As our name implies, at Being Guided we deliver guided selling journeys on next generation CRM apps. We combine Design Thinking¹ and Value Engineering² with Sales Coaching and AI technology to maximise your sales effectiveness - business or consumer. Even the UK NHS!

We increase sales effectiveness. By the hour. It's affordable for everyone.

When I say business or consumer, I mean let's stop putting a false divide between each of these categories. For example, at Being Guided our biggest customer is the UK National Health Service (NHS). Maybe sales doesn't come immediately mind here, but it is key. In this example, it's a high-value, high-touch sell for eye surgery with the growing private hospitals operated by the NHS.

Breaking the hermetic seal.

At Being Guided we see the high-value, high-touch sell as a challenge of breaking the hermetic seal that surrounds executive buyers. This requires the seller to offer something substantial on day one of any outbound communications and engagement.

Of course, everyone has a different set of challenges at different stages of the buying and selling cycle. As illustrated in the infographic below.

Design Thinking maximises stakeholder engagement by fostering empathy and collaboration across the buying and selling cycle, whilst Value Engineering builds robust business cases using ROI models to defend value and quantify costs. Together, these approaches make up our sales method: Demand Creation Selling.

Demand Creation Selling is the opposite of Demand Fulfulment Selling: proactive, not reactive; and, ideal for innovators, where buyers cannot know all and specify requirements in an arm's length Request For Proposal (RFP). Our approach is all about Mutual Value Discovery.

Mutual Value Discovery sessions to determine the cost of buying (versus NOT buying) your Value Proposition. This includes generating a ROI Model from Value Engineering that determines the Time-Based Win-Win Value you create for the buyer and you.

Sales coaching innovation.

Sales coaching is about sharing stories, modeling resilience, and helping sales people develop the emotional intelligence needed to build lasting relationships (Ingram et al., 2019¹). This is where at Being Guided we are introducing ChatLLM as a low-cost AI Assistant.

SecondNature provides a technology foundation for our AI-powered sales coaching. This is where we deliver AI-powered Role Plays. This is where sales coaching is implemented for both offline 'academy' learning and in-deal learning at crucial stages of the buying and selling cycle.

Over time, we will introduce our SecondNature AI-powered Sales Avators to select Role Plays for crucial stages of sales coaching interventions underpinned. However, our approach at Being Guided to sales coaching is always human first. This is all about helping sales people develop the emotional intelligence needed to build lasting relationships (Ingram et al., 20191).

For inbound enquiries, this is an iterative process to optimise lead generation process. This is where Salespeak uses AI to score your Website and guides you through improving content to maximise the digital conversation with the early stage prospect.

Knowledge Health within Salespeak shows what the AI Sales Brain knows about your company, categorised for easy access. This is its onboarding process helping it learn, refine, and optimise responses. A stronger knowledge foundation ensures accurate, confident prospect interactions.

Vibe Coding, introduced.

The journey from initial lead to qualified opportunity is where guided selling continues: creating a Model that begins to define the quantifiable advantages generated in a Future State with your Compelling Value Proposition purchased.

As expanded upon below, this where Design Thinking will maximise buyer-seller stakeholder engagement and where Value Engineering generates a compelling business case to put the 'Compelling' into your Value Proposition.

Our optimised CRM apps are built on eleven Custom Objects (Tables or Entities) delivered within your technology environment. This is explored further as an AI innovation in our Journal post on Vibe Coding⁶.

01. Models
From generating high levels of engagement among all key stakeholders throufh Design Thinking, the Value Engineering process creates Return On Investment Models (ROI) Models for the seller's offer, where a solid business case for the buyer,. This defends value over price.

02. Projects
With a clear ROI Model in place, a Compelling Value Proposition is translated into a Project Plan. This includes setting out a hierarchy of Milestones, Tasks, Deliverables and Costs, mapped against the ROI Model created to generate a strong business case for the buyer.

03. Tasks
Project Tasks are assigned to Users where many Tasks can make up the Milestones and Complete Projects related to the Project Plan. Project Tasks utilise Activities for Tasks, Emails and Calls in Salesforce or Google AppSheet.

