Introduction

Milestone -1: Value Narratives is part of the Pre-Engagement Phase of the Value Accelerator Framework.

This is a mandatory Milestone that focuses on transforming the vendor’s strategic foundation into insight-led marketing execution. It ensures that the messaging, campaigns, and content developed by marketing are tightly aligned with the value-selling building blocks defined in Milestone -2 (Value-Selling Foundation).

This Milestone is not executed for each individual sales opportunity. Instead, it is performed whenever the vendor plans to launch a new marketing campaign, reposition an existing solution, or enters into a new market.

Purpose

This Milestone focuses on designing the marketing strategy and creating the content that will later be used in marketing campaigns and sales activities. All marketing campaigns executed in the next Milestone (Lead Generation) are based on the strategy, messaging, and materials developed here in Milestone -1.

While marketing is often understood as a function focused on awareness or lead generation, Milestone -1: Value Narratives introduces a shift in mindset—one rooted in the principles of The Challenger Customer. It redefines the role of marketing as a driver of behavioral change and internal consensus within the buying group.

Traditional B2B marketing often focuses on:

• Building brand awareness and Thought Leadership

• Addressing known pain points with persona-specific messaging

• Generating leads through high-volume, product-oriented content

However, this conventional approach typically fails to:

• Create a compelling case for change

• Influence multiple stakeholders with a consistent narrative

• Equip sales with content that supports insight-led discovery

The Value Accelerator Framework emphasizes two strategic shifts in how marketing should operate:

1. Focusing on the need for change: marketing’s first responsibility is to disrupt the customer’s mental model—not promote a solution. By surfacing hidden risks, inefficiencies, or missed opportunities, the vendor helps customers recognize that maintaining the status quo is no longer viable. Only once this urgency is established should the vendor introduce its unique value proposition.

2. Engaging the entire buying group: in complex B2B deals, decisions are made by groups, not individuals. Marketing must support collective learning—crafting messages that align multiple personas around the same Commercial Insight. Content must speak across roles and departments, facilitating a shared understanding of the problem and the path forward.

To support this transformation, the Milestone introduces a series of models, guidelines and tactics that make the demand generation strategy executable at scale.

Methodology

SIC Framework for Marketing Content

The SIC Framework—originally introduced in The Challenger Customer—is the foundational methodology used to design insight-led marketing content that challenges customer assumptions, builds urgency, and creates demand for change.

The SIC Framework encourages vendors to produce a targeted sequence of high-impact messages, each serving a clear purpose in the customer’s learning journey.

The SIC Framework is structured into three progressive stages:

• Spark

• Introduce

• Confront

Each stage is designed to shift the customer’s thinking—moving them from passive awareness to active engagement—ultimately creating the conditions for meaningful sales conversations.

Spark – Ignite Curiosity

The journey begins with Spark content, which is crafted to provoke curiosity, challenge existing beliefs, and invite the customer to explore new perspectives. This content should feel unexpected, insightful, and friction-free, offering just enough tension to disrupt the status quo without overwhelming the audience.

The objective is not to promote the solution, but to plant the seed of doubt: “I hadn’t thought about that before. I want to know more.”

Examples of Spark content:

• Thought-provoking infographics

• Short, data-backed posts

• LinkedIn carousels or teaser videos

• Customer-led social media quotes

Introduce – Provide In-Depth Insight

Once curiosity is sparked, the Introduce stage delivers deeper insight into the problem. It combines rational evidence and emotional storytelling to help the customer internalize the Commercial Insight and begin connecting it to their specific context.

At this stage, content should reinforce why change is necessary, while remaining vendor-agnostic. It is still not about your solution, but about expanding the customer’s understanding of what’s really at stake.

Examples of Introduce content:

• Explainer videos and animations

• Interactive white papers

• Industry case studies or customer testimonials

• Commercial Insight articles supported by third-party research

The desired reaction from a lead interacting with Introduce content should be: “This makes sense. But how does it apply to my business?”

Confront – Challenge the Customer’s Thinking

The final stage is where urgency is created. Confront content directly engages the customer with personalized, quantifiable insight that shows the cost of inaction. It demonstrates what the customer stands to lose if they continue with their current approach, and invites them to take the first step toward change.

This is not a hard sell—it is a moment of reflection, where the customer realizes the business risk of standing still.

