Price the Job, Not the Tool

Part 3 - The Deconstruction Toolkit: Finding the True Outcome

Chapter 5: The Intellectual Scalpel: Deconstructing Value with Socratic Questioning

The transition from a tool-based subscription to an agent-based outcome contract is not a sales process; it is a diagnostic one. The most valuable conversation you will ever have with a customer is the one that happens before you ever mention your product. In the old model, the goal of a salesperson was to secure a “demo,” to show off the features of their tool, to prove its potential. In the new model, the goal is to secure a “diagnosis,” to understand the fundamental problem, to identify the outcome.

This requires a completely different skillset. It’s not about persuasion; it’s about precision. It’s not about “solution selling”; it’s about “problem un-packing.” You must become an expert at deconstruction, at breaking down a customer’s complex, messy, and often misunderstood “need” into its most basic, foundational truths.