04. Resources
Human and Digital Resources are assigned to Project Tasks, defining named Users, fully supported by AI Augmentation or AI Automation options. Resources include customisable Record layout options for Skills plus Custom Objects (Tables) for eLearning and Certifications.

05. Storyboards
Alongside Snapshots, Storyboards are continuously updated via a buyside Web Form and Salesforce or Google AppSheet Record, defining and iterating Problems and Challenges expressed in terms of urgency, importance and how they are mapped to Models.

06. Decisions
In moving from the what-if Projections of a ROI Model for a Compelling Value Proposition, the buyer and seler agree and continuously refine Value Engineering calculations for Purchasing against Economic Basis of Decision and Emotional Basis of Decision scoring.

07. Solutions
Over time, the Compelling Value Proposition emerges from a Mutual Value Discovery between buyer and seller. This is where progressively clearer Solutions are developed and documented, underpinned by a convincing Value Engineering and ROI Model outcome.

08. Checklists
The Checklist Module allows for customised Checklists to be used at each stage of a buying and selling cycle. One or more Checklists can be included in Tracking, where this can measure the change of status for each Checklist Item over time.

09. Objections
Combining in-depth human experience with an AI Assistant to work through predicted abd actual objerction handling situations. Example: "The customer says our price is too high compared to the competition. How should I respond?"

10. Calculations
Using Models to generate what-if Return On Investment (ROI) Calculations that results in a Clear comparison between Current State and Future State. This feeds into a progressive Mutual Value Discovery to result in a solid Value Engineering outcome for buyside and sellside.

11. Guidance
Again, combining human experience with AI Assistant to ask questions informing the right actions at key stages of the buying and selling cycle. Example: "We're in the negotiation stage of the deal. What are the most important things to focus on to close the deal successfully?"

Design Thinking, applied.

As the name implies: Design Thinking is thinking (and acting) like a designer. Being curious, restless and constantly challenging business-as-usual. It is all about solving problems in a human-oriented way. In order to generate receptivity and rapport, empathy is the key to success.

Inspired by the Stanford d.school our Design Thinking is delivered as six iterative stages: Empathize; Define; Ideate; Prototype; Test; and, Implement. This offers a structured yet flexible framework to better understand and challenge assumptions and redefine problems.

Design Thinking is strengthened by Value Engineering: mapping out a solid use case, financial justification and technology preferences for buying high-value products and services.

01. Empathize
The first and most important stage in Design Thinking is Empathize. This where you are creating receptivity and rapport among a broad set of decision-makers and influencers as stakeholders in innovation, leads to trust. In turn, this generates the truth required to move to the Define stage.

02. Define
Clearly articulating the problem to be solved. After gathering insights, define the core problem in a human-centered manner. This stage is about synthesising observations and articulating the problem in a way that guides the creation of a compelling argument for a solution.

03. Ideate
Generating a range of creative ideas to solve the defined problem. This phase involves brainstorming and exploring potential solutions, encouraging out-of-the-box thinking. It's essential for innovation, as it embraces creativity in the discovery of effective outcomes.

04. Prototype
Turning ideas into tangible products. Prototyping means a hands-on approach to the rapid transformation of Current State, generating a simpler, more effective Future State with the right solution. Prototyping is crucial for visualising how the solution will work.

05. Test
Gathering feedback and refining the Prototype. Testing includes feedback collection on reactions to the solution offered. This helps in understanding the prospect's experience, identifying issues, and validating the effectiveness of what has been proposed.

06. Implement
Finalising the solution and closing the deal. The final stage involves finalising the solution design based on feedback, completing the development, and launching the product or service in question. This ensures that the solution is fully understood and ready for everyday use

Value Engineering, calculated.

Design Thinking is strengthened by Value Engineering: mapping out a solid use case, financial justification and technology preferees for high-value products and services.

Value Engineering was originally conceived by Lawrence D. Miles², a General Electric engineer. Miles' techniques have saved design engineers, manufacturing engineers, purchasing agents and service providers millions of dollars.

