The Klue rep showed me feature 47 of their competitive intelligence platform.
I stopped him: "We probably won't use that. Do you have a basic tier without advanced features?"
"No, we only offer our comprehensive enterprise platform. All features included."
"What does it cost?"
"$18,000 annually for your team size."
I calculated: We'd use maybe 10 of the 100+ features. We were paying for 100 features to use 10.
Cost per feature actually used: $1,800.
But I signed anyway. It was "best-in-class." Surely we'd grow into the advanced features.
Eighteen months later, we were still using the same 10 features. The other 90? Never touched.
We'd paid $27,000 for features we never used.
That's why most PMMs overpay: We buy comprehensive platforms when we need simple solutions.
Here's how to stop overpaying.
The Overpayment Pattern
After analyzing our $52K PMM tool stack, I found a consistent pattern:
What we actually needed:
- Competitive intelligence: Track 6 main competitors, quick battle cards
- Sales enablement: Share materials, track usage
- Launch management: Coordinate 6 launches/year
- Messaging: Store and update frameworks
What we bought:
- Klue Enterprise ($18K): 100+ features for tracking 200+ competitors with advanced analytics
- Highspot Enterprise ($22K): Enterprise content platform with AI, certifications, coaching
- Asana Premium ($10K): Advanced project management with portfolios, workload, advanced automations
- Notion Team ($2K): Collaboration platform with advanced permissions and integrations
Total paid: $52,000
Total needed: ~$5,000 worth of features
We were paying 10x more than needed by buying enterprise platforms for basic use cases.
Why PMMs Overpay: 7 Reasons
Reason 1: "Best-in-Class" Bias
We evaluate tools by asking: "What's the best competitive intelligence tool?"
Answer: Klue, Crayon (both $15K-18K)
Better question: "What's the simplest tool that solves our specific competitive intelligence problem?"
Answer: Might be a $2K platform, or even integrated into broader PMM workflow.
The bias: We optimize for "best tool in category" instead of "best tool for our specific needs."
What I learned:
Best-in-class for enterprise companies ≠ best for our team size.
Klue is "best-in-class" for companies with 50+ competitors and dedicated competitive intelligence teams.
We had 6 competitors and PMM doing competitive intelligence as one of many duties.
We didn't need best-in-class. We needed right-fit.
Cost of best-in-class bias: $16,000/year (paying for enterprise when we needed basic)
Reason 2: Feature FOMO
"What if we need advanced features later?"
What happened:
Month 1: "We'll probably use Klue's AI competitor tracking eventually." Month 6: Still not using it. Month 12: Still not using it. Month 18: Cancelled Klue, never used 80% of features.
The pattern:
We buy based on what we might need in the future, not what we need today.
Result: Paying for features we never grow into.
What I learned:
Buy for today's needs. You can always upgrade later if you actually need advanced features.
Starting with expensive enterprise platform "to grow into" = paying for features you'll never use.
Cost of feature FOMO: $8,000/year (paying for features we thought we'd use but didn't)
Reason 3: Vendor-Driven Evaluation
Vendors show you their comprehensive platform. You evaluate based on what they show you.
Klue demo pattern:
Hour 1: Amazing features (competitor tracking, battle cards, analytics) Hour 2: More amazing features (news monitoring, social listening, insights) Hour 3: Even more features (integrations, workflows, advanced analytics)
By end of demo: "Wow, this is comprehensive!"
What we didn't ask: "Do we actually need all this?"
The bias: Vendors show comprehensive platforms because that's what they sell. We evaluate what they show instead of what we need.
What I learned:
Don't ask vendors: "Show me your platform" Ask vendors: "Show me how you solve [our specific problem]"
If demo goes beyond 30 minutes, they're showing features you don't need.
Cost of vendor-driven evaluation: $12,000/year (bought comprehensive when we needed basic)
Reason 4: Fear of Cheap = Bad
"$2K platform must be inferior to $18K platform."
