Unclassified

36 — Sales Methodology

Status: CANONICAL · Commercial OS
Owner: Founder (sales)
Last verified: 2026-07-21
Relationship to docs/sales/: this formalizes the stage model those playbooks train on; pipeline-playbook, objection-handling, close-playbook remain the call-level drill guides.

Purpose

How IntegrateWise sells, as a method: named stages with exit criteria, a qualification frame, and the principles that make the motion teachable to hire #1 and repeatable after.

Target audience: Founder-seller now; first AE later; everyone who touches pipeline.

1. The Method: Continuity Selling

We sell the way the product works: assemble truth → prepare with evidence → propose → let the buyer approve. No pressure theater; the deal advances when the buyer's conviction does. Five principles:

Sell the cycle, not the software. The enemy is the daily reconstruction ritual and the demoted AI — every stage returns to the pain cycle (pipeline-playbook pattern).
Quantify with their numbers, immediately. Discovery produces H, C, N (29 ROI) or it wasn't discovery.
Prove on real work. No slideware convictions: the POV runs their tools, their accounts, one real workflow. The product is the closer.
Govern the risk visibly. Security/approval story told proactively — trust is our category; the sales process must feel governed too: agendas sent, notes shared, next steps written, nothing sprung.
Land the wedge, earn the org. 15–25 CS seats now beats 100 seats maybe. Expansion is a CS motion we set up in the close (46).

2. Stage Model (pipeline stages — CRM mirrors exactly)

Stage	Goal	Exit criteria (all required)	Typical duration
S0 Identify	ICP fit	Scorecard ≥ 9 (33 §2); P2-path known	—
S1 Discover	Pain + numbers	Pain cycle told in their words; H/C/N captured; why-now signal confirmed; P2 engaged	1 call
S2 Align	Vision match + multi-thread	Day demo delivered with their tool names; P1 users reacted; P3 identified; success criteria drafted	1–2 weeks
S3 Prove (POV)	Evidence in their tenant	30-day POV: criteria met in writing; 1+ documented catch; prep-time delta measured; security review parallel-started	30 days
S4 Commit	Signature	ROI slide with realized POV numbers; P4 cleared; paper through (32); order form signed	2–3 weeks
S5 Land	Sales→CS handoff	Kickoff ≤ 5 days; baselines + success plan transferred (45)	1 week
S6 Expand	Second department / tier	CS-led, sales-supported (46)	ongoing

Stage hygiene rules: no stage skipping (a "hot deal" that skips Discover dies in Commit); exit criteria are facts in CRM, not feelings; any deal > 2× typical duration gets a downgrade-or-revive decision in pipeline review (74).

3. Qualification Frame: MEDDICC, continuity-flavored

Letter	Ours	The question we must answer
Metrics	H/C/N + baseline outcomes	"What numbers did discovery lock?"
Economic buyer	P2 (P5 if > $50K)	"Who owns the NRR problem and the budget?"
Decision criteria	Category rubric planted (05 §3)	"Are they grading on owned truth + approval — our forks?"
Decision process	POV → security → paper, dated	"Is the path to signature written down with dates?"
Identify pain	The cycle + why-now signal	"Can they tell the pain story back?"
Champion	P2 sponsor + P1 daily voice	"Who sells when we're not in the room — and do they have the deck?"
Competition	Named + carded (09)	"Which card is live; which landmine is planted?"

Score at S1 and S3 gates. Two red letters at S3 = do not enter Commit; fix or park.

4. Founder-Led Specifics (now) → Repeatability (later)

Now: founder runs S0–S6 personally; the $8M story is a legitimate S1 asset (peer credibility); calendar budget: 60% of selling time on S2–S3 (where deals are actually won); every call recorded and logged — this corpus trains hire #1.

Repeatability tests (before hiring an AE): 3 deals closed with this method end-to-end · win/loss reasons stable across deals · demo + POV runnable without founder improvisation (39, 40) · discovery guide produces consistent H/C/N (38). If a step only works with founder magic, document the magic or fix the step.

KPIs: stage conversion S1→S2 ≥ 60% · S2→S3 ≥ 50% · S3→S4 ≥ 60% · overall S1→Won ≥ 20%; cycle length ≤ 90 days; multi-threaded deals ≥ 80%; MEDDICC completeness at S3 = 100% (74 Sales Metrics).