For tech companies competing in the crowded, ever-evolving B2B marketplace, demonstrating a solid return on investment is key to winning new clients and retaining current users. With an audience heavily focused on budgets and the bottom line, B2B tech companies must be able to highlight the real, measurable value of their products and services.
Below, members of Forbes Technology Council share creative and highly effective strategies B2B tech companies can leverage to showcase the comprehensive ROI of their solutions. From interactive calculators to micro-pilots, these methods can help both loyal customers and promising prospects better appreciate the value of your offerings.
1. Develop An Interactive ROI Calculator
An underused but effective way for B2B tech companies to showcase ROI to potential clients is through interactive ROI calculators. Instead of solely relying on case studies and white papers, an interactive ROI calculator allows potential clients to input their own data—such as current costs, inefficiencies or revenue metrics—and be able to instantly see the financial benefits of the solution. – Gary Singh, Walmart
2. Share Similar Customers’ ROI
Our clients are very sophisticated and do their research well. The key thing we can do is to empower them to make an informed decision that is right for them. To that end, in our experience, the most helpful thing we can do is to share with them how other, similar customers derive ROI from our services. – Maria Scott, TAINA Technology
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3. Help Clients Consolidate Services
Businesses are always looking for ways to consolidate vendors to reduce cost and complexity. Work with your champions in the client company—learn what services or technologies they already have in place that solve similar problems to yours. Demonstrate how the client would be able to reduce or eliminate their use of these other solutions by using your product. – Carlos Morales, Vercara, a DigiCert Company
4. Highlight Real-World AI Efficiencies
Tech companies can demonstrate how AI-driven automation reduces service delays and enhances operational efficiency. For example, agentic AI streamlines IT processes by automating basic L1 tasks and investigative work, leading to measurable cost savings and improved collaboration. Highlighting real-world efficiencies, like reduced knowledge gaps and faster issue resolution, makes ROI tangible. – Ali Siddiqui, BMC Software
5. Tell Successful Client Stories Through Detailed Case Studies
ROI storytelling through detailed case studies is often underused in B2B tech. Real-world examples, with clear before-and-after metrics, help potential clients connect emotionally and logically. Showing how similar businesses achieved success with time saved, process improvements or cost reductions builds trust faster and more effectively than slides or specs alone. – Matthew Jones, Greenhous Group
6. Real-Time Dashboards
An underused yet highly effective way for B2B tech companies to showcase ROI is through real-time dashboards. At Klearcom, we visibly demonstrate immediate improvements in IVR call quality, customer satisfaction and operational efficiency, allowing prospects to instantly grasp measurable value and build trust quickly during live client demos. – Liam Dunne, Klearcom
7. Customize Client Presentations
An underused yet powerful way for B2B tech firms to show ROI for potential clients is to use insightful and highly customized client information. The presentation of the ROI should look and feel almost as if it was internally generated by the client. This approach is highly effective, but it can be very dangerous if poorly executed. The numbers must stack up, even under the highest level of scrutiny. – Henry Patishman, Regula
8. Do A Live Product Audit
Show, don’t tell. Most B2B tech companies drown prospects in slides, case studies and numbers. But nothing proves ROI like instant, tangible impact. The answer? Live product audits. Analyze a prospect’s current setup in real time, expose inefficiencies and show exactly how much time and money they’re wasting. When they see the problem, they’ll demand the solution. – Oleg Sadikov, DeviQA
9. Share Before-And-After Dashboards
One underused but effective method is sharing before-and-after client dashboards or KPIs with anonymized data. Visual proof of improvement in metrics (such as cost savings, speed and efficiency) offers immediate, credible evidence of ROI without the need for lengthy case studies. – Kirill Sagitov, COYTX GLOBAL LLC
10. Analyze Both Hard And Soft ROI
Understand your clients by analyzing both hard ROI (such as cost savings and revenue) and soft ROI (such as job satisfaction or ease of work). For example, streamlining processes saves time (hard ROI) while reducing stress (soft ROI). Study personas—what motivates and frustrates them? Explore their routines, challenges and values (such as efficiency and/or balance). Tailor solutions blending measurable results with emotional benefits. – Teri Thomas, Volpara Health
11. Develop Standalone Prototypes Or POCs
B2B businesses can effectively address customer curiosity and demonstrate product performance by developing a standalone prototype or proof of concept. This investment, especially where deployment costs are high, allows potential clients to use test data and quickly assess the product’s value. – Bihag Karnani, Google
12. Use AI To Forecast Your Solution’s Impact
Predictive analytics storytelling is an underutilized yet powerful approach for B2B tech companies to showcase ROI. Using AI and ML, companies create data-driven narratives forecasting their solutions’ impact. These visual stories blend historical data, industry trends and client-specific variables to illustrate future ROI. This helps to demonstrate value and innovation. – Pradeep Kumar Muthukamatchi, Microsoft
13. Engage In Pro Bono Collaborations
B2B companies often disregard pro bono collaborations as not requiring investment from the other side. However, NGOs, government agencies and other organizations working for the good of society will be keen to utilize the best technology for free. This gives plenty of use cases to show your client base how your tech saves time and resources or advances goals in various organizational settings. – Julius Černiauskas, Oxylabs
14. Leverage Brand Sentiment Tracking
Leverage brand sentiment tracking and branded search metrics to showcase how your solution builds market momentum pre-sale. While competitors focus on conversion rates, demonstrating increased market recognition and consideration paints a fuller picture of value creation, especially for complex B2B solutions where familiarity and trust drive purchasing decisions. – Darshan Kapashi, Socratic
15. Share Enhancement Plans And Allow Clients To Influence Your Product Roadmap
One underused but highly effective way for B2B tech companies to showcase ROI is by highlighting both the immediate value their solution provides and the future enhancements that are planned. Allowing clients to influence the product roadmap fosters a long-term partnership and demonstrates that the solution will continuously evolve to meet the client’s needs, adding clear ROI over time. – Aishwarya Suresh, Medtronic Inc.
16. Highlight Time-To-Value
Highlight time-to-value based on tangible milestones. Give a measurable, phased return on investment—for example, “90 days, 20% faster customer onboarding.” This is particularly valuable for enterprise clients. – Amy Gu, Dynamsoft
17. Implement ‘Micro-Pilots’
One underused but highly effective ROI strategy for B2B tech companies is implementing “micro-pilots”—small, targeted implementations that demonstrate value in two to three weeks rather than months. These focused deployments generate concrete metrics in the prospect’s actual environment, creating compelling proof points that theoretical case studies simply can’t match. – Lee Cage Jr., BDO
18. Enable Client-Led Cost Audits
Most B2B tech firms overlook client-led cost audits. Buyers trust insights they uncover themselves, yet ROI still hinges on your numbers—not theirs. Instead, help prospects uncover hidden inefficiencies through guided prompts. When they plug in their own data and walk through the logic, they see exactly where your value comes from. – Jēnna Reese, Connect Centric