Examples of Confront content:

• Interactive ROI calculators

• Online self-assessment or diagnostic tools

• Persona-specific industry benchmarks

• Video breakdowns of hidden costs or missed opportunities

The desired reaction from a lead interacting with Introduce content should be: “I didn’t know our current approach was this costly. We need to make a change.”

The SIC Framework ensures that every piece of marketing content has a clear narrative purpose. When executed properly, it allows the vendor to guide customers through a structured mental shift—one that opens the door to the solution only after the customer has internalized the need for change.

Each step—Spark, Introduce, and Confront—is centered around the same Commercial Insight, ensuring a unified message that evolves in depth as customer engagement progresses, as showed in the image below.

The proposed marketing approach provides benefits for both the vendor and the Customer:

Benefits for the Customer:

• Better internal alignment around the problem and the path forward

• Reduced confusion caused by fragmented or persona-specific messages

• Empowered stakeholders who feel understood and engaged

Benefits for the vendor:

• Higher likelihood of closing high-quality deals

• More informed and committed customer conversations

• Research from The Challenger Customer shows that vendors using this approach improve win rates by up to 20%

Outreach Strategy

An effective cold outreach strategy is essential to trigger early-stage engagement and test the resonance of the Commercial Insight. In value-based selling, cold outreach is not about volume—it’s about targeted, insight-led engagement that challenges the customer’s thinking from the first interaction.

Different outreach channels offer distinct advantages and trade-offs. The most effective campaigns combine all channels into a coordinated sequence, maximizing reach, feedback, and conversion potential.

The most impactful outreach channels are:

• Cold Calling: Cold calling remains the preferred method for insight-led outreach. It delivers the most direct and immediate customer feedback, allowing the vendor to gauge initial reactions, test message resonance, and qualify leads in real time. It’s particularly valuable when introducing Commercial Insight and assessing stakeholder responses.

• Cold Email: Cold email is less direct, but highly effective when executed at scale. It enables structured experimentation with messaging variations. Open and reply rates can help track resonance, especially when aligned with SIC-driven message sequencing.

• LinkedIn Messages: LinkedIn outreach is ideal for personalized engagement based on visible job roles, activity, or mutual connections. While success rates are generally lower, this method can be used to complement email and calling efforts, and to build familiarity across the buying group.

The most effective cold outreach campaigns combine all three approaches into a structured, multi-touch cadence. This ensures that the same Commercial Insight is reinforced across different formats, touchpoints, and moments in time, increasing the likelihood of response and engagement.

Cold Calling Guidelines Based on SIC Framework

Cold calling is the most direct and feedback-rich form of outreach. It allows vendors to test message resonance, qualify interest, and introduce the commercial insight in real time.

The SIC Framework can be effectively applied to cold calling by structuring the conversation into three clear phases:

• Spark the dialogue by referencing the ICP and opening with relevance

• Introduce the commercial insight to create tension and challenge the customer’s assumptions

• Confront the customer’s thinking by validating the challenges presented and firmly handling objections

This approach helps the caller stay focused, deliver a clear narrative, and guide the customer through a short but high-impact conversation.

Below is a sample cold call script based on the SIC Framework:

1. Opener – Ask for Permission to Talk

Start by introducing yourself clearly and respectfully:

“Hi [Name], this is [Your Name] from [Company]. We don’t know each other, and I know this is unexpected. Do you mind giving me 35 seconds to explain why I’m calling you specifically?”

2. Spark the Conversation – Introduce Relevance

Reference your ideal customer profile to create immediate relevance:

“We’re working with several companies like [ICP]. Many of them face challenges such as…”

Present three relevant and persona-specific challenges. This primes the customer to reflect on their own situation.

3. Confront – Validate and Explore the Situation

Ask a direct question:

“Do any of these sound familiar to you?”

Let the prospect self-select a challenge, then deepen the conversation:

• If yes: Share how similar companies addressed it and the results achieved

• If no or “under control”: Push back gently to explore further

Sample probing questions:

• “Great to hear. Out of curiosity—how do you currently address this?”

• “Do you rely on [industry standard]?”

• “Have you invested in this area recently?”

This stage is critical to surface gaps in the customer’s current thinking and prepare for reframing.