The assumption:
More expensive = better quality Cheaper = missing features or poor quality
Reality:
$18K Klue had 100 features. We used 10. $2K alternative had 15 features. We needed 10.
Klue wasn't "better." It was more comprehensive for use cases we didn't have.
What I learned:
Price correlates with feature breadth, not with how well it solves your specific problem.
Sometimes the $2K tool is better for you because it focuses on what you actually need.
Cost of equating price with value: $16,000/year (paying $18K for what $2K tool could do)
Reason 5: Not Calculating Total Cost
We compared tool costs: Klue $18K vs. Alternative $2K.
Klue seemed worth it: "More features for the investment."
What we didn't calculate:
Klue total cost:
- License: $18,000
- Time managing complex platform: 4 hrs/week × 50 × $80 = $16,000
- Time we didn't use (features unused): Worth $14,400 (80% of platform)
- Total: $48,400 (paying for platform + time + unused features)
Alternative total cost:
- License: $2,400
- Time managing simple platform: 1 hr/week × 50 × $80 = $4,000
- Features needed vs. provided: 100% utilization
- Total: $6,400
Klue cost 7.5x more in total cost, not 9x more in license fees.
What I learned:
Calculate total cost:
- License cost
- Management time cost
- Unused feature cost (paying for what you don't use)
Cheaper license often = lower total cost.
Cost of not calculating TCO: $42,000/year total vs. $6,400 (7x overpayment)
Reason 6: Point Solution for Everything
"We need competitive intelligence tool, sales enablement tool, launch management tool, messaging tool."
What we bought:
- Competitive intelligence: Klue ($18K)
- Sales enablement: Highspot ($22K)
- Launch management: Asana ($10K)
- Messaging: Notion ($2K)
Total: $52,000 for 4 separate tools
What we didn't consider:
"Could one integrated platform handle competitive intelligence + enablement + launches + messaging?"
Answer: Yes, for $2,400.
We overpaid by 22x because we bought separate tools for interconnected workflows.
What I learned:
PMM workflows are interconnected:
- Competitive intelligence feeds messaging
- Messaging feeds enablement
- Everything feeds launches
Buying separate tools for interconnected workflows = paying for manual integration.
Buying integrated platform = paying once for automated integration.
Cost of point solution thinking: $49,600/year (overpaying by buying 4 tools instead of 1 integrated platform)
Reason 7: Not Testing Before Buying
We evaluated tools by:
- Watching demos
- Reading reviews
- Comparing features
- Asking for references
What we didn't do: Use the tool for real work during trial.
Result:
Bought Klue based on impressive demo.
After 3 months: Realized we weren't using 80% of features and the 20% we used could be done elsewhere.
What I learned:
Don't trust:
- Demos (they show ideal scenarios)
- Feature comparisons (breadth ≠ value)
- Reviews (written by people with different needs)
Trust:
- Doing your actual work in the trial
- Measuring time savings
- Testing if team actually uses it
Cost of not testing properly: $18,000/year (bought tool that looked great in demo but didn't fit actual workflow)
How to Stop Overpaying
After overpaying for 18 months, here's what I learned:
Step 1: Define Your Actual Problem
Don't start with: "What's the best competitive intelligence tool?"
Start with: "What's our specific competitive intelligence problem?"
Our actual problem:
- Track 6 competitors (not 200)
- Create simple battle cards (not comprehensive 8-page analyses)
- Update when competitors change (not monitor 50 news sources daily)
- Distribute to sales (in tools they already use)
Solution needed: Basic CI with fast battle card creation and auto-distribution.
Not: Enterprise platform designed for 200+ competitors and dedicated CI teams.
Step 2: Calculate Your Budget Based on Value
Old approach: "What do these tools cost? Can we afford it?"
New approach: "What's this problem costing us? What's reasonable to spend?"
