How to leverage a sales-assisted buying process

Companies often require you to talk to their sales team to buy their software. This has typically been a frustrating experience for buyers but here are some ways to take advantage of it and make it valuable to you. 

Know what to expect 

Here’s what a typical sales-assisted process might look like: 

☎️ Discovery call: introductions and basics. May include a quick peek at the product but is mainly used to set the groundwork for the rest of the evaluation. The sales rep may also be trying to assess your “qualification” for a sales-assisted plan, which includes whether there is clear/strong intent and alignment to make a buying decision (vs. just opportunistically exploring). 

💻 Customized demo: Typically you’d get a more detailed demo highlighting the most important requirements for you and your team. This is an excellent opportunity to ask questions you’ve not been able to get answers to easily via your research. 

✏️ Trial/POC/product eval: If you’re continuing you’ll likely want to take the product for a trial run, including installation, creation of experiences, go-live, etc. It’s unrealistic to expect to be able to influence any key metrics in this phase, so focus on testing functionality and assessing how well you’d be able to use the tool. 

👌🏼 Procurement/closing: You’ll be presented with a proposal and can undertake reviews of legal terms, security, compliance, etc., before signing an agreement. 

Be prepared to share key info 

Some less experienced buying groups will attempt to guard their information for fear of being duped or outmaneuvered into a disadvantageous position or price. This is counterproductive and will prevent the vendor from providing you with the most useful and accurate information to make an assessment. 

Here is a list of items that you'll be asked to share. Sharing this before calls or asynchronously (e.g., via a document) will even speed up the process. 

All of these questions are designed to enable sales reps to show you the most relevant parts of the product, highlight similar case studies, offer best practices, and more quickly help furnish you with the information you need to make a decision. There is no harm in providing this information. 

You may not need to answer all the questions up front, and as you align with your vendor of choice, you can be prepared to go deeper and share more info to help your sales rep support you. Remember, they are as much your advocate internally amongst their team, as they are an advocate for their team towards you. 

Leverage your AE as a quarterback 🏈

Throughout the sales process, you may meet different people from the vendor’s team, this is a good opportunity to assess the overall quality of that team. Are people knowledgeable, diligent, responsive, etc., and would you like to work with them?

Once you engage with your Account Executive, use them effectively to help speed up your process. By sharing your needs, concerns, learnings, etc. you will enable them to fill in gaps and offer advice to ensure you are sufficiently armed to make the right decision. 

You can also leverage your AE to help you meet other key folks on the vendor’s team, such as your Customer Success reps, Product leaders, and any others from whom you need more information or want to speak. They're on your side!