WINSmart Sales Grid
Strategy and tactics for complex opportunities and key accounts
- Opportunity strategy and tactics
- Account and territory plans
- Funnel rules: stages, Gates, win rates, ideal customer profile
Complex sales methodology and leadership
Win as a team in a complex business environment.
Lead the customer. Lead the team.
Methodology tells you what to do. Leadership gets people to do it, with your customers' decision makers and inside your own teams. We combine both on your live deals, and we measure the results.
30+
years in B2B complex sales
100+
international organisations served
10+
countries of delivery
The challenge
Sales methodologies rarely fail. Their adoption does.
Most organisations selling large, multi-stakeholder deals have already invested in a methodology. The gap is what happens after the workshops.
Enablement without a system
Teams learn a method, but funnel rules, reviews and CRM stay unchanged, so old habits return.
Expanding buying committees
More stakeholders and centralised purchasing make every large deal harder to read and to win.
Managers who inspect, not coach
Deal reviews remain forecast checks rather than working sessions on how to win the deal.
Individual heroes, not deal teams
Pre-sales, bid, finance and delivery engage too late, without a shared view of the deal.
Usage fades within months
Without reinforcement, the method disappears from day-to-day opportunity management.
No proof of impact
Programmes are judged on satisfaction scores, not on deals won, margin or growth.
Our conviction
Methodology tells you what to do. Leadership gets it done.
Complex deals are won or lost as a team. The method sets the strategy; leadership, with customers and within teams, accelerates its execution.
Leadership as the accelerator
We develop how your people lead customer decision makers, deal teams and sales teams, on live business.
Managers as coaches
We equip your sales leaders to run deal reviews that change the outcome of key deals.
Results you can measure
We set a baseline and a control group, and report the impact at month 6 and month 12.
Your methodology or ours
We work with the method you already use, or with our own Smart Sales Grid.
The framework
Two pillars, one measurement frame
Methodology tells you what to do; leadership gets people to do it, with customers and internally. Every programme combines both and proves its impact.
LEADSmart Sales Leadership
The execution accelerator: leading customers and teams
- Four leadership dimensions, shared by every role
- Applied in four modes, from customer decision makers to sales directors
- Practised on live deals, reviews and customer meetings
MEASURE
Prove the impact
Baseline at T0 · control group where possible · impact reviews at months 6 and 12
Smart Sales Leadership
The four leadership dimensions
One leadership model for every role. The same three skills, built on self-awareness, apply whether you lead a customer's decision, a deal team or a sales organisation.
Applied in four modes
Customer decision makers
Deal team
Manager → reps
Director → managers
1
Understand
Active listeningThe other person's issues, motivations and personal stakes.
2
Be understood
Communicate, explain, convinceA clear message adapted to the listener.
3
Gain commitment
AssertivenessA concrete action, owned and followed up.
Adapt
Foundation · self-awareness, DISC stylesFlexing one's style to customers, team members and peers. It underpins the three skills above.
The Deal Performance System
Six steps from methodology to results
1
Align on goals and baseline
Agree progress KPIs with your executives, measure the starting point and select a control group.
2
Design the rules of the game
Funnel stages, Gates and win rates, the ideal customer profile, account plans and deal-team roles.
3
Equip teams on live deals
Apply the Smart Sales Grid to current opportunities and develop the four leadership dimensions, through e-learning, workshops and, where useful, talent assessment.
4
Run the management cadence
Install regular key deal reviews and coach your managers to lead them.
5
Sustain and scale
Delegate business reviews to our team when needed, supported by an AI deal agent between sessions.
6
Measure the impact
Review results at month 6 and month 12 against the baseline and the control group, then adjust.
The offer
Five programmes, built on two pillars
Each programme works on your live deals and accounts. Use one on its own, or combine several into an integrated programme measured against a baseline.
WIN Strategy and tactics · Smart Sales Grid
Win a Complex Sale as a Team
AE, KAM, deal teams · managers in a coaching version
- Decision players, their interests and styles
- Competitive position from the customer's view
- Missing information, action plan and meeting tactics
E-learning availableOnline playbooks available
Develop a Key Account as a Team
KAM, account directors, account teams
- Account strategy and relationship map
- Whitespace and growth plan
- Account reviews run with the account team
E-learning availableOnline playbooks available
Navigate Sales Process to Success as a Team
Sales directors, managers and their teams
- Funnel stages and Gates, win rates, ideal customer profile
- Forecast rules and territory plans
- Deal-team roles at each stage
Online playbooks available Design workshop, then Gate reviews on live deals
LEAD The execution accelerator · Smart Sales Leadership
Sales and Customer Leadership
AE, KAM, pre-sales
Customer decision makersDeal team
- Lead the customer's decision across the buying group
- Run high-impact customer meetings
- Lead the deal team without hierarchical authority
Signature module: Access and Convince Executives. Earn access to customer executives, convince them and gain their commitment.