4. Introduce the Commercial Insight + Value Proposition

If the customer acknowledges a challenge:

“We’ve worked with companies in [industry/ICP] to achieve [business outcome] by [value proposition]. Would it be useful to explore how we approached this?”

5. Propose a Discovery Call

If the customer shows interest:

“Since this is an unexpected call, I don’t want to keep you now. How about we schedule a short call to go deeper into your context, and I can show you how others have tackled this?”

If they’re hesitant: consider performing a brief Value Discovery on the spot (see Milestone 1).

6. Close or Exit

• If interested: schedule the discovery call

• If not relevant or not in your ICP: gracefully end the call

• If interest is low but not ruled out: exit politely and note for future follow-up

Key Tips

• Be concise, respectful, and customer-focused

• Use the call to assess ICP fit—not to close the deal

• Immediately follow up with a summary and calendar invite if a call is agreed

The image below provides a visual representation of the Cold Calling Guidelines.

Cold Messaging Guidelines Based on SIC Framework

Cold messages—whether delivered via email or LinkedIn—should follow the SIC Framework to guide the customer from curiosity to reflection. Each message should align with one of the three stages of the framework: Spark, Introduce, or Confront. However, effective messages may contain elements from more than one stage to increase relevance and impact.

Below is an example of a first-touch cold message aligned primarily to the Spark stage. It is designed to ignite curiosity, introduce relevance through a Commercial Insight, and invite a short conversation without pitching a solution.

Subject Line (Spark)

When choosing your subject line, prioritize a tone that resembles a message from a colleague or internal department. This increases open rates by sparking familiarity and curiosity—without immediately revealing the sales intent of your message.

Examples:

• “Logistics coordination – next steps for Site A”

Feels operational and internal; implies continuity or action.

• “Ops input needed: energy use review in factory B”

Framed like a peer request or internal task; invites engagement.

Email Body (Spark + Introduce + Confront)

Hello [Customer Name],

SPARK:

I came across your recent [observation tied to a public initiative, event, or announcement], and it reminded me of a challenge we’ve seen across similar organizations.

INTRODUCE:

In our work with other [target persona]s, we’ve consistently uncovered a pattern—many companies are unintentionally underestimating the impact of [commercial insight theme], which often results in [unrecognized risk or inefficiency].

CONFRONT:

How are you currently navigation this topic with your team?

Best regards,

[Your Name]

[Your Company]

P.S. [Optional personal touch — e.g., “I noticed you’re also a keynote speaker on X—would be great to connect.”]

Outreach Cadence Design Principles

The goal of any cold outreach campaign is simple: book a Discovery Call (see Milestone 1: Value Discovery for details). This call is where the value-selling journey officially starts.

For inbound leads, the objective is to book a Lead Qualification Call. Use the Cold Calling Script Guidelines to qualify the lead before progressing further in the sales process.

To maximize engagement and lead progression, the campaign should include 5 strategically sequenced touchpoints across multiple channels (e.g., email, LinkedIn, cold call)—all directed to the same individual. These touchpoints are not random follow-ups; they are carefully crafted messages that follow the logic of the SIC Framework and guide the lead through a structured journey to discover the Commercial Insight and to appreciate the vendor’s Unique Differentiators.

Each step in the cadence has a specific purpose and message format:

1. First Message – Spark

• Format: Short cold email or LinkedIn message using the SIC structure

• Goal: Spark curiosity and highlight an unexpected challenge

• Tone: Provocative, concise, relevant

• Example:

  “Other [persona]s we speak with are starting to realize that [challenge] is costing them more than expected…”

2. Second Message – Introduce (Quantitative)

• Format: Email with a data point, infographic, or link to a short article

• Goal: Deepen awareness by quantifying the problem

• Tone: Insightful and evidence-based

• Example:

  “A recent benchmark shows that companies in your space lose 12% of productivity due to [Commercial Insight theme]…”

3. Third Message – Introduce (Qualitative)

• Format: Email with a customer story, video testimonial, or short narrative

• Goal: Humanize the insight and make it relatable

• Tone: Story-driven, empathetic, persona-relevant

• Example:

  “Here’s how one [ICP company] realized they were missing a major opportunity in [area], and how they uncovered it…”

4. Fourth Message – Confront

• Format: Link to a self-assessment or ROI calculator

• Goal: Create urgency by showing the cost of inaction

• Tone: Direct, consultative

• Example:

  “Many teams don’t realize how much this is costing them. Here’s a quick self-diagnosis tool to estimate the impact…”

5. Fifth Message – Breakup Message

• Format: Simple, respectful closure message

• Goal: End the sequence professionally while keeping the door open

• Tone: Respectful and non-pushy

• Example:

  “I see you’re not interested at the moment—no worries, I won’t follow up again. If this topic becomes a priority down the line, I’ll be glad to reconnect.”

