Prototyping as a B2B sales tool
Design prototypes are a powerful tool to garner rapid feedback. This can take the form of generative research to learn more about a broad theme, or evaluative research which helps refine the specifics on the prototype itself.
Traditionally they’re used to target either internal stakeholder feedback or end users who are either existing customers or prospects.
But product prototypes can also be used by marketing and sales teams to bolster conversations with new business prospects. Those responsible for selling your product externally are under a lot of pressure to continually innovate to excite new customer prospects.
Prototyping for B2B activities can seem like a distraction from the core daily activities of a product designer, especially if it's thrown in as an ‘ASAP’ request (insert eye roll here), but there can be real value (and dare I say it, fun) in getting involved with this activity.
Where is the value?
All in the same boat
If you’re in a smaller start-up or scale-up business, it’s more likely that everyone is more invested and involved in mucking in towards the same goals. Your teams are more likely to be exposed to a wider range of activities that are key to keeping the lights on and accelerating growth. Obviously revenue that comes from new business sales is a large part of that and a prototype can really bring your products to life for those who are interested in finding out more.
Stress test the brand and design system
Designing for sales tends to allow some creative rule bending to get the work through the door. I'm not saying you should misrepresent your product in any way, but enjoy any creative freedoms it provides when applying the brand, and discuss any outputs from the exercise that might be of value to apply to the core product going forward. Of course further activities should surround this such as feasibility discovery, whether you have the time and space to deliver on the promise of the prototype, and also whether it aligns with your existing customer base and broader product strategy.
How should we approach it?
Communicate impact
When a design team is asked to support activities like this, it is important they communicate the impact the new ask will have on the day job to set expectations. Unless a business has a mature marketing design function, it is likely that these asks come in as late notice requests and as such core design output will be affected. Managerial and even SLT support in smaller businesses is important to progress in a positive manner.
Align expectations
Pair up with your stakeholder who will be at the coalface delivering the content to the prospective clients. A negotiation around the nuances that person expects from the prototype is important to avoid overwork and rework. The pitch team are either likely to want to deep dive into one or two particular features, or alternatively cover many horizontal touch points to a lesser level of detail. Make sure your brief is clear and succinct.
You've scratched their back...
Another important reason to pair with the stakeholder is to prime them to collect specific types of feedback from any sales discussions. This feedback could be used to refine a wider user testing roadmap which could ultimately lead to improving the core product and as a minimum it’s good practice as a courtesy for supporting sales activities.
Keep an eye on diverging visions
If this type of activity becomes a habit by the business that is impacting the core product design function regularly, then it’d be useful to flag and facilitate conversations around discrepancies between the product vision and what sales think they need. So keep an eye on the requests growing arms and legs. After all, the product roadmap should answer most questions new business prospects have about capabilities, which should already be on their way to being validated through the standard product discovery practices.
Conclusion
Designers have a powerful, useful and valuable skillset. The first reaction from a designer can sometimes be ‘thats not what I'm here for’ but sometimes parking ego and all mucking in is rewarding, insightful and fun, as long as you’re keeping an eye on wider impacts to the core business frameworks.
