Edge Connectivity Sales Process

Owning function: Sales Contributing functions: Solution Engineering, Customer Success, Professional Services

Typical deal profile:

  • Duration: 3–6 months
  • Meetings: 6–10

Deal Characteristics:

  • 6–12 stakeholders with distinct decision roles (operations, IT/OT, engineering, leadership)
  • Organization-wide scope focused on standardizing how a class of problems is solved (often multi-site or platform-level)
  • Outcome-driven evaluation where the primary decision is whether to adopt and own an approach, not whether a tool works
  • High strategic and organizational impact, requiring explicit governance, ownership, and approval
  • Elevated perceived risk, with early involvement from procurement, legal, and security

Meeting 1a: Discovery (30–45 min)

Goal: Determine whether the customer has a meaningful, organization-level problem that warrants a standardized edge connectivity approach, and whether it is worth deeper technical and business evaluation.

Sales stage: 1-Discovery Lifecycle stage: SQL Forecast stage: Best case

Agenda:

  • Introductions & context (5 min)
  • Explore current state (Situation – 10–15 min)
  • Identify Pain – operational, cost, compliance risks (15–20 min)
  • Map stakeholders & decision-making process (5–10 min)
  • Confirm next step and schedule meeting (5 min)

Next Step: Schedule Impact Analysis / Technical Deep Dive.

Resource: Edge Connectivity Discovery Playbook

Meeting 1b: Impact / Technical Deep Dive (45–60 min)

Goal: Validate that the identified problems have material operational and business impact, establish a credible business case, and confirm a time-bound trigger that justifies deeper evaluation and stakeholder involvement.

Sales stage: 1-Discovery Lifecycle stage: SQL Forecast stage: Best case

Agenda:

  • Review problems identified in Discovery (5 min)
  • Technical landscape & integration points (20 min)
  • Quantify Impact (cost savings, uptime, compliance) (20 min)
  • Align on critical event/timeline (5–10 min)

Next Step: Prepare tailored demo for champion.

Meeting 2a: Champion Demo (45 min)

Goal: Equip the champion with a clear narrative and concrete evidence to confidently represent the Edge Connectivity approach internally and secure alignment for broader stakeholder evaluation.

Sales stage: 2-Diagnose Lifecycle stage: SQO Forecast stage: Forecast

Agenda:

  • Context: Discovery & Impact recap (5 min)
  • Tailored demo (25–30 min)
  • Business case validation (ROI, impact) (10 min)
  • Define next step: stakeholder workshop (5 min)

Next Step: Confirm the deal viability.

Resource:

Meeting 2b: Stakeholder Demo / Workshop (60–90 min)**

Goal: Align cross-functional stakeholders on the problem, proposed Edge Connectivity approach, and expected impact, while identifying and addressing risks or objections that must be resolved before committing to a PoC.

Sales stage: 2-Diagnose (possibly later) Lifecycle stage: SQO Forecast stage: Forecast

Agenda:

  • Executive alignment (5–10 min)
  • Demo for cross-functional team (30–40 min)
  • Objection handling & discussion (20–30 min)
  • Define next step: PoC alignment (10 min)

Deal Vialility Meeting Aka Demo Feedback Meeting. Before this meeting - Discuss the commercial model with the deal desk Goal - Understand if the customer resonated with the demo and if there are still some outstanding questions. Capture feedback and if alignment is established, Evaluate budgets and sizing and anchor pricing

Next Step: PoC kickoff.

Meeting 3: PoC Kickoff (60 min)

Goal: Establish shared success criteria, ownership, and execution plan for the PoC in order to reduce delivery risk and enable a confident go/no-go decision.

Sales stage: 3-Solution Lifecycle stage: SQO Forecast stage: Forecast

Agenda:

  • Review PoC objectives (10 min)
  • Setup & responsibilities (20–30 min)
  • Success metrics & measurement (15 min)
  • Confirm timeline & checkpoints (10 min)
  • Next Step: Schedule PoC review.

Resource: FlowFuse Enterprise POC Template

Meeting 4: PoC Review (45–60 min)

Goal: Confirm that the PoC has met agreed success criteria, validate solution fit and business impact, and establish readiness to proceed to a commercial proposal.

Sales Stage: 4-Validate Lifecycle stage: SQO Forecast stage: Forecast

Agenda:

  • Present PoC results (15–20 min)
  • Validate success criteria achieved (10–15 min)
  • Discuss ROI/business case (10–15 min)
  • Confirm readiness to move to proposal (5–10 min)

Next Step: Proposal & pricing review.

Resource: Enterprise pricing model

Meeting 5: Proposal & Timeline Review (45 min)

Goal: Confirm alignment on commercial terms, contractual structure, and implementation timeline in order to enable executive and procurement approval.

Sales Stage: 5-Commit Lifecycle stage: SQO Forecast stage: Commit

Agenda:

  • Walkthrough proposal & pricing (20 min)
  • Contract terms discussion (15 min)
  • Timeline & implementation planning (10 min)

Next Step: Move into executive/procurement review. If any non-standard pricing, discounts, or contract terms are on the table, submit a form through this link to create a task in the Deal Desk Asana project before this meeting — see the Deal Desk process for what context to include.

Meeting(s) 6: Executive / Procurement Review + Close (30–45 min)

Goal: Confirm executive and procurement approval by resolving any remaining commercial, legal, or risk considerations and authorizing contract execution. Ensure a Deal Desk Asana task exists for any legal review or approval needed at this stage.

Sales Stage: 6-Closing Lifecycle stage: SQO Forecast stage: Commit

Agenda:

  • Final review of solution & ROI (10 min)
  • Address objections & confirm approvals (10–15 min)
  • Contract/legal/procurement finalization (10 min)
  • Obtain decision-maker commitment (5 min)

Next Step: Transition to implementation.