Best Practices

• Use SIC logic to increase engagement over time rather than repeating the same ask

• Keep each message aligned to the same Commercial Insight, progressively unfolding it

• Vary formats and channels to reach different preferences (e.g., LinkedIn for visibility, email for structure, call for real-time feedback)

• Ensure that every message adds new value or perspective, not just a reminder

This cadence model ensures that every message builds on the last—offering increasing clarity and value—while respecting the lead’s time and attention. It also ensures the Commercial Insight is delivered consistently throughout the outreach effort.

Execution

To execute this Milestone, vendors should perform the following activities:

1. Marketing Outreach Strategy

2. Marketing Content Creation

3. Marketing Automation Strategy

The execution of the Milestone is driven by the marketing department.

In the sections below you can find detailed instruction on how to execute the Milestone.

1. Marketing Outreach Strategy

The purpose of the marketing outreach strategy is to define how to engage customer stakeholders in the early stages of the buying journey—before they’ve raised their hand. This includes identifying the right channels, structuring the messaging cadence, and aligning every touchpoint with the SIC Framework and the Commercial Insight.

Define the Right Channels

Outreach must happen where your target personas are already active and receptive. Depending on your industry and ICP, this may vary significantly. The marketing team must identify the channels where target customers go to learn, explore, and engage with professional topics.

Start by mapping out the most relevant outreach channels:

• Cold Calls – Best for real-time feedback and fast qualification

• Cold Emails – Scalable and structured, effective for insight-seeding

• LinkedIn Posts / Direct Messages – High relevance and visibility for professional audiences

• Industry Events / Fairs – Strategic for high-touch engagements and brand visibility

The outreach strategy should combine multiple channels into an integrated multi-touch, multi-format campaign.

Define the Outreach Cadence

Structure your campaign using a sequence of 5 touchpoints per lead, aligned with the SIC Framework. Each message should serve a specific purpose—educating, challenging, or engaging the customer’s mental model around the Commercial Insight.

Recommended Outreach Sequence:

2. Marketing Content Creation

The purpose of this activity is to create the content that powers the outreach strategy. Every content asset—whether an email, call script, LinkedIn message, or video—should be designed based on the SIC Framework and tied directly to a validated Commercial Insight.

The three steps of the SIC Framework—Spark, Introduce, and Confront—form the narrative arc of the campaign. These steps mirror the structure of a marketing funnel:

• Spark content is the first point of engagement. It captures attention and provokes curiosity by challenging the customer’s current assumptions.

• Introduce content provides supporting insight, either through data (quantitative) or stories (qualitative), to deepen understanding and relevance.

• Confront content creates urgency by showing the cost of inaction and helping customers quantify the business impact of their current approach.

Unlike traditional marketing strategies that prioritize volume, SIC content emphasizes focus, depth, and resonance. Fewer assets are produced, but each one delivers higher value—driving better performance across classical metrics like engagement, conversion, and time-to-response.

All content must align to the same Commercial Insight and follow the SIC messaging progression across the campaign.

Guidelines for Effective marketing Content

To ensure every piece of content is fit-for-purpose and insight-led, follow these core principles:

• Customer-first and supplier-agnostic

  Content should focus entirely on the customer’s experience, challenges, and internal journey—never on the vendor’s product or features. For example, in a customer testimonial, the story should highlight how the customer discovered a hidden issue and mobilized internal alignment, without referencing the vendor.

• Designed to connect personas to each other, not to the vendor

  SIC content fosters cross-functional consensus. It should use language and themes that resonate with different stakeholders (e.g., both a CTO and a CMO), helping them align on the problem and a shared understanding of what needs to change.

• Persona-inclusive, not persona-exclusive

  Avoid over-customizing content for one role. Content should speak across departments and be relevant to the broader buying group—especially those engaged during Value Discovery.

• Tied to a Commercial Insight

  Every piece of content must directly convey, reinforce, or lead to a Commercial Insight. Content that does not serve this purpose should not be produced.

