At the core is the attempt to understand the balance between product, customer and customer, while looking at long-term relationships. Instead of competing on price, products must compete through differentiation. This can be done in many ways, and one keyway is to understand the perceived value of a product in the mind of the customer.

Startups have to understand customer needs and propose solutions for the user, rather than trying to sell a ‘product’. Salespeople in startups have the responsibility of introducing the product, to build the brand, and to continue to demonstrate the product to the end user. The Sales Cycle does not end with the sale itself, rather, hand-holding has to continue so that the user becomes familiar with using the product.

The book talks about a single powerful strategy that contributes to maximizing sales, with emphasis on use case selling. There are several kinds of needs. Even if the buyer has done research, there are still needs that are not known by the buyer. Value can be created by servicing unknown needs as well.