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)

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.

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.

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.