What it actually takes to ship a production AI agent in 2026
Beyond the demo. The five engineering disciplines that separate AI agents you put in front of customers from the ones that stay in dev forever.
Read the full post → Common Challenges
What we see in sales organizations.
The patterns that come up in nearly every sales engagement.
01
Forecast accuracy
Most forecasts are built on rep optimism and last-week-of-quarter pressure. Building a forecast process the CFO trusts is a real exercise.
02
Rep adoption of CRM
When reps see CRM as overhead, data quality collapses and the leadership team flies blind. Better workflow design fixes this.
03
Long onboarding ramps for new reps
A 9-month rep ramp is a quota miss. Structured onboarding with AI augmentation can cut it in half.
04
Manual quote and proposal generation
When CPQ is missing or broken, reps spend hours on quotes that should take minutes — and pricing errors slip through.
05
Channel and partner sales complexity
Indirect sales adds another dimension of complexity — deal registration, channel pricing, and partner-sourced pipeline that most CRMs handle poorly.
06
Sales compensation administration
Compensation plans get complex fast. Spreadsheet-based comp is a disputes generator. Automation matters.
How We Help
What we deliver for sales leaders.
Forecasting and pipeline platform
Salesforce Forecasting and Clari implementation with stage-gate enforcement, deal scoring, and AI-augmented forecast adjustment.
Rep productivity stack
Agentforce, Gong, Salesloft, and Outreach unified into a single rep workflow that captures activity automatically and surfaces next-best actions.
New rep onboarding journey
Structured 30-60-90 onboarding with AI-augmented sales coaching, ramp metrics, and manager dashboards.
CPQ design and implementation
Salesforce CPQ configured for your product hierarchy, channel structure, and approval workflows.
Partner sales platform
Experience Cloud PRM for deal registration, channel pipeline visibility, MDF management, and partner enablement.
Sales compensation automation
Salesforce + Spiff/Xactly/CaptivateIQ integration with calculated commissions, disputes workflow, and forecasting.
Compliance & Regulatory Matters
What we navigate in sales.
Compliance and regulatory considerations are built into every workflow we deliver. The major frameworks we work within:
Sales Tax Nexus (Wayfair / Multi-State)
Tracking sales tax obligations by jurisdiction with automation for tax calculation and remittance.
TCPA / Do-Not-Call Compliance
DNC list scrubbing, time-of-day restrictions, and express consent evidence for outbound sales activity.
Export Controls (ITAR / EAR / OFAC)
Customer screening, denied-party list checks, and restricted-product workflow for regulated exports.
GDPR / CCPA Sales Data Handling
Lawful basis for processing prospect data, retention policy enforcement, and data subject request workflows.
FCPA / Anti-Bribery
Channel partner due diligence, gift and entertainment tracking, and anti-corruption training evidence.
Industry-Specific (HIPAA, Reg BI, SOX)
Sector requirements — fiduciary duty, PHI handling, financial controls — baked into sales workflows.
Signature Service Categories
The major sales practices our team runs.
Each category represents a deep specialization with dedicated playbooks, accelerators, and experienced practitioners.
01
Sales Process & Methodology
Salesforce sales process design, stage definitions, and methodology integration (MEDDIC, Challenger, etc).
02
Forecasting & Pipeline Management
Forecasting platforms, pipeline inspection, and AI-augmented forecast accuracy.
03
CPQ & Quoting
Configured CPQ for complex products, channel pricing, and approval workflows.
04
Sales Engagement & Intelligence
Outreach, Salesloft, Gong, Chorus deployments unified with CRM.
05
Channel & Partner Sales
PRM portals, deal registration, channel pipeline visibility, and MDF management.
06
Sales Compensation Automation
Comp platform integration with Salesforce — disputes, forecasting, and audit trails.
07
AI for Sellers
Agentforce, conversation intelligence, AI deal coaching, and automated CRM data capture.
Platforms & Tools
The technology stack we typically deploy here.
Salesforce Sales Cloud
Salesforce CPQ
Gong / Chorus
Clari
Outreach / Salesloft
Chili Piper
Spiff / Xactly / CaptivateIQ
ZoomInfo / Apollo
Salesforce Agentforce
Integration Ecosystem
The platforms we connect to in sales.
Our team carries hands-on experience across the systems that already run your sales function. Integration is rarely the bottleneck.
Salesforce Sales Cloud
HubSpot Sales Hub
Microsoft Dynamics 365 Sales
Outreach
Salesloft
Apollo.io
Gong
Chorus.ai
Clari
InsightSquared
DealHub
CPQ (Salesforce, DealHub, PROS, Configure One)
DocuSign / Adobe Sign
Conga / GetAccept
ZoomInfo
LinkedIn Sales Navigator
Chili Piper
Calendly
What We Measure
The KPIs that matter for sales success.
Every engagement starts by defining how success will be measured. These are the metrics we typically baseline before we begin and improve over time.
