How HelloRetail banished single-threading & not booking next steps
The Challenge
Discovery was landing at two unhelpful extremes.
Some AEs were over-interrogating with no clear payoff. Others were doing the opposite — light-touch discovery straight into a product demo. Neither approach was reliably uncovering the business-level pain needed to build a compelling case for change or justify the larger deal values consistently within reach.
Deals were single-threaded and stalling.
The E-commerce buying landscape has more stakeholders than ever — and across European markets, the dynamics vary significantly. When AEs weren't proactively mapping this, the agency question surfaced late as a surprise. Stalling deals and pushing out a sales cycle already sitting at 55 days.
Urgency and momentum were inconsistent.
Without a disciplined approach to next steps, deals were drifting and opportunities were fizzling out or being Closed Lost to ‘No Decision’ too often.
The Solution
Discovery was reframed as a conversation to uncover whether a real business problem exists and whether the conditions to solve it now are in place. Coaching AEs to go deeper on business-level impact and qualify out confidently when the reasons to buy aren't there.
Multithreading gave the team a framework for mapping stakeholders early and widening conversations in a value-led way. Factoring in the cultural nuance of each market so that the right people became part of the deal from the first call.
BAMFAM gave every AE Hello Retail-specific reasons to lock in the next meeting around things prospects actually care about: ROI calculators, Web shop gap analyses, Integration demos, and Custom business cases. Keeping deals moving with intent through a Q4 when every prospect's attention is elsewhere.
The Impact
AEs are now consistently booking next steps from every call (or qualifying out when the conditions aren't there). Economic Buyers are engaged earlier. Agency dynamics are mapped proactively rather than surfacing as late-stage surprises. The team has a shared framework built for both tenured reps and the incoming new hires.
"I knew it was going to be good but wow, Scott kept over-delivering in every area. He factored in each team member's unique struggles, answered their questions with ease, and gave them a true map to execute these plays to win high velocity and high value deals. 5 out of 5 stars."
— Alex, VP Sales, Hello Retail
