In my last post, I mentioned that despite years of talking about outcome-based offers, most teams are still stuck. There, “stuck” meant, we can’t align on a definition, therefore we are all seeking a different outcome, and we can’t get started. In this one, I take a slightly different angle – and talking to those that figured it out, only to be disappointed with the results. You have built an outcome-based offer, but you haven’t seen the benefits everyone thought it would bring to the organization.
We know the financial reason for we did this: Time-and-Materials (T&M) pricing is in systemic decline because it no longer aligns with customer value.
We also know the market reason we did this: customers are demanding a single point of contact to solve business problems, not just install software.
But there is still a blocker – it’s the “Trust Gap” between the people selling the dream (Sales) and the people who have to guarantee it (Delivery).
Before you abandon the approach, of your organization has designed a perfect outcome-based offer but can’t seem to get it sold or delivered, the problem likely isn’t the offer. It’s that your Sales team is afraid to sell it, and your Delivery team is refusing to sign up for the risk.
The “Black Box” Problem
Our 2025 Embedded PS Report found that 85% of organizations are under increased pressure to grow PS revenue. Naturally, leadership responds by pushing for higher-value, outcome-based contracts.
However, when we surveyed PS leaders about what stops them from growing, “Lack of alignment with Sales and Marketing” ranked as the number two barrier, just behind the lack of sales training.
Why? Because in many organizations, Professional Services remains a “black box” to the Sales team. When a Product Sales Rep (who owns the account relationship) looks at a fixed-outcome contract, they see risk. They see a complex scope that might delay their deal closing. And if they don’t understand exactly what PS does beyond “implementation,” they will default to what they know: selling hours or giving services away to close the product sale.
The Vicious Cycle of Execution
We see a common pattern when organizations try to force this shift without fixing the cultural friction first. We called it out in our report as the “Jumping to Execution” trap.
1. The Mandate: Leadership demands PS revenue growth.
2. The Rush: PS Leadership builds a new “Outcome Offer” in a vacuum.
3. The Resistance: Sales resists positioning the new offer because it complicates their deal.
4. The Friction: Delivery teams push back, refusing to commit to outcomes because they weren’t involved in the scoping.
5. The Retreat: Tension grows, and the organization retreats back to T&M because it’s “safer.”
As noted in our recent research, jumping straight to execution without alignment doesn’t just limit growth—it actively hurts the base revenue.
Moving from “Discounted Hours” to “Shared Risk”
To close the gap, you have to stop treating Sales and Delivery as separate operational silos. You cannot sell an outcome if the Delivery team feels like they are being set up to fail by a Sales team that just wants a signature.
Leading organizations are solving this by breaking down the barriers. One respondent in our 2025 survey noted that their biggest improvement came from aligning a dedicated PS seller directly to a product seller’s account territory. This moves the relationship from transactional hand-offs to a true partnership.
Furthermore, you must address the incentive structure. If Sales is compensated disproportionately on product revenue and PS is measured solely on utilization, they are playing two different games. To sell outcomes, you need shared incentives that encourage collaboration rather than protectionism.
The Path Forward
The move away from “discounted hours” is inevitable. But strategy alone won’t get you there.
If you want to get value out of the offer you took the change in developing, stop looking at your rate cards or your marketing material and start looking at your internal relationships. You need to enable your Sales team to spot the opportunity and empower your Delivery team to own the solution.
Until Sales believes Delivery can execute, and Delivery believes Sales isn’t over-promising, you will remain stuck in the safety of T&M. And it’s hard to grow being safe.
Anthony Paluska is a partner at McMann & Ransford, where he helps embedded Professional Services teams evolve into advisory-led growth engines. He advises PS leaders on portfolio transformation, service monetization, and go-to-market clarity.
He is also co-host of The Consultant’s Way, a podcast focused on highlighting industry leaders and expertise to help PS teams grow with intention.
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