Why this service
SALES STRATEGY AND NARRATIVE
Enterprise customers do not buy technology. They buy what it means for their business, their people, and their future. I help technology companies make that connection, with a hypothesis-driven approach that is faster than traditional design thinking and more human than a data deck.
Why this approach
LISTENING
I design every engagement so customers feel heard, not pitched. That means meeting activities and conversations structured to surface what they actually need, not just validate what the tech company wants to sell. That listening continues through every step, adjusting as the picture becomes clearer.
CONTEXTUALIZING
I translate product capability into customer reality: their workflows, their people, their business objectives. The narrative I build is not a product story. It is their story, with the technology as the solution to a problem they already recognize.
CONNECTING
I create a differentiating narrative that runs from the initial customer meeting through research, workshops, and the final roadmap. Internal teams stay aligned. The customer stays centered. Every deliverable builds on the last so nothing has to be rebuilt from scratch when the deal moves forward.
How it works
MODE 1 - FRAME
Open the conversation in a way that builds understanding and defines the opportunity
1–2 weeks
Customized narratives for the customer or industry, with AI-accelerated research, industry insights, and service journey maps to frame the conversation
Meeting activities designed to get the customer talking, not watching a one-way presentation or demo
Facilitation of the meeting activities to deepen insights and inform next steps
Output for the tech company: A clear picture of the opportunity, identified decision makers and sponsors, and defined next steps. If the customer does not move forward, a concise report of learnings from the engagement, including what resonated, what did not, and refined hypotheses the sales team can carry into future conversations with this customer or similar ones.
MODE 2 - FRAME
Refine the opportunity, align the stakeholders, and create the plan that makes the deal and the implementation possible
2-4 weeks
Research and interviews built on Mode 1 insights or the tech team's existing customer knowledge, always including a direct conversation with the key customer stakeholder before the workshop
Workshops or working sessions designed to bring the right mix of stakeholders together, not to discover needs from scratch but to refine the opportunity, confirm readiness, and surface how the solution fits the organization as a whole
Service design map connecting the customer's front stage experience with the backstage technology, including intersections with agentic AI where relevant
Solution or implementation roadmap that moves beyond the sale to the plan for making it happen
Output for the customer: A presentation and report that connects the solution to the customer's business goals and the needs of their people, giving everyone who needs to say yes a clear and confident basis for the decision.
Output for the tech company: A separate report on customer and industry learnings that can inform future engagements, refine messaging, and strengthen the pipeline.
How I work
Overall. A typical engagement for this offering is shorter and more targeted than my product development work, usually two to six weeks depending on where the tech company is in their customer relationship. I do not replace the sales team or the technical experts. I fill in where a specific combination of research, facilitation, narrative design, and visual craft is needed, and where assembling those capabilities separately would not make sense before a deal is signed. That is where I fit.
Mode 1. Every Mode 1 engagement starts before the customer meeting. I work with the tech team to understand the opportunity, build the artifacts that will frame the conversation, and refine a hypothesis about what the customer needs and why it matters. By the time I am in the room, there is already something worth reacting to. The meeting becomes a conversation, not a presentation.
Mode 2. When the engagement goes deeper, the preparation goes deeper too. At minimum I speak directly with the key customer sponsor before a workshop, and often with additional stakeholders depending on the complexity of the organization, so I understand the landscape and can make sure the right people are in the room. The workshop itself is not where we discover what the customer needs from scratch. It is where we bring the right mix of voices together to refine the opportunity, confirm readiness, and see how the solution fits the organization as a whole.
Throughout both modes I am listening for more than gaps and opportunities. I am listening for where people are today, what they are uncertain about, and what they need to understand before they can genuinely commit. That intelligence shapes both reports. For the customer it means a narrative that speaks to the people who will use the solution, not just the ones who will sign off on it. For the tech company it means insights that inform how to customize, communicate, and implement in a way that brings people along. The organizations that build this kind of understanding into the sales process will have a significant advantage over those still trying to fix adoption after the fact.