If you’re not describing value, what are we even doing here

No one flies Southwest because they love the engines. They fly for the destination (and the thrill of finding the perfect seat, now RIP). Your customers are the same: they don't care about your features. They care about solutions to their problems.

And yet, most of us intuitively sell the engine. You’re excited about a new feature, you ship it and put it front and center everywhere:
"Our platform now features a centralized dashboard that aggregates all your team's communication channels into one view!”

If that message results in silence, it’s often because you're asking the customer to do the heavy lifting of figuring out WHY that feature matters to them personally. Because, of course, we don't sell to companies, we sell to people.

To really get your customer to listen, you must stop being the hero of the story and start being the guide (hat tip to Donald Miller, with a twist). You need a plan to transform your tech speak into a value proposition that helps your customer to not wake up at 3am worrying.

While experts like April Dunford and Anthony Pierri emphasize the importance of context, the traditional “So What?” test can be slow for a busy founder.

Here’s a simple "So That" Filter that takes minimal time and gets your message tighter faster:

1. Write your feature's description. Describe your new baby in all the technical glory.
2. Add the phrase "so that you can..." to the end of that sentence.
3. Finish the sentence by describing the actual transformation in your customer’s life.
4. The Kill Switch. Delete everything before (and including) the "so that you can.”

The Before: “Our platform features a centralized dashboard that aggregates all your team's communication channels into one view….SO THAT: you can get your Monday mornings back and stop chasing status updates across five different apps.

The After: "Get your Monday mornings back for deep work. No more chasing status updates across five different apps.”

Stop selling engines, and start selling the destination. Now they clearly see how THEIR life gets better. They'll ask the HOW later, but the VALUE is what will get them to start a conversation.