How?

Sales Thinkers.

For the high-value, high-touch sell.

 

Ian H Smith

We work with a particular breed of design thinkers: Sales Thinkers. This is all about how we can help sales professionals engaged in a high-value, high-touch sell. As a method, it is Design Thinking for Sales, which was the basis of research for my Master's degree dissertation.

As described below, Design Thinking in this context is all about challenging business as usual. for high-value sales, of course, it is the high-touch elements that matter most. So, for me, Sales Thinkers are at the forefront of the challenges of the high-value, high-touch sell.

 

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Challenges

Although we are bombarded with everything AI in sales technology today, the high-value, high-touch sell is a human-first art. Yes, we will see here how AI can help increase sales effectiveness, but the core of this is human: the first and most important stage in our Design Thinking Method: Empathize.

Think of thIs as a progressive sequence between buyer and seller:

Receptivity > Rapport > Trust > Truth.

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Method

At Being Guided we believe that the high-value, high-touch sell is at its best when the right set of motivated, empowered stakeholders are engaged: buyside and sellside. From a human perspective this means achieving sufficient receptivity and rapport between buyers and sellers. What folllows is trust leading to truth.

As the name implies: Design Thinking is thinking (and acting) like a designer. Being curious, restless and constantly challenging business-as-usual. It is all about solving problems in a human-oriented way. In order to generate recptivity and rapport, empathy is the key to success.

Inspired by the Stanford d.school1 our Design Thinking method provides six iterative stages: Empathize; Define; Ideate; Prototype; Test; and, Implement. This offers a structured yet flexible framework to better understand users, challenge assumptions and redefine problems.

Empathize

Purpose: Understanding the users and their true needs.

In-depth conversation and observation, provides insights into user behaviours, needs, and motivations. This is crucial to ensure that the solution developed genuinely addresses real problems, built on truth, generated from trust.

Define

Purpose: Clearly articulating the problem to be solved.

After gathering user insights, define the core problem in a user-centered manner. This stage is about synthesising observations and articulating the problem in a way that guides the creation of a compelling argument for a corresponding solution.

Ideate

Purpose: Generating a range of creative ideas to solve the defined problem.

This phase involves brainstorming and exploring a wide array of potential solutions, encouraging out-of-the-box thinking. It's essential for a high-value, high-touch sell, as it embraces creativity in the discovery of effective more for less outcomes.

Prototype

Purpose: Turning ideas into tangible products.

Prototyping means a hands-on approach to the rapid transformation of Current State, generating a simpler, more effective Future State with the right solution. Prototyping is crucial for visualising how digital solutions work.

Test

Purpose: Gathering feedback and refining the prototype.

Testing includes formal test automation plus user trials and feedback collection on the solution. This helps in understanding the user experience, identifying issues, and validating the effectiveness of what has been proposed.

Implement

Purpose: Finalising the solution and launching it.

The final stage involves finalising the solution design based on testing feedback, completing the development, and launching the product or service in question. This ensures that the solution is polished, user-tested and ready for everyday use.

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Platform

Our Design Thinking Platform provides the tools to better manage the high-value, high-touch sell. As illustrated below, this is a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) app powered by Google AppSheet or Salesforce, with Google Gemini or Supercog delivering an AI Copilot.

The Modules for the Design Thinking Platform include a CRM system, where Contacts, Accounts and Opportunities are easily managed. Models are where buyers and sellers engage in Design Thinking with each Opportunity to determine a win-win outcome for both parties.

Powererd by Google AppSheet or Saklesforce Lightnimng Platform, we customise the Design Thinking Platform to meet your needs where the costs for special Modules and Professional Services are delivered as fixed-price Annual Subscription Fees and Professional Services Fees.

As explained below, our Design Thinking Method is applied in six iterative stages throughout ther buying and selling cycle. Other Modules for the Design Thinking Platform include Proposals and Projects, where the conclusions are captured as Models, ready for post-sales Implementations.

Our Design Thinking Platform provides an AI Copilot via Google Gemini or a muli-Large Language Model (LLM) Agent called Supercog. Read about how we are applying AI to measurably improving complex project management for digital agencies, system integrators and IT organisations.

 

Reference

 

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