Sales talks need more conversations about QKS ROI Benchmark Framework™?

 

Sales talks need more conversations about QKS ROI Benchmark Framework™?

What do most sales pitches talk about? To start with, they work on the 3-3-3 rule. The rule is to spend 3 minutes researching the prospect, 3 minutes personalizing the message, and 3 minutes executing the outreach. The rule optimizes for getting a response by personalizing the outreach, but it does not shift what salespeople actually say once they have the prospect's attention. So even well-researched pitches end up defaulting to features and benefits rather than the business outcomes that matter to the buyer. Despite Return On Investment (ROI) being theoretically important, it is often absent or poorly executed in real sales conversations. The problem persists for a few reasons. Sales training tends to focus on process and objection handling rather than financial storytelling. ROI tools and calculators exist but are often clunky or introduced too late in the cycle. Reps may also fear being challenged on numbers they are not confident defending. The consequences are as per expectations in such situations. Deals stall because buyers cannot justify the purchase internally, price becomes the main lever when value is not clearly articulated, and the result is longer sales cycles, more discounting, and higher loss rates.

Importance of ROI

Having ROI as a part of conversation is useful for both sellers and clients. For sellers, an ROI calculator, such as the ROI benchmark framework by the QKS Group, helps them build a business case that helps the buyer get internal approval ("CFO-ready" numbers). It allows them to differentiate themselves from competitors by quantifying value, not just listing features. Addition of ROI as part of sales talk also accelerates deals by making the cost of inaction concrete and helps anchor price discussions around value rather than cost. ROI is also important for the sales process. It helps them understand what metrics the buyer cares about and connect their solution to them. Showing return also helps in defending the price of the solution they are selling.

On the other side of the table, the clients can use ROI to justify budget spend to leadership. They can also use it to compare options across vendors and to set expectations for what success looks like post-purchase. Plus, the hard figures give the buyer ammunition to convince internal stakeholders.

ROI in sales

ROI is the measurable business value a customer gets from buying a product or service relative to what they paid for it. Sales ROI typically encompasses hard dollar savings (cost reduction, headcount efficiency, avoided expenses), revenue impact (faster growth, higher win rates, bigger deal sizes), and softer but still meaningful gains like time saved, risk reduced, or productivity improved.

What makes it a distinctly sales rather than a finance concept, is that it is used to justify a purchasing decision before the fact. As we have briefly state above about internal stakeholders, even if the champion loves the product, they typically need to sell it upward. A credible ROI narrative gives them the language and numbers to do that, essentially making the salesperson's job one of equipping the buyer to win an internal debate.

In addition, the buyer, or more often their finance or leadership team, needs to believe that the return will outweigh the cost over a reasonable timeframe. This is why ROI in sales is often forward-looking and estimate-based rather than precise.

So, in sales terms, ROI is less about mathematical precision and more about building a compelling, defensible case that the investment makes business sense. The best salespeople treat it not as a closing tactic but as a thread running through the entire conversation, from discovery to proposal to negotiation.

Role of the 70-30 rule and 3Cs

The 3Cs in sales are Customer, Company, and Competition.

Customer is about deeply understanding those to whom you are selling your product. This includes understanding their needs, pain points, goals, budget, and decision-making process. The idea is that a salesperson who truly understands the customer can tailor their pitch to what matters rather than delivering a generic presentation.

Company is understanding your own organization. This means knowing your product, value proposition, strengths, weaknesses, and what you can realistically deliver. A salesperson who knows their company well can position it honestly and confidently and avoid overpromising.

Competition means knowing the landscape. This means having information such as who else the buyer is considering, how your solution compares, and where you win or lose. This allows a salesperson to proactively address comparisons rather than being caught off guard.

The 70/30 sales rule, which stipulates the customer should be talking 70 percent of the time and the salesperson only 30 percent. fits most naturally into the Customer pillar of the 3C's.

The connection to the other two C's is also real, though. When a salesperson listens more and talks less, they gather the intelligence needed to position their company's solution accurately and to understand how the buyer is considering the competition. In other words, the 70/30 rule is the behavioral practice that makes the 3C's framework work in a live conversation. Without it, even a well-prepared salesperson tends to focus more on talking about their product rather than uncovering what the customer needs.

It also connects directly back to the ROI conversation. The 70 percent listening phase is where a good salesperson uncovers the metrics, pain points, and business goals that eventually form the basis of a credible ROI case. If a rep talks too much, they miss the inputs they need to quantify value later in the conversation.

So, we can state the 70/30 rule is the conversational engine that powers both the 3C's framework and meaningful ROI discussions. It creates the conditions for a salesperson to gather enough context to be genuinely useful, rather than just persuasive.