Online playbooks available Workshops, then coaching on real executive meetings
Sales Management Leadership
Sales managers, sales directors
Manager → repsDirector → managers
- Coach to win on live deals; deal and pipeline reviews
- Lead the sales operating rhythm: cadence, KPIs, adoption
- Build the team: hiring profile, assessment, development
Online playbooks available Workshop, then 6 months of coach-the-coach
HOW TO ENGAGE
Entry · 3 to 4 weeks
Key Deal Clinic or Leadership Diagnostic
- Review of 3 to 5 live strategic deals, or of your management team
- Baseline KPIs
- Roadmap presented to your executives
Core · 6 months
Integrated Programme
- WIN and LEAD programmes combined for each audience
- Applied to live deals and accounts
- Baseline, control group and impact reviews
Recurring · monthly
Key Deal Reviews
- Deal reviews led or co-led with your managers
- Supported by the Smart Sales Grid agent
- Continuous measurement
AI-augmented
AI that keeps the method alive between reviews
Your managers keep the judgement and the coaching. The agent does the preparation and the follow-up, so the cadence holds across countries and teams.
We design the Smart Sales Grid agent: rules, data, prompts and review workflow. It is built on your CRM vendor’s agentic AI, such as Salesforce Agentforce, by your CRM team or integration partner. We start with a pilot on 10 to 20 key deals.
-
Rule checks on every key deal
Flags opportunities that pass a stage without meeting the Gate criteria agreed in your funnel rules.
-
Review preparation
Highlights gaps against plan, deals at risk and decision-makers not yet covered.
-
Smart Sales Grid pre-fill
Drafts the opportunity analysis from CRM data and meeting notes.
-
Action-plan follow-up
Tracks commitments between two reviews and prompts the owners.
Proof of impact
What happens when the system is in place
Client case: worldwide leader in industrial measurement and control solutions. 18-month programme in one division, in two phases of 8 and 10 months.
Project sales outgrew the rest of the business, which served as a natural control group.
+11%
higher growth rate in major project sales than in the rest of the business, the control group (phase 1)
+20%
increase in project sales by the end of phase 2 (month 18)
+7 pts
win rate on project deals, from 41% in phase 1 to 48% in phase 2
System installed: funnel and territory rules, methodology applied to live deals, quarterly manager coaching and, ultimately, business reviews delegated to our team. Methodology enablement represented about 2.5 days of an 18-month engagement.
Impact and measurement
Results you can measure
Business outcomes
Win rate on strategic deals, deal size, share of solution sales, key account growth and retention, margin.
Leading indicators
Gate compliance, decision-maker coverage, forecast accuracy, sales cycle length.
Organisation
One shared language, managers who coach, faster ramp-up, better hiring and placement decisions.
Team selling
Earlier and better-coordinated involvement of pre-sales, bid, finance and delivery on key deals.
Baseline at kick-off
KPIs agreed with your executives and measured before the programme starts.
Control group
A region or business unit not yet deployed provides a fair comparison.
Impact reviews
Formal reviews at month 6 and month 12, with corrective actions.
Track record
Organisations we have served since 2002
Technology and telecoms
HP, Microsoft, Oracle, SAS Institute, Capgemini, Atos, Canon, Colt, Proximus, Verifone, Progress Software, ESI Group
Healthcare and biotech
Roche Diagnostics, Siemens Medical, GE Healthcare, Abbott, Becton Dickinson, Smith & Nephew, Guerbet, Institut Pasteur, Zoll Medical
Electronics and measurement
Rohde & Schwarz, Mettler Toledo, Anritsu, Oxford Instruments, Meggitt, Panduit, Belden, Soitec, Watlow
Manufacturing and controls
Schneider Electric, Rockwell Automation, Emerson Process Management, Sulzer Pump, Domino Printing, Metso Paper
Business services
Avery Dennison, Rentokil, Office Depot, Veolia Water, Fraikin, ADP
Food and catering
Unilever Food Solutions, Compass Group, CHR Hansen, Mars Drinks, Selecta
Chemicals
Akzo Nobel, Linpac
Consulting
PwC, Mercer, Hewitt
About us
Engineers of the sales system
Carle Lopez, founder. Engineer by training (INSA Lyon), Carle spent 18 years in R&D, technical support, sales, marketing and general management with international groups, including Hewlett-Packard, Yokogawa, Meggitt and Alstom. Since 2002 he has helped B2B sales leaders win large, complex deals, first in partnership with Miller Heiman, then with Complex Sales Academy.
His approach combines complex-sale methodology, leadership with customers and teams, and sales system design: funnel rules, management cadence, incentives, CRM and, now, agentic AI.
For international programmes, we work with a network of senior coaches and experts, under one programme management.
1984–2002
Engineering, sales and general management in international groups
2002
Co-founds Athena Values; partnership with Miller Heiman
2020
Launches Complex Sales Academy and the Smart Sales Grid
Today
Win and Lead: methodology and leadership, AI-augmented
Next step
Start with a Key Deal Clinic
Test the system on your own strategic opportunities before committing to a full programme. Within four weeks, you see how your key deals are managed and where they can be won.
Phone
+33 (0)9 72 62 74 33
Office
4 Place Louis Armand, 75012 Paris, France