An Overview of Our Sales Process

We often get asked by prospective customers what to expect once they begin engaging with our sales team, so I thought I would provide some color on this. 

You may be thinking “I can’t believe a tech vendor is writing a blog about their sales process”. At first blush, I admit it may seem a bit unorthodox, but at Moltin we have a philosophy of “marketing and selling by helping”, which means we have architectured our entire commercial organization around being helpful by providing content, tools, and expertise to help our customers be successful. Part of being helpful is being transparent about how we do business. Therefore, the goal of this post is to ensure you understand and are comfortable with our process, what we aim to accomplish at every step of the process, and who is responsible for which milestones (yes, you will have some homework 😀 ). Now, let’s dive in!

Stage 1 of 5: Discovery

Goal: At this stage you have raised your hand and expressed an interest in speaking with someone at Moltin, and are therefore a “lead” in our system. You probably found us through a Google search, attended one of our webinars, browsed our docs, started a trial, or were referred to us from one of our customers or an analyst. Once you landed on our website, you probably browsed around a bit and realized that Moltin may be a great fit for your project and decided you’d like to speak with someone on our team to learn more. During this stage the goal is to learn a bit more about your project goals and timeline. 

Our top priority throughout the entire sales process is ensuring that you find the right technology partner that best meets your business and technology requirements, and spending the time up-front during the discovery phase is an important first step towards identifying if Moltin is the right fit for your business. Sometimes this even means pointing you to one of our competitors that we think will be a better fit based on your requirements. During this stage the goal is to understand the details about your project goals and timeline. 

What we do: Guide you through a detailed discovery process, asking a series of questions that will flesh-out the right business and technical “fit” for Moltin. The goal here is definitely not for you to feel like you’re on the hot seat. This will be a very casual, two-way discussion. But these questions are an important first step to helping you understand if Moltin is going to be right fit for your business. Here are some examples of questions we commonly ask during the Discovery phase:

• Can you tell me about your commerce vision and current architecture?
• What  are you hoping to accomplish with Moltin? 
• What are the business goals and success metrics associated with the project you're working on? 
• What are your key requirements for your overall commerce technology solution? 
• What functionality/capabilities are you looking for? 

What you do: Bring your project champion and technical leads to a call with us and come prepared to answer our questions and discuss the details of your project.

How/Where: The Discovery stage is usually done via a video conference call, but we can come onsite to your office if you prefer to have this discussion in-person. 

Time commitment: This stage usually takes 1 meeting that lasts about 30-60 minutes.

Stage 2 of 5: Solutioning

Goal: At this stage, we have completed the Discovery stage and we both agree there is potentially a good fit here, and we both agree to dig deeper into the solution. “Digging deeper” is all about understanding the technical fit for Moltin to enable your company to meet your eCommerce business objectives by fully fleshing-out your technical requirements in detail. During this stage the goal is to identify the overall solution architecture required to meet your specific business requirements and how, if at all, Moltin fits into your requirements. Our goal is not to find a way to fit Moltin into your architecture, rather our goal is to find out the best architecture for your business and then determine if Moltin is the right fit. We’ll be honest and up-front about whether we believe Moltin is the right fit for your project or not. 

What we do: Our solution architects and commerce strategists will dig deep into your current-state and desired future-state architecture, business requirements, integrations, etc. We’ll also demo Moltin to your team, as needed, so you can begin to get more comfortable with our solution. The primary “event” in the Solutioning phase is when the Moltin team comes onsite for a Solutioning workshop with your team. 

What you do: Bring your project champion, technical leads, and business to the Solutioning workshop and come prepared to share any existing architecture diagrams you have, and discuss your technical and business requirements in detail. There will also likely be some video conference calls pre-and-post the Solutioning workshop for your project champion and tech leads. At the end of this phase, your team will confirm the Solution meets your business and technology goals. 

How/Where: The majority of the Solutioning stage is done via a 3-4 hour Solutioning workshop, onsite at your office (we travel to you), in addition to a few video conference calls before and after the workshop. 

Time commitment: This stage usually takes a total of 4-5 hours over the course of 2-3 meetings. 

Stage 3 of 5: Contract

Goal: At this stage, we have completed the Solutioning stage. The goal of the Contract phase is just to work through the details of the contact and make sure you’re comfortable with the pricing, all the language in our terms and conditions, SLA, etc. 

What we do: Walk through the pricing details and other contract documents with your team to make sure you understand and are comfortable with everything. 

What you do: Bring your project champion and business leads to a call to review these materials. 

How/Where: The Contract stage is usually done via a video conference call, but we can come onsite to your office if you prefer to have this discussion in-person. 

Time commitment: This stage usually takes a total of 1-2 hours. A 30-min call with between our teams, and then 30-60 mins of offline review. 

Stage 4 of 5: Implementation

Goal: At this stage, we have a contract in place and are ready to start the fun part - working together to implement your digital commerce experience! The goal of this stage is to get your project up-and-running quickly so you can start processing revenue and growing your business. 

What we do: This will depend somewhat on which customer success options you have chosen in your contract, but in general, we match a dedicated customer success engineer with your team who will guide you through the process of implementing your entire commerce solution. 

What you do: Bring your project champion and technical leads to a kick-off call, and then make your team available throughout the implementation process to ensure we stick to your timeline. 

How/Where: The Implementation stage is usually done via a series of video conference calls and real-time communication via Slack channels, but we can come onsite to your office if you prefer to have our team work side-by-side with your team. 

Time commitment: This stage usually takes a total of 2-3 months, but timelines will vary depending on the scope of your project requirements. 

Stage 5 of 5: Growth

Goal: At this stage, we have implemented your new digital commerce experience - woohoo! Now our focus is all about helping you optimize your experience to delight your consumers and grow revenue. The goal is to help you exceed your revenue goals. 

What we do: Meet regularly to review KPIs and discuss optimizations that will help iteratively improve conversion and grow revenue. 

What you do: Bring your project champion, technical leads, and business leads to these ongoing calls with the Moltin team. Come prepared to discuss the state of your business and future goals. 

How/Where: The Growth stage is mostly done via video conference calls combined with a few onsite business reviews throughout the year. 

Time commitment: Ongoing. 

Summary:

I hope you found this overview of our sales process helpful. There are two key takeaways I hope you gleaned from the overview above:

1. Only 3 of the 5 stages in our sales process are related to “sales”. We believe strongly that our success is not about getting a contract, it’s about having happy, wildly successful customers. That’s why our sales process is all about establishing a strategic partnership where we can work together to achieve your business and technology goals. 
2. No technology vendor is a perfect fit for all customers, even though some pretend to be in order to get a sale. You have our word that we will be honest about our assessment of the “fit” for Moltin in helping you achieve your business and technical goals. And if we don’t think Moltin is the right fit for you, we provide guidance and get you pointed in the right direction of other vendor solutions that may be a better fit for you. 

If you’d like to learn more about whether or not Moltin may be the right fit for your business, I encourage you to read our buyer’s guide. 

If you’re interested in engaging with our team, then please just fill out this short contact form and we’ll be in touch asap to start the process. We look forward to working with you and your team!

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