Selling is all about the customer. And so is Align. 

The first question to answer is “what’s in it for the customer”. If you can answer this question, then you’ll know when to introduce the concept of more structured collaboration

When to intro Align 

Buyers want different things at different times. Use Align to anticipate those needs and deliver an unstoppable buying process.

During Discovery 

Remember that you can create a collaboration workspace without a MAP. Early in Discovery you probably don’t know enough to drop a detailed plan on your prospect, so focus on value and your business case.

• Use Align’s Mutual Business Objectives to validate your customer’s business priorities and how you can help. Pull them up in a screenshare and say “did I hear you right?” If they say no, that’s great! “Sorry I misunderstood. Tell me what I got wrong!”
• Use Align’s Content Library to share case studies, NDA, or other assets you want to share. Link to your content store or just upload assets into the template or specific workspace. 

During Proof of Value / Proof of Concept

Prospects will want to get more involved during a PoV, so you’ll add a mutual action plan to your workspace and start to build out the buying team and your selling team

• Add a Template Snippet for whichever type of POC you agreed with the prospect and screen share it to validate.
• Invite the POC stakeholders involved.
• Towards the end of the POC talk through commercials and implementation and invite your champion to the workspace to get in there and work through the details together.

During Commercials

Now your buyers will be demanding Align! They want to know what’s needed to close this deal. Give them what they need to avoid late stage surprises.

• Invite the remaining stakeholders to review the value you defined in the business case and demonstrate that you have a low-risk implementation and change management strategy in place.
• Use the MAP as PDF feature to send a clean summary to senior decision makers.

How to intro collaboration 

The secret to introducing Align is to put yourself in your buyer’s shoes. They’ve never bought from you. They don’t know what they need to know. You’re simply making life easier for them. 

Just share some assets in Align or screenshare a high-level mutual action plan for them to validate. Stay cool, and always present Align as a simple tool to make their internal decision making process easier. 

• Use Shareable Link to make it easy for buyers to include other stakeholders from their org
• Offer to share Align the first time when you’re in a meeting. Send over the link and say “just click that link to make sure you can get in OK” Then you can give them a 20 second tour of the assets you’ve shared or any milestones you’ve already got in place.