Ganesh Shankar is the Chief Executive Officer and cofounder of Responsive, a market leader for strategic response management.
Earlier this year, my team closed the largest B2B technology deal in our company’s history—a seven-figure, multiyear contract with a leading multinational professional services network. After a year of cultivation, collaboration and negotiation, the deal was finally struck. It goes without saying that I’m incredibly proud of what we accomplished. But even more, I’m motivated by what we learned.
The lessons we gained from this win reflect what many enterprise leaders are prioritizing in their technology procurement decisions in 2025. No longer are buyers solely focused on price, speed or a perfectly executed demo. Today’s enterprise buyer makes a decision based on three dimensions: vision, results and a holistic return on investment.
Buyers crave alignment in vision.
When an enterprise buyer lays out their vision, sales leadership must match that vision with conviction and evidence. This alignment is especially critical in B2B technology deals, where decisions rarely rest with a single executive and multiple stakeholders need confidence in the long-term fit.
Implementation of AI in businesses is a common example these days. If the buyer’s goal is to infuse AI thoughtfully across core operations without compromising control or accuracy, you need to demonstrate that you share that mindset just as much as you can provide that capability. Clear examples of how you have already invested in a similar mission, mirrored their aspirations or delivered against their mandates can be a key factor in their final decision.
Because AI is still relatively new territory, buyers also want to feel confident that you bring meaningful expertise to the table. For example, thought leadership on AI’s role in the enterprise that resonates with their own, as well as proof points that show you can navigate the risks of emerging tech.
At this stage, the conversation isn’t really about the product. It’s essential, of course, for eventually closing the deal. But early on, strategic alignment is what keeps you in the running. Vision is a make-or-break factor for enterprise technology deals.
Once the vision is aligned, the next test is clear: Can your product deliver the outcomes buyers need?
Buyers want proof, not promises.
Vision sets the deal off on the right foot. Buyers want proof that your product actually delivers—not just in theory, but in practice, and better than the competition.
During product evaluation, buyers will scrutinize the performance of your offerings against your competitors. They will go deep, comparing and contrasting every last feature. Even small discrepancies in performance, accuracy or results could either kill a deal or set you apart.
One of the toughest comparisons we faced was against a well-known GenAI tool. Our champion tested both platforms by asking a simple but high-stakes question: “How many employees does our company have?” The popular tool pulled a number from the open internet, which was accurate for 2023 but already outdated. Our platform surfaced the exact number that their proposal team had validated just the week before. That single moment of accuracy highlighted what was at stake: risk versus trust. For a global enterprise, relying on stale or incorrect data wasn’t an option. Our ability to ground AI in permissioned, verified content became a decisive advantage.
That’s why bells and whistles rarely impress in B2B technology sales; enterprise buyers are looking for results. And particularly in the case of AI technology, buyers want tools they can trust—in terms of accuracy, reliability and even safety. Hallucinated outputs don’t cut it when major deals are on the line. Rather, tools that anchor their AI in verified, permissioned content rather than scraping the open web are gaining a foothold with risk-conscious enterprises.
Buyers require ROI across revenue, cost and risk.
Return on investment (ROI) is, and will always be, a central question for enterprise deals. However, the way buyers measure ROI has evolved. There are three core factors to consider: revenue acceleration, cost efficiency and risk mitigation.
Margins are increasingly razor-thin, so revenue is key. Enterprise buyers are looking for tools that help them attract new customers and win more business, as well as boost customer loyalty so they can gain more revenue from their existing customers.
But growth isn’t the only lever buyers consider; sometimes, saving cash can have just as much of an impact as bringing it in. Buyers value solutions that reduce redundancies, eliminate manual or repetitive work and allow them to reallocate existing resources toward higher-value initiatives.
Lastly, in the age of AI, security and risk have become a critical variable in the ROI equation. This is especially true for companies in highly regulated industries like finance and healthcare. Today’s enterprise buyer craves technology that prevents costly errors and reputational damage as well as reduces exposure to regulatory or legal challenges.
If your offerings can only claim a generic productivity boost, you may struggle to differentiate yourself enough to win. But if your solution demonstrates measurable impact across revenue, cost and risk—ideally, in all three—you’re in business.
Sealing The Deal
Enterprise leaders today are looking for technology partners that help them move faster, boost revenues, reduce risk and, perhaps most importantly, speak their language. Winning large enterprise deals requires more than simply offering whatever’s “hot” in the moment. The B2B technology organizations that win will be those who align on vision, deliver results and prove ROI where it matters most.
Forbes Technology Council is an invitation-only community for world-class CIOs, CTOs and technology executives. Do I qualify?