Client Engagement

Persuasion · Recommending a robot vacuum: Get someone who prefers cleaning by hand interested in trying a robot vacuum.You use a robot vacuum. The other person is happy cleaning by hand.

1. AI: From now on, I'll speak as an ordinary consumer. I'm a clean-it-by-hand person.
2. Candidate: When you clean by hand, what matters most to you?
3. AI: Getting every corner clean, checking it with my own eyes. And I like feeling refreshed afterward.
4. Candidate: A robot vacuum would clean your floors automatically every day.
5. AI: With a machine, I feel I wouldn't notice dust left in the corners. And having it wander the room on its own makes me uneasy.
6. Candidate: That makes sense. Seeing it yourself gives peace of mind. How long do you usually spend cleaning?
7. AI: Let me think… I get home late on weekdays, so I do it all on the weekend, about two hours. Honestly, losing half a day of my weekend to it feels a bit wasteful.
8. Candidate: So your weekends are precious. What if the robot handled floor dust on weekdays, and you did the corners and finishing touches by hand on weekends? You'd still enjoy checking the result yourself.
9. AI: But then I couldn't leave anything on the floor. That sounds like a hassle.
10. Candidate: You could start with just one room, the living room, and run it only on certain days.
11. AI: Just one room… If it frees up even a little weekend time, maybe I'll try it.
12. Candidate: Thank you. How about a one-week trial in the living room to start?
13. AI: Let's pause and look back. When did you feel the other person start to come around?
14. Candidate: When I heard their weekend time felt precious. Once I offered a weekday-only option, without dismissing cleaning by hand, I felt the reaction change.
15. AI: How do you think your first pitch on the robot vacuum's benefits came across?
16. Candidate: I talked up the machine before really hearing what mattered to them. I should have first asked why they clean by hand.

Internal buy-in · A client ask, a busy dev team: You're a second-year sales rep for business software. A client wants a report format changed, and that needs the development team's help.The dev team is swamped with next month's launch. The client wants the change before its financial close in three months.

1. AI: You need the development team's help with a client's request. This memo covers what you know about the team. How would you approach it?
2. Candidate: Before going to the development team, I'd ask the client why they want the format changed, and what goes wrong if it isn't.
3. AI: Why go to the client before the development team?
4. Candidate: They're busy, so I'd want to be clear on what's needed, and how much, before I ask. A settings change might even solve it.
5. AI: The client says redoing the reports by hand takes them two days at every financial close. How would you approach the development team lead?
6. Candidate: I'd tell them plainly about the client's two days of rework at each close, and the deadline. Then I'd ask them to work out with me whether it can wait until after the launch and still be on time.
7. AI: The lead says, “If other clients are asking for this too, I'll consider it.” What do you do?
8. Candidate: I'd check whether other sales reps have had similar requests. If the change helps other clients too, it's worth the development team's time as well.
9. AI: In the meantime, what would you tell the client?
10. Candidate: Only that we're discussing it internally, and when I'll get back to them. No promises until I know it can be done.
11. AI: Finally, what mattered most to you in this scene?
12. Candidate: Framing the client's problem so the development team could make a call on it. Rather than take sides, I looked for a path both could accept.

Usage-based proposal · A client with lagging usage: You handle customer success for a cloud time-and-attendance service. Propose the next step based on a client's first-year usage.The client: a food manufacturer with about 1,200 employees. Renewal is in six months.

1. AI: Here's a client's usage data one year after rollout. Usage has dropped from 82% at three months to 64%. How do you read it?
2. Candidate: The overall number doesn't show where people stopped. Do you have usage rates by site or job type?
3. AI: Here are the usage rates by site.
4. Candidate: The factories, with over half the employees, are at 48% and pulling the total down. Maybe paper forms or time cards are simply easier there than the app.
5. AI: How would you confirm that?
6. Candidate: I'd ask the factory's attendance contact to show me how people actually clock in. What we do depends on why they went back to paper: whether the app is hard to use with gloves on, or the break room has no device.
7. AI: The client's HR director says, “If people aren't using it, we want to cut users at renewal.” How do you respond?
8. Candidate: I'd accept that it isn't being used, but ask to try making it work at the factories together before reducing anything. Factory use would also save time tallying paper records.
9. AI: Why not accept the reduction right away?
10. Candidate: If they cut users, factory attendance stays on paper and their problem isn't solved. But if we try and nothing changes, I'll propose the reduction myself.
11. AI: Finally, what will you commit to with the HR director?
12. Candidate: A one-month trial of clock-in devices at one factory, with a report on usage rate and time spent tallying records.

Divided stakeholders · A proposal to a divided factory: You're in B2B sales for a service that shows how production equipment is running. A client's factory is divided over your proposal.Positions are in the materials. The factory manager decides at next month's meeting.

1. AI: People in a client's factory disagree about adopting the service. Here's where each stands. How would you prepare for next month's meeting?
2. Candidate: First, I'd meet the quality control manager in person and ask exactly what worries them about the added steps. I don't want to go into the meeting not knowing why they're cautious.
3. AI: Why the cautious QC manager first, not the supportive head of manufacturing?
4. Candidate: I think the factory manager will hear both sides before deciding. If I can't answer the QC manager's concerns, the head of manufacturing's support alone likely won't carry it.
5. AI: The QC manager says, “Checking a new screen on top of the morning inspection would be a burden.” How do you respond?
6. Candidate: I'd ask to see the records they keep during the morning inspection now. If the service can replace some of them, it might actually cut steps.
7. AI: The head of manufacturing says, “The QC manager worries too much. Just go to the factory manager directly.” What do you do?
8. Candidate: I'd acknowledge the feeling, but I wouldn't go around the QC manager. I'd share my answer to their concerns with the head of manufacturing too, then go into the meeting.
9. AI: Why not go around the QC manager?
10. Candidate: Because their team will use it every day once it's in. If they aren't on board, it'll go unused.
11. AI: Finally, what will you bring to the factory manager's meeting?
12. Candidate: One page covering both views: for the head of manufacturing, how much equipment downtime drops; for the QC manager, how the inspection steps change.