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Role
Product Designer—user research, design, prototyping, and user testing
Clients
When approached with the challenge of creating an end-to-end sales process, we developed a bookmarking tool that generated personalized sales presentations during live product demos. This not only saved our clients’ time, but also helped them to pitch, pivot, and generate over $460 million in sales.
Considering all of the steps necessary to close a sale, our clients often found themselves spending valuable time personalizing each initial and follow-up presentation. How might we streamline this process to create efficiencies? I led our design and research initiatives to find out.
For a better understanding of the problem, we first needed to more clearly define the journey. To do this, we interviewed and surveyed our clients’ sales staff. This not only allowed us to understand their processes, but also provided key insights into various pain points and areas of improvement.
AFFINITY DIAGRAM OF FEEDBACK
Mapped using a seven stage sales cycle, we identified two major themes: collaboration and personalization. Though all of our clients had a dedicated CRM (Customer Relationship Management) system, their current sales presentation tools did not. In addition, clients spent more than enough time customizing their presentations.
With the help of our talented development staff, it seemed the issue of CRM integration could be quickly overcome via custom APIs (Application Programming Interfaces). In regards to personalization, we explored ideas such as smart search algorithms and presentation templates. By themselves, we found these solutions to be either overly complicated or too limiting.
Instead, the “Aha!” moment came when one of our sales staff commented: “wouldn’t it be nice if you could create a presentation as you’re presenting?” In other words, what if you could bookmark products of interest while showcasing them to then send as a personalized pitch. Testing this feature with low-fi prototypes proved successful—especially when combined with pre-built templates.
With our ideas validated, it quickly became apparent that a CMS (Content Management System) would be necessary to house presentations and make final adjustments. Leveraging our research and insights from Last Drop (learn more), we developed a back-end dashboard that was optimized for managing sales presentations.
And so, the last step was putting it all together. I designed UIs (User Interfaces) for each of our client’s sales presentations and integrated the new feature. With one touch, the bookmarking tool generated personalized sales presentations during live product demos. Once sold, products were then removed from templates through our clients’ CRM system, further maximizing efficiency.
Sometimes creating a seamless sales process can be as ambiguous as it sounds. When tasked with this challenge, intimate understanding of the user journey was key. I leveraged existing user insights and learned the value of past experiences (and documenting them). In addition, I practiced consistency and explored my creativity while I adhered to our product’s design structure.
Guided by this knowledge, we developed a bookmarking tool that streamlined our clients’ sales processes—users could pitch, pivot, and follow up in a single step. As a result, our clients saved hundreds of hours which led to over $460 million in sales.