Every type of process and offer seems to be becoming more complex, including sales processes - but at the same time, there is increasing pressure from above to drive sales figures ever higher. However, it is becoming increasingly difficult to close deals, not least due to the transparency of the markets and the resulting improvement in the ability to compare offers and providers. It is therefore important to find new approaches to convince potential customers in the long term. More and more often agile methods for use. Design thinking can also offer such an approach in the sales process. This article describes what successful implementation can look like in concrete terms: using a real-life example from practice, it is shown that the design thinking approach not only made it possible to close a long-awaited deal, but that the targeted sales figures were even exceeded by far.

The 3 million dollar trip by bus

In their book "Naked Sales - how Design Thinking reveals customer motives and drives revenue", authors Ashley Welch and Justin Jones from somersault innovations describe a very vivid example of how design thinking can be used to successfully change the sales process right in the introduction. Welch and Jones, founders of the renowned innovation agency Somersault in the USA, explain how they were able to help Salesforce win a major deal by coaching an employee, Sachin, and how Salesforce subsequently made design thinking an integral part of their sales process.

Experienced Salesforce account manager Sachin, who like all salespeople is under pressure to bring in more sales, is looking for a new strategy. He wants to close deals faster and have more fun at work, which is why he signs up for coaching from Somersault. The bus company Greyhound has long been one of his target customers. Unfortunately, a final deal has not worked out so far. To change this, he therefore takes Greyhound as a test customer to try out the new method in the coaching process.

Customer experience as a door opener for more success in sales

He books an eight-hour trip on one of the coaches and gets to know the Greyhound company from the perspective of a Greyhound customer. He is encouraged by the coaches to keep his eyes open during the trip, take notes and devote his full attention to the customer experience. He interviews passengers, the coach driver and everyone he meets on his journey, and he takes photos to visually reinforce the experience.

Customer experience opens up new horizons and offers unexpected insights

The principles of design thinking are crucial for measurable success in sales: fully grasping and understanding the customer's perspective and insights. Sachin is fascinated by everything he experiences on this journey. For example, he discovers that the automatic ticketing system on the bus is so slow that the bus driver uses pen and paper to write down customer data faster than the automatic solution can work. He can only make this discovery because he has gone on a journey of discovery himself. His research in front of the computer has so far failed to provide him with these insights.

He uses these insights and writes an email to the lower management level at Greyhound, explaining that he has taken a long ride on their bus and would like to give feedback as a customer. He immediately receives feedback from C-level managers. They are amazed at what he has to report. The problems he describes have been invisible to them until now, as none of the managers have ever taken an eight-hour trip on a Greyhound bus. Sachin is therefore invited by Greyhound to discuss the problems with the management and find solutions.

Success in sales? Design thinking makes a 3 million dollar difference

What is the crucial difference? Instead of going to the customer with a preconceived solution that he had thought up in advance and without any real insight, Sachin can now use photos to show the managers what the bus driver's real problems are and the extent of his frustration. The management is impressed and engages Sachin and his team to work on further solutions to the problems for Greyhound.

Sachin and Salesforce have thus made a significant breakthrough by using one of the most important phases of design thinking, namely the Understanding the userThe company got a bigger deal than they had ever dared to hope for. The vision of a marketing deal turned into the "three million dollar deal", which included a much larger solution with various apps. The insights Sachin gained from the customer experience formed the basis for the development of new innovative solutions with the customer and a new method of deal initiation that subsequently changed the Salesforce sales process.

The really new thing about this is that the sales department is suddenly able to speak the customer's language. They have familiarized themselves with the "real" problems and can therefore offer companies real added value. In this way, he has ensured an enormous increase in sales success. You can find out how you can implement this independently in your company in the second part - Design thinking in the sales process: How you can increase your success in sales.

Design thinking for more success in sales

If you would like to find out more about how Design Thinking can be applied in practice, please register for our regular newsletter on the subject at: designthinking@tci-partners.com

Save the date: September 21 and 22, 2018!

Seminar on "Sell by Design" - how you can increase your sales success with Design Thinking (exclusively based on the method described above by somersault innovations).

You will find more information here shortly.

(Cover image: © oliverhuitson | fotolia.com)