Design Thinking Strategies to Use in Your Next Sales Team Meeting

What is Design Thinking?

Let’s start with what actually is “design thinking”. Design thinking it is an iterative, human-centered process to complex challenges. Rather than solely concentrating on the end result of a project, design thinking emphasizes the entire process of how you arrived at achieving the end goal. From empathizing, to defining and redefining the problem, ongoing dialogue with stakeholders, ideating, prototyping, refining, testing and implementation. It is a non-linear approach that encourages moving back and forth between these stages, allowing continual refinement and truly user-driven outcomes. It is not just about the solution, but the process of how you got there in the first place. As McKinsey partner Jennifer Kilian explains,

“Design thinking is the single biggest competitive advantage you can have, as solving for your customers’ needs first will always win their loyalty."

For sales teams, this approach shifts the focus from just closing deals, but rather, creating long-term value by understanding the root cause of customers' problems and pain-points.

1. Diagnose and Treat the “Wound”, Rather Than Just Re-Applying the Band-Aid

When presented with a brief from a client, it is tempting to jump straight to finding a solution and fixing their difficulties as soon as possible. However, these issues are often symptoms and just surface-level indicators of deeper challenges. For example, a client might complain that too many customers are abandoning their online shopping carts. But the real issue could lie in a complicated checkout process or unexpected customer fees, rather than mere user attention. Encourage your team to:

1. Ask probing questions: by going beyond the initial complaints to explore what might be the crux of the problem. For example, ask "what steps have been taken so far? What outcomes were expected?"
2. Use data to identify patterns: leverage historical customer interactions or tickets to identify reoccurring issues and trends.
3. Collaborate to hypothesize potential root problems and their causes: Allocating time for team brainstorming sessions provides the opportunity to connect the dots and see what is really holding the customer back. See Point 5 for more on this.

Action tip: commit a section of your meeting to discuss a current challenge faced by a customer. Ask your team to write down their assumptions about the root problem and compare their insights. This can expose blind spots and lead to a more comprehensive and robust understanding than before.

2. Develop User Personas for Greater Empathy

Creating detailed user personas empowers your team to better understand and empathize with your target audience. Personas should include demographic details, behaviors, motivations and pain-points. For example, consider “Eco-Conscious Emma”, a 28-year-old city-based professional who prioritizes environmentally friendly products and seeks convenient ways to maintain a sustainable lifestyle.

How to create personas:

1. Define a clear problem statement: identify your target user, their primary needs, goals and pain points. For example, “how can we help young corporate professionals effortlessly integrate sustainable choices into their daily routines, despite time and budget constraints?”
2. Include detailed attributes: add specifics such as age, profession, challenges and goals. This enables your personas come to life and make them more human. For example, “Eco-Conscious Emma, a 28-year-old software engineer who is after quick, hassle-free access to organic and fair-trade products.”
3. Validate personas with real feedback: use surveys, interviews, data and analytics to ensure your personas reflect actual customer segments.

Action tip: During your meeting, split the team into groups and assign each group a customer persona. Ask them to role-play how the persona might perceive your sales approach and brainstorm ways to adapt.

3. Reimagine the Customer Journey

Pioneered by Chip Bell, customer journey mapping is a visual representation of the interactions a user has, often represented by a persona, while trying to achieve a goal with a product or service. Instead of focusing on the current experience, it challenges your team to envision an ideal future state based on putting yourself into the customer’s shoes, while having a bird’s-eye view to see the ‘path’ they walk on with their associated experiences, thoughts and feelings. Below is a breakdown of how you can create your own map. Using a table is the clearest way to structure and present this information.

Why a table format?

• Place each phase or stage (for example, awareness, consideration, decision making, onboarding) in its own column in the top row
• Underneath those phases, create rows for the specific journey elements you will map out (touchpoints, actions, thoughts, emotions etc).
• This layout makes it easy to visualize the user’s progression, from left-to-right, while keeping the relevant details for each phase in clear, separate actions.

Action tip: You can sketch this table on paper or use a digital tool like Miro to keep the layout flexible, allowing your team to refine the journey.

How to create a customer journey map:

1. Persona or user profile: a short description of the user, as explained in Develop User Personas for Greater Empathy section.
2. Phases and stages: Identify key stages in the user’s journey. For example, awareness > consideration > decision > onboarding > retention. Place each stage in its own column in the top row if you are using a table.  
3. Touchpoints and channels: Touchpoints are the certain points of contact (e.g. website, phone call, physical store) where users interact with your product or service. List all interactions from initial outreach to closing the deal in the relevant stage. These are the ‘signposts’ your user follows; put them in the first row beneath the phases in your table.
4. Actions: These are the observable steps a user has at each stage. Include tasks like researching, comparing options or contacting support. This becomes the next row in your table.
5. Thoughts and motivations: The questions, concerns or considerations influencing a user’s decisions. For each touchpoint ask “what could make this experience more valuable for the customer?” Aim for aspirational changes that might transform engagement. ‘Thoughts and motivations’ forms the next row.
6. Emotions and sentiments: The emotional highs and lows users experience as they go through each stage. By pinpointing moments of delight or frustration guides you to address their concerns or build on positive experiences. Incorporate anther row called “emotional line graph” that shows the “highs” and “lows” of the emotional journey, visually. Or, you can note emotions alongside actions and thoughts to visualize where support or improvements are needed most.
7. Stakeholder feedback on pain points and opportunities: These are specific barriers that hinder user progress or potential delight throughout the journey. Identifying these will help you prioritize improvements and innovation.  Review the map as a group to spot bottlenecks or friction. Discuss ways to collapse, accelerate or streamline certain steps to meet and exceed user expectations.