- Forecast accuracy
- Pipeline coverage ratio
- Rep ramp time
- Stage conversion rates
- Average deal size
- Sales cycle length
- Rep activity rates
Recent Engagements
Real work for sales teams.
A few examples of how these capabilities show up in practice — drawn from recent and active engagements.
01
Forecasting platform for a $400M industrial manufacturer
Integrated Salesforce Forecasting, Clari, and Gong into one workflow with stage-gate enforcement and AI-assisted forecast adjustments. Forecast accuracy moved from 58% at start-of-quarter to 91%.
02
Rep onboarding redesign for a high-growth software company
Built a structured 30-60-90 onboarding journey with milestone tracking, AI-generated practice scenarios using Claude, and integrated manager + AI coaching. New rep ramp time cut from 7 months to 4.
03
Frictionless CRM experience with Agentforce for sellers
Deployed Salesforce Agentforce to auto-summarize calls, draft follow-up emails, and update opportunity fields from email and calendar activity. Rep time spent in CRM down 60%; CRM data quality up significantly.
04
PRM rollout for a software company with 200+ partners
Built a partner portal with deal registration, sales enablement assets, and pipeline visibility. Channel-sourced revenue up 47%.
05
Comp automation for 240 reps across 4 plan types
Replaced a quarterly spreadsheet exercise with Spiff + Salesforce integrated comp. Disputes dropped from 60+/quarter to under 10; finance closed payroll a week earlier.
How Clients Engage Us
Four ways to work with us on sales initiatives.
From short diagnostics to fractional leadership, every engagement model is built around your stage and needs.
Model 01
Sales Operations Audit
Assessment of sales process, CRM hygiene, forecasting accuracy, and tooling.
Model 02
Fixed-Scope Project
CPQ, forecasting, PRM, or sales engagement deployments.
Model 03
Managed Sales Operations
Ongoing sales platform administration, optimization, and rep support.
Model 04
Fractional VP Sales Ops
Senior sales operations leadership for growing sales orgs.
Outcomes We Deliver
The metrics we actually move for sales teams.
Engagements are measured by movement on the numbers that matter. These are the directions of travel we commit to.
01
Win rate
Increase 5-15 points
02
Sales cycle length
Reduce 15-30%
03
Average deal size
Increase 10-25%
04
Quota attainment %
Increase 10-20 points
05
Time spent in CRM
Reduce 30-50%
06
Forecast accuracy
Increase to 90%+ (90 days out)
Signature Frameworks
Proprietary methodologies for sales work.
Every engagement leverages reusable assets — frameworks, blueprints, and diagnostics built up over hundreds of client projects.
Framework 01
Pipeline Health Reference Model
A blueprint for stage definitions, exit criteria, and inspection cadences that produces forecasts you can actually trust.
Framework 02
Sales Methodology Operationalization
Our approach to building MEDDPICC, Command of the Message, or Challenger directly into CRM — not as a separate worksheet.
Framework 03
CPQ Reference Architecture
A tested pattern for configure-price-quote that handles product complexity, discount governance, and approval workflows without slowing down deals.
Framework 04
Revenue Operating System
Our framework for connecting marketing, sales, and customer success into one revenue motion with shared metrics and clean handoffs.
Case Study
A recent sales success story.
Revenue Operations
How a 200-person manufacturer cut sales-rep ramp time by 45% with a unified revenue stack
Hartwell Industrial unified Salesforce, Gong, and Chili Piper into a single revenue operating system. Conversion lift hit 34% in two quarters.
+34%
Conversion lift
-45%
Rep ramp time
3-1
Tools consolidated
Featured Insight
Insight & analysis from our sales team.
Practitioner-level analysis from the consultants delivering the work.
AI Implementation
What it actually takes to ship a production AI agent in 2026
AI Implementation
How We Work
The engagement model.
Predictable phases. Clear deliverables. No surprises.
01
Discovery
One to two working sessions to map your current state, business goals, gaps, and constraints. We come out with a written scope document and recommendation.
02
Design
Documented solution architecture, technical design, realistic timeline, and a transparent commercial proposal — reviewed with your team before any build.
03
Build
Configuration, development, integrations, data migration, AI training, and QA — delivered in iterative sprints with weekly demos and adjustments.
04
Launch & Optimize
Training, change management, hypercare support, and continuous improvement. We do not disappear after go-live. Most engagements continue into managed services.
Our Capabilities
The five practices that support your sales work.
Systems Integration
Connect the systems that run your business — CRM, ERP, billing, data, AI, analytics — into one cohesive architecture.
Learn more →Custom Development
Custom applications, platform extensions, integrations, and engineered solutions built when off-the-shelf software won't fit.
Learn more →AI & Technology Consulting
Strategic guidance from certified architects plus production AI deployments. System selection, roadmaps, audits, Agentforce, custom agents, and AI strategy — all under one practice.
Learn more →Revenue Operations
Align marketing, sales, and customer success into one revenue engine. Process, forecasting, attribution, and tech-stack optimization.
Learn more → More Departments
Other functions we support.
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