Some missed forecasts come from one mistake: running a product sales motion on a platform deal.
Foundation vs. Appliance
When I built my home, I chose an architect to design the new house around the foundation of an 1800s barn. That decision was high-risk. From multiple bids, we selected the firm we trusted, aligned with, and believed could execute. We didn’t negotiate price.
When it came time to buy home fixtures & appliances, we negotiated everything. Low risk, easy to swap.
Sales works the same way. A product sale is an appliance. A platform sale is a foundation. Confusing the two is how deals stall or disappear.
The Two Motions
Product Sale (Appliance):
· Solves one problem for one team
· Department manager decides
· 30–90 days
· Competitive feature battles and price negotiations
Platform Sale (Foundation):
· Shapes how the business operates and grows
· Executive team decides
· 3–12 months (or faster if there’s a trigger)
· Built on trust, shared vision, and long-term alignment.
Deal Risk
The biggest risk in platform sales isn’t competition. It’s motion confusion. Focus on 3 elements: Time, Velocity, and Position to mitigate risk.
· Discipline Drift (Time): Treating a platform deal like a product deal, getting dragged into short-cycle feature battles instead of aligning to transformation timelines.
· Feature Lock-in (Velocity): Overcomplicating the product evaluation with platform talks, slowing momentum.
· Single-Threading (Position): Relying on one internal champion in a decision that requires multi-stakeholder alignment.
Mastering the Platform Sale
A platform sale is not a linear sales process. It’s a campaign requiring execution of multiple strategies at the same time:
1. Time – Discover the Compelling Event
Platform sales accelerate when the company is in transition: new funding, aggressive growth targets, acquisitions. There is always funding and urgency associated with these business events.
2. Velocity – Win the War, Not the Battle
You don’t need to win every feature comparison. Being good enough can be ok. Stay focused on the overall campaign and business value. You need to maintain forward movement toward long-term business impact and not get dragged into a feature / function battle. Note: If I'm competing against you, I will try to pull you into that battle, while I flank you by positioning business value with senior executives.
3. Position – Build Trust and Alignment
Buyers pay a premium for a partner they trust to navigate transformation. That requires multi-threaded executive relationships that build a bridge of trust across both the Buyer and Seller’s organizations.
4. Value – Strategic Impact
Effectiveness, risk mitigation, future growth are the strongest types of value. Features that deliver efficiency are the weakest of the value types and only carry you so far. Map the value type to the appropriate personas.
5. AEO – Sell to the Machines
AI buyer agents are now part of the process and have a major impact on the decision-making process. Feed them structured data, not just conversations.
The Physics Lens
These elements make the motions visible:
· Time shows if the buyer is ready for transformation.
· Velocity reveals if momentum is being gained or lost.
· Position shows if you’re anchored with the right stakeholders with the right type of value.
Products solve today’s problems. Platforms enable tomorrow’s growth. Misread the signal across Time, Velocity, or Position—and you lose.
Action
Run your current pipeline through the lens of these physics’ elements:
· Which deals are product battles?
· Which are platform campaigns?
The discipline to know the difference between a platform v product sale is the first step to closing your must-win deals, achieving capital-efficient growth and forecast accuracy.
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I train sales professionals, business leaders, and their AI agents on Sales and Deal strategies using the Compass AI Sales Strategy system. This training acts as a force multiplier, empowering you and your AI agents to work in alignment to win business and exceed your number in competitive environments. Feel free to reach out if I can help you with strategy. It will have a significant impact. Learn more at www.northstar8.com
This was written while listening to Hungersite by Goose.