Our competitive intelligence problem cost:
Manual process time: 8 hours/week × 50 weeks × $80/hour = $32,000/year
Reasonable to spend: Up to $10,000 to solve a $32,000 problem (3x ROI minimum)
Actual purchase: $18,000 (worse than reasonable)
Better purchase: $2,400 integrated platform (13x ROI)
Step 3: Test With Real Work
During trial period:
Do 3 actual tasks:
- Create battle card for main competitor
- Update competitive positioning
- Distribute to sales
Measure:
- Time to complete each task
- How many tools touched
- Whether sales actually uses it
Disqualify if:
- Tasks take longer than current process
- Requires touching multiple tools
- Sales doesn't use the output
Step 4: Calculate Total Cost of Ownership
Don't compare: License fees
Compare: Total cost
Total cost formula:
- License cost
- (Weekly management time × 50 weeks × $80/hour)
- (Features unused × average cost per feature)
- Time saved per week × 50 weeks × $80/hour
Example:
Klue total cost: $18K license + $16K management - $12K time saved = $22K net cost
Integrated platform total cost: $2.4K license + $4K management - $24K time saved = -$17.6K (net savings)
Integrated platform saved $39.6K more than Klue.
Step 5: Buy Minimum Viable Solution
Old approach: Buy comprehensive platform, grow into features
New approach: Buy minimum features needed, upgrade if needed
Reality: Most teams never need advanced features.
Better: Start simple. Upgrade only if you actually need more.
Starting with enterprise platform: 90% chance you overpay for unused features
Starting with simple platform: 100% chance you pay for what you use, can upgrade if needed
Step 6: Consolidate Instead of Accumulate
Old approach: Buy best-in-class tool for each function
New approach: Buy integrated platform handling all functions
Why:
4 point solutions × $13K average = $52K + manual integration overhead
1 integrated platform = $2.4K + automatic integration
Consolidation saves 95%+ because you're not paying for:
- 4 separate licenses
- Manual integration between tools
- Context switching overhead
- Multiple vendor relationships
The Right-Sized Stack
After learning to stop overpaying:
Before (overpaying):
- Klue: $18K (using 20% of features)
- Highspot: $22K (using 30% of features)
- Asana: $10K (using 25% of features)
- Notion: $2K (using 40% of features)
- Total: $52K, average 28% utilization
After (right-sized):
- Segment8: $2.4K (using 95% of features)
- Salesforce: Shared cost, $0 incremental
- Total: $2.4K, 95% utilization
Annual savings: $49,600 (95% reduction)
Better value: Paying for what we use, not what we don't.
The Overpayment Audit
If you have PMM tools, audit them:
For each tool, calculate:
- License cost: $X/year
- Features available: Y features
- Features actually used: Z features (be honest)
- Utilization rate: Z/Y
- Cost per used feature: $X/Z
Example - Our Klue audit:
- License cost: $18,000/year
- Features available: ~100
- Features actually used: ~15
- Utilization rate: 15%
- Cost per used feature: $1,200
If utilization <40%, you're overpaying.
If cost per used feature >$500, you're overpaying.
The Right Questions
Before buying any PMM tool:
Question 1: "What specific problem am I solving?" (Not "what's best-in-class")
Question 2: "What's the simplest solution to that problem?" (Not "what's most comprehensive")
Question 3: "Can one integrated platform handle multiple functions?" (Not "what's best point solution for each")
Question 4: "What will I actually use?" (Not "what might I need eventually")
Question 5: "What's the total cost including my time?" (Not "what's the license fee")
These questions prevent overpaying.
What I Do Now
I pay $2,400/year for PMM tools instead of $52,000.
Why:
I stopped buying:
- Best-in-class when I needed right-fit
- Comprehensive when I needed simple
- Separate tools when I needed integrated
- Enterprise platforms when I needed basic
- Features I might use when I needed features I would use
Result:
Same work done. Better integration. 95% cost reduction.
The lesson: Most PMMs overpay because they optimize for comprehensive features instead of workflow efficiency.
Buy for your specific needs, not for impressive feature lists.
Calculate total cost, not just license fees.
Test with real work, not demos.
Consolidate instead of accumulate.
That's how to stop overpaying.
I overpaid $49,600/year for 18 months learning this lesson.
You don't have to.