4. Utilize “How Might We” Statements

“How Might We” (HMW) statements, coined by Min Basadur at Proctor and Gamble, encourages creative problem-solving by framing challenges as opportunities. These statements are open-ended, solution-focused and collaborative, making them ideal for team brainstorming sessions.

How to use HMW statements:

1. Define the challenge: identify a specific problem your team is facing. For example, “customers find our onboarding process slow.”
2. Reframe the problem: turn the issue into a question that sparks ideas for solutions. For example, “how might we streamline the onboarding experience for customers to save time and effort?”
3. Focus on the outcome: The statement needs to illustrate the benefit our result you are aiming for. A template you can follow is: How might we (DO WHAT) for (FOR WHOM) in order to (BENEFIT OR RESULT)?
4. Encourage collaboration: in your team meetings, conjure answers to the HMW statements as a group. No idea is off-limits! The goal is to foster creativity and explore diverse perspectives.

Action tip: Using the above template, list some common problems your users are facing. Then, reframe these with a HMW for each point. HMW statements are most effective when they contain affirmative verbs, rather than negative. If you notice you’re using terms like “minimize”, “eliminate” or “avoid”, try changing them into more encouraging action verbs like “support”, “improve”, “build” etc. Share your HMW statements when you come together for feedback and iteration. For example:

• Problem 1: users experience delayed or non-existing follow-ups after expressing interest. This creates frustration, leading them to feel ignored and more included to consider other options.

Reframing with a HMW: How might we optimize and automate follow-up communication (DO WHAT) for high-potential leads (FOR WHOM) to reduce response times and increase conversations (BENEFIT OR RESULT)?

• Problem 2: Manufacturing clients find static materials (e.g., brochures, PDFs) unconvincing and insufficient to demonstrate cost savings or workflow improvements, leaving them uncertain about the product’s real value.

Reframing with a HMW: How might we create interactive product demonstrations (DO WHAT) for manufacturing clients (FOR WHOM) to highlight key cost-savings and streamline complex workflows (BENEFIT OR RESULT)?

Problem 3: Mobile app users have no quick, convenient way to share immediate feedback, causing them to feel unheard and resulting in updates that fail to address their actual needs.

• Reframing with a HMW: How might we introduce real-time feedback channels (DO WHAT) for our mobile app users (FOR WHOM) so we can improve on key features and more effectively address their evolving needs (BENEFIT OR RESULT)?

By consistently using HMW statements, your team can develop a proactive and innovative approach to problems that prioritizes the customer and their pain points.

5. The “5 Whys” To Uncover the Root Cause

The “5 Whys”, first described by Taiichi Ohno at Toyota Motor Corporation, is a simple yet powerful creative thinking strategy that helps teams to dig deeper into problems and discover their origin. By repeatedly asking “why?” in response to a problem. You are able to move past symptoms and identify the fundamental issue.

How to use the “5 Whys”:

State the problem clearly: begin with a specific issue your team is facing. For example, 'sales conversations with leads have dropped significantly this quarter'.

Ask “why?”: question why the problem exists. For example, “why have conversations dropped?” The answer may be “we haven't followed up with leads consistently.”

Repeat the process: continue asking “why?” for each answer you receive. By the fifth “why” you should arrive at the root cause. For example, this may sound like:

1. Why haven't we followed up? “Out CRM reminders are inconsistent.”
2. Why are the reminders inconsistent? “The system isn't set up to prioritize follow-ups.”
3. Why isn't it set up? “We haven't customized the software for our process.”
4. Why haven’t we customized the software for our process? “We assumed the default settings would suffice and didn’t allocate time or resources to configure it.”
5. Why did we assume the default settings were enough? “We never thoroughly reviewed our follow-up needs or consulted the end users before implementing features into our CRM system.”

By applying the “5 Whys” approach, the team initially identified a low rate of sales conversations with leads as the main issue. However, upon repeated questioning, they discovered that the real problem stemmed from a failure to properly customize the CRM and conduct a thorough consultation and testing with users prior to its implementation. As a result, foll0w-up reminders were inconsistent and leads ultimately lost interest before meaningful conversations could take place.

The benefits of implementing “5 Whys”:

• Encourages critical thinking and curiosity.
• Helps address systematic, underlying issues rather than superficial ones.
• Creates a culture of problem-solving and continuous improvement.

6. Emphasize on Outcomes over Features

Sales teams tend to focus on the product features rather than the outcomes the customers desire. By placing a spotlight on the outcomes can make your marketing messaging more relevant and impactful.

For example, instead of highlighting a tool's capacities, discuss what this could look like for the customer such as saving time, reducing costs or improve workflows.

How to shift the focus:

1. Translate features into benefits: for every feature you discuss, ask yourself “what is the direct benefit to the customer?” For instance, a data analytics feature might enable faster decision-making.
2. Understand the customer's goals: use personas and customer interviews to identify what success looks like for your audience.
3. Tell stories: share examples of how other clients have their desired outcomes with your product or service.

Action tip: When gathering with your team, have each member present one feature of your product and explain how it directly impacts the customer's desired outcome.

Key benefits of design thinking in sales

1. Stronger client relationships: by focusing on empathy and understanding, your team can build a deeper connection with clients.
2. Innovative solutions: encouraging ideation and experimentation fosters creative approaches to solving client challenges.
3. Improved sales performance: aligning your process with customer needs helps close deals more effectively while establishing loyalty.

By integrating design thinking into your sales business, you are not just solving problems, you are redefining how your team creates values for clients. Ready to transform your approach? Try implementing these strategies in your next team meeting and watch your sales process enhance.

Are you ready to fuse innovation into your B2B Tech sales? Book a meeting with one of our experts here to start chatting!