Closing and Pilot Management
Closing Techniques
The Assumption Close:
"Based on everything we've discussed, it sounds like a Support Agent pilot would be a great fit for your needs. I'm thinking we start with a 6-week pilot focusing on your most common support tickets. When would be a good time to kick this off?"
The Alternative Close:
"I see two great options for your pilot. We could start with an internal Support Agent to help your team, or we could focus on a Sales Agent for lead qualification. Which one would have more immediate impact on your business?"
The ROI Close:
"Let's do some quick math. You mentioned you handle about 300 tickets per day, and each one takes your team about 20 minutes on average. That's 100 hours per day. If we could deflect just 40% of those tickets and reduce response time for the rest, you'd save about 50 hours per day. At $50 per hour, that's $2,500 per day in savings, or about $50,000 per month. Our pilot costs less than $10,000. Does that ROI make sense for your business?"
Pilot Management Best Practices
Setting Clear Expectations:
During the pilot kickoff, establish:
Specific success metrics (response time, deflection rate, accuracy)
Communication cadence (weekly check-ins, monthly reviews)
Escalation procedures for issues
Timeline for go/no-go decision
Weekly Check-in Agenda:
Performance metrics review (10 minutes)
User feedback discussion (10 minutes)
Issues and resolutions (10 minutes)
Next week's priorities (5 minutes)
Success Metrics Dashboard:
First Response Time
4 hours
<1 minute
30 seconds
✅
Ticket Deflection
0%
40%
35%
🟡
Customer Satisfaction
3.2/5
4.0/5
4.1/5
✅
Agent Accuracy
N/A
95%
92%
🟡
Expansion Planning:
Once the pilot shows success:
Document lessons learned and best practices
Identify next highest-impact use cases
Plan phased rollout to additional departments
Establish center of excellence for agent management
Last updated