features—it’s about translating value effectively across layers of the organization.
I realized something crucial: I wasn’t just seeing different interpretations of the same value. I was watching value transform—or die—as it moved through organizational layers.
Each stakeholder didn’t just see different benefits—they needed entirely different stories to fight their own battles.
This pattern isn’t unique to my experience—it’s everywhere in B2B. And yet, most product teams miss it entirely.
The Value Translation Chain
If you’ve ever watched an enterprise deal stall, you know the frustration. On the surface, the reasons often sound simple:
"They chose another vendor."
"The budget got cut."
At first glance, these explanations might seem like the end of the story. But in my experience, they’re not the real reasons deals fall apart. They’re symptoms of a deeper failure: broken value translation.
What is value translation?
In B2B, the journey of your product’s value doesn’t stop with the first person who sees it. It needs to travel—across teams, up the chain of command, and into the hands of decision-makers. At every stage, your product’s value is reshaped and reinterpreted.
If this chain breaks at any point, deals stall, champions lose momentum, and your product’s story dies in the process.
The Role of Client-Side Champions
Your client-side champions—the people inside customer organizations who believe in your product—are your most critical allies. They are the ones who: