At the outset the guide will ask them:
- What they are selling
- Who they are competing against
- What GEO or industry vertical they are selling into
This then allows us to guide the rep in a highly contextualized manner at every stage of the sales cycle. The first three Guided Selling sections are designed to de-risk the deal.
Reps are provided with curated best practices for qualifying opportunities. They are presented with criteria to analyze the opportunity to determine:
- The probability of winning
- If we can optimize deal size and quality
- Probability of renewal
A qualification score is given based on their answers. Where it doesn't align or the rep is “not sure” an action is placed in the action plan center.
In this section, reps are coached to make certain we are having the right conversations with the right people. Based on the deal type they are working on reps are presented with:
- The customer titles we should be talking to at all buying influence level
- KPI’s your solution can impact for each stakeholder
We will also analyze:
- Customer sentiment toward our solution
- Our engagement level with them
- If the current conversation is about product and price or customer KPI’s
An important part of our work in this section is to identify who the key stakeholders are who hold more sway in the decision process. For uncovered stakeholders, low engagement etc. an action is placed in the action plan center.
The third and final step of de-risking the deal is to determine our ability to compete on this deal. Reps will be presented with decision criteria by stakeholder and how we’re able to compete with the alternative.
We will analyze:
- By stakeholder and buying level
- Where we have an edge, are equal to, or disadvantaged for specific buyer decision criteria
An important part of our work in this section is to identify the key decision criteria for key stakeholders identified in the previous section.
The rep is presented with a score that represents their “power” in this deal and the opportunity to win. Where we’re not sure, or are disadvantaged, an action will be placed in the action center.
Actions
Areas of risk related to:
- Deal qualification/quality
- Stakeholder access and engagement
- Our ability to compete
These are then listed in an action plan. This is also an ideal “at a glance” spot for front line sales leaders to identify where we are on a specific opportunity.
Discovery
Also in this section reps are provided with custom, AI driven high yield discovery questions by stakeholder level to fill in knowledge gaps.
They are also presented with an overview of best practice decision making to lead the customer buying process. This overview includes:
- Customer stakeholder who should be involved in the decision process
- Specific criteria each stakeholder should be using when making the decision
After discovery is executed the rep is now ready to begin thinking about the solution to present to the customer. Many sales leaders are frustrated that reps are simply filling orders for customer requests. At this stage we work with the rep to change the conversation from what the customer is ordering to what the customer should be ordering.
The following best practice is presented to the rep based on your executives priorities:
- Ideal solution configuration
- Key commercial terms where we’re likely to get pressure from customers and the internal deal approval process
The ideal solution and ideal commercial terms configuration are designed for this opportunity.
At the heart of changing the customer conversation from the price of products is something we call Multiple Solution Options. This approach:
- Presents the customer with three different paths forward
- At three different effectiveness and investment levels
- One is the optimal solution prepared in the previous step, one is most likely what the customer is ordering and one in the middle.
The AI will configure all three for the rep based on the details for this opportunity. We will present:
- Titles for each that speak to the business impact for the customer
- Solution configuration (at a high level)
- Key commercial terms
During the onboarding process reps will learn how to work with the customer to use these three options as a sensitivity analysis to customer needs. They will have the customer “rack and stack” the three solution options and then work to co-create a fourth.
Managers are able to view a one page "at-a-glance" deal summary to improve efficiency and effectiveness of one on ones. The summary will include:
- Deal qualification score
- Key stakeholders
- Power score
- Risks/Action plan
- Draft of multiple solution option titles
Selling has been over complicated and overengineered. As we look to close deals we need to focus on:
- Who are the key stakeholders
- What are their key 1-2 decision criteria
- What are the 1-2 areas we meet those needs better than alternatives
- Which key commercial terms are we likely to get most pressure on
Precision Guided Selling helps reps net out these key issues at scale.
In the past, most reps have been taught to understand the customer decision process. In today's market there is committee buying and no decision is on the rise. The customer buying process is broken. We believe with the right tools and information reps can add value and provide the buyer and provide them with a framework for making complex decisions.
It’s important to cut through the noise of complex sales methodologies and focus on the facts that make a difference.
Our unique technology is what is known as an Intelligent Application or IA. IA is a blend of modern software sprinkled with AI to make it even smarter. Unlike training an LLM, Intelligent Applications have efficacy from day one. Most of this is due to the fact that we curate and automate best practices across your company and then use AI to help the reps leverage them. We do not rely on pulling large data from other systems.