Content to Avoid

The following types of content are misaligned with the SIC Framework and should be avoided:

• Content promoting vendor solutions or product features

• Trade show booths focused solely on product demos

• General content with no Commercial Insight (e.g., “average labor cost trends”)

• Content on broad industry themes with no narrative tension

Such content lacks the focus, urgency, and insight required to shift customer perception.

Keyword Strategy for SIC Content

SIC-based content often challenges the customer’s existing thinking—which means it may not match the keywords they currently use. To ensure discoverability:

• Identify terms customers use to describe their current situation

• Connect those keywords to the framing of your Commercial Insight

• Align search terms with SIC content titles and descriptions

This ensures your content reaches customers in familiar language, while gently nudging them toward new ways of thinking.

SIC Content Designing Principles

SIC marketing content should be designed to:

• incorporate features for content sharing

• incorporate quality gates to access to next content.

In this way, marketing teams can monitor the lead’s engagement with SIC content.

3. Marketing Automation Strategy

In this activity, the vendor defines how to automate and scale their marketing outreach efforts. Automation allows teams to maintain consistency, ensure timely follow-ups, and gather performance data to refine future campaigns.

marketing automation is not just about efficiency—it’s about enabling structured, insight-led engagement at scale.

Automating Outreach Campaigns

To execute the outreach strategy defined in the previous step, vendors can use marketing automation tools that support multi-channel campaign delivery:

• Email automation tools (e.g., HubSpot, Lemlist, Mailshake) to:

  • Schedule SIC-structured email sequences

  • Track open, click, and reply rates

  • A/B test Spark, Introduce, and Confront messaging variations

• LinkedIn automation platforms (e.g., Expandi, Waalaxy, LaGrowthMachine) to:

  • Send personalized LinkedIn connection requests and follow-ups

  • Coordinate message timing across campaigns

  • Monitor engagement rates across different persona types

• CRM-integrated task automation to:

  • Trigger reminders for manual cold calls

  • Assign follow-ups based on lead responses or engagement behavior

These tools help ensure that every touchpoint follows the intended SIC cadence and supports the goal of booking a Discovery Call.

Moreover, marketing content should be clearly tagged according to the SIC Framework, enabling automation tools to precisely track audience engagement by stage and deliver the right content at the right time—guiding each lead seamlessly through the SIC funnel from Spark to Confront.

Use of Artificial Intelligence to Support Lead Interaction

The Value Accelerator also recommends using AI-powered note-taking tools (e.g., Fathom, Avoma, Fireflies) during cold calls and qualification calls. These tools automatically:

• Record and transcribe calls

• Identify key topics and objections

• Capture verbatim customer feedback for use in campaign refinement

By collecting these insights at scale, vendors can continuously improve their content and messaging strategy.

Measure and Improve Based on Data

Automation tools also play a vital role in capturing performance data, which should be reviewed regularly to assess and optimize the marketing strategy.

• Monitor open, reply, and conversion rates across Spark, Introduce, and Confront messages

• Track lead source, persona engagement, and message drop-off points

• Identify which Commercial Insight variants generate the highest interest or resistance

Use this data for continuous improvement—adapting campaigns based on what performs best across channels, industries, or personas.

Please refer to Milestone 0: Lead Generation for guidance on which marketing KPIs to track.

Quality Gates

• Marketing outreach strategy is completed

• Marketing content is designed and produced

• Marketing automation strategy is finalized

Sales Enablement Artifacts

• Cold messages templates

• Cold calling scripts

Note: all templates and tools referenced above are available in the Value Accelerator Academy. The academy provides Sales Reps with ready-to-use resources developed by the Value Accelerator team to support the effective delivery of each milestone.

Need help? Visit the Value Accelerator Academy!

The Value Accelerator Academy is your go-to resource for turning value-selling into a habit and driving predictable revenue.

It offers both free and premium on-demand training, with over 10 hours of content covering every Milestone of the Value Accelerator Framework. Each module includes:

• Actionable lessons

• Real-world examples

• Guided steps to build mastery across all phases of the Framework

In addition to training, the Academy provides a full set of tools and templates to help you tailor the Framework to your specific sales motion—whether you’re leading transactional deals or enterprise engagements.

Start learning at your own pace and turn structure into results.