Talking Pain, Selling Solution

4 min read

Why Israeli B2B Companies Are Losing Billions Because They Talk About Themselves Instead of the Customer

In 2024, Israeli technology companies raised over $12 billion and accounted for about 18% of Israel's total exports. The vast majority are B2B companies – software, cyber, fintech, logistics, digital health, and more. But if you go to the website of 90% of them today, you'll see sentences like:

"We are a cloud-based ERP platform" "We provide an advanced WMS solution" "AI-based supply chain management system"

The international customer reads this and says to himself: "So what?" He doesn't want ERP. He doesn't want WMS. He wants to sleep at night without a 3 a.m. call from the US that the inventory is out.

This is exactly the issue preventing many Israeli companies from reaching $10–100 million in annual revenue much faster – they sell a product. They don't sell what the customer really buys: peace of mind, millions in savings, competitive advantage, career advancement.

Real Example 1: Israeli Logistics Company (Fictional Name – LogiFlow)

The company developed a real-time delivery route optimization system with AI. On their site and presentations, they wrote: "Advanced algorithm for route calculation, up to 22% fuel cost savings."

They tried to sell for 3 years to Amazon, FedEx, DHL – closed almost zero big deals. One day, they changed all the messages to: "How to prevent your customers from canceling orders because the delivery was 40 minutes late?" "How to save $1.2 million a year just on Late Delivery fines?" "How to be the only supplier guaranteeing 99.3% On-Time Delivery during holidays?"

Within 9 months, they signed a contract with one of the 3 largest shipping companies in Europe. The product didn't change at all. Only the language.

Real Example 2: Israeli Cyber Company (Real Name – SentinelOne)

When the company entered the market in 2014, they could have said: "We are an innovative EDR platform with AI." Instead, they said: "Your antivirus detects 40–50% of attacks. We give you 100% protection without False Positives that will paralyze your organization." They spoke directly to the pain: CMOs and CISOs afraid they'll be fired after a ransomware attack.

Result? Raised over $700 million and an IPO of $10 billion.

What Exactly Does the B2B Customer Buy? (Not What You Think)

In a 2023 Gartner study, it was revealed that 77% of B2B customers say their purchase decision is a "painful and exhausting journey." And why? Because most suppliers talk about their features, not the business outcome.

The customer buys one or more of the following (in order of importance):

Money savings (lower TCO, faster ROI)
Revenue growth (happier customers, faster sales)
Risk reduction (fines, lawsuits, loss of reputation, firings)
Time savings for him and his team
Personal advancement (he wants to look like a genius to management/board)
Peace of mind (sleeping well at night)

If your site and message don't touch on one of these 6 – you're not speaking the customer's language.

8 Practical Tips on How to Succeed from "What We Sell" to "What the Customer Buys"

Conduct "Jobs to be Done" interviews with 15–20 existing customers Ask: "Tell me about the day you decided it was too much – what happened?" You'll be surprised to find the "trigger" was never technical – it was always business/personal.
Build a Customer Pain Matrix For each customer segment, list: His biggest pain The annual financial cost of that pain Who suffers from it in the organization (CFO? Logistics manager? CEO?)
Change your homepage in one day Instead of "We do X," write: "Enough losing NIS 2.4 million a year on customs delays" or "How to prevent the CEO from asking you why the hottest product's inventory ran out again?"
Use an interactive Calculator Let the customer enter 3–4 data points and show him how much money he's losing today and how much he'll save with you. Companies that added a Calculator saw a 300–500% increase in quality leads.
Tell customer stories exactly in this structure: Life before The day everything exploded (the trigger) Life after implementing your solution Hard numbers (saved 41%, shortened delivery times from 9 to 3 days)
Speak in C-Level language The CFO doesn't care how many servers you saved – he cares how much it reduces OPEX and Days Inventory Outstanding.
Check every text by this simple rule: Can you replace your company name with a competitor's and the sentence still sounds the same? If yes – it's too generic. Delete.
Hire a Value Selling or Customer Marketing expert from abroad for two weeks This will save you two years of trial and error.

Global Data – How Much Is It Really Worth?

Companies using Value-Based Selling reach Quota 68% more than Feature-Based companies (according to Sales Benchmark Index).
On average, the sales cycle for companies that talk "pain" shortens by 37% (Forrester).
71% of B2B customers say they're willing to pay a 10–20% premium to a supplier who deeply understands their business problem (McKinsey).

Summary: Stop Selling Software. Start Selling Business Outcomes.

Israeli technology is among the best in the world. The problem isn't the product – it's the language. When an Israeli company learns to talk "customer pain" instead of "cool features," it suddenly sounds like a strategic partner, not just another supplier.

Start today: Take your homepage, delete every sentence starting with "We," and replace it with a sentence starting with "You're losing…", "You're risking…", "You're wasting…".

Your customers aren't looking for more software. They're looking for someone who finally understands what really hurts them – and gives them the solution.

The one who does it first – WINS