To quote Miles, it was necessary to show "why so much unnecessary costs exist in everything we do and how to identify, clarify, and separate costs which bear no relationship to customers' needs or desires."

Value Engineering eliminates waste and determines value over price. This is calculating the cost of purchasing (or crucially, not purchasing) any high-value product or service in a timely manner. It is quantifying time-based value versus the cost of delay or doing nothing.

As Value Engineers, we set the scene mapping your ideal customer's needs with your offering. This is where we apply Design Thinking to enable you to build receptivity, rapport, trust and truth with buyers - early and often.

From a financial perspective, we start with a simple question for the buyer:

What is the cost of NOT buying the product or service?

Firstly, let's look at the Return On Investment (ROI) Model - a general formula:

ROI = (Cost of Investment / Net Profit​)×100%

To adapt this formula for an As-Is vs. To-Be comparison, consider:

Net Profit: This will be the difference in profits between the Future State (To-Be) and the Current State (As-Is).

Cost of Investment: This is the cost incurred to move from the Current State (As-Is) to the Future State (To-Be).

Given the above considerations, the formula becomes:

ROI = (ProfitTo−Be​ − ProfitAs−Is​​ / Cost of Transition) × 100%

Where:

Profit To-Be = Profit or (benefit) in Future StateProfit As-Is = Profit (or benefit) in Current StateCost of Transition = Cost to move from As-Is to To-Be

Note: If you're measuring benefits other than strict monetary profits, such as time saved or other intangible benefits, ensure you can convert these benefits into a monetary value for this to be valid.

To calculate the Return On Investment (ROI) with the specified inputs, we can formulate several equations. Let's define the variables first:

BVAs-Is = Current State (As-Is) Business Value generated per annum without Solution.BVTo-Be = Future State (To-Be) Business Value generated per annum after investing in Solution.

COS = Cost of Solution.ROI = Return on Investment as a ratio relative to the Cost of Solution.

CoD = Cost of Delay per day when not investing in Solution.CoDN = Cost of Doing Nothing per day when not investing in Solution.

CoDday = Cost of Delay per day when not investing in Solution.

CoDNday = Cost of Doing Nothing per day when not investing in Solution.

Calculating ROI from Solution: Net_Gain - BVTo-Be - BVAs-Is

Calculating ROI: ROI - Net_Gain - CDI / CDIThe ROI is expressed as a ratio. Multiply by 100 to get a percentage.

Cost of Delay (CoD): This represents the loss per day by delaying the Solution purchase. Assume the delay starts from the beginning of the year and goes on for d days:CoD = BVTo-Be - BV As-Is (d x CoDday) - CDI / CDI

Cost of Doing Nothing (CoDN): This is the loss per day for not implementing the Solution. Similarly, for d days:CoDN = BVAs-Is - (d x CoDNday) - CDI / CDI

Summary.

Our Sales Coaching solutions combine AI technologies with human know-how. This is in-depth experience and insights gained from 50+ years experience that Being Guided brings to the high-value, high-touch sell.

Applying Salespeak maximises customer experience at the earliest stage of engaging with your inbound Leads that generate qualified Opportunities. This creates an environment to move to a deeper engagement between buyer and seller.

When optimising your CRM app - this starts with Design Thinking and progresses through Value Engineering. This is also the right time to take onboard a mindset that embraces simplifying everything business and tech, hence: Fierce Reduction.

With Fierce Reduction I am greatly influenced by the timeless thinking of Apple cofounder Steve Jobs influencing Ken Segall⁴ and also John Maeda⁵, both in relation to the need for simplicity in designing and marketing high-value products and services.

With emerging CRM apps, our customers can engage in our pragmatic, step-by-step approach to embracing Vibe Coding⁶. This is where AI technology can be deployed for extending or replacing existing CRM apps.

References

1. The Hasso Plattner Institute of Design. (2004) Stanford d.school. https://dschool.stanford.edu/about
2. Miles, L.D. (1947). The Lawrence D. Miles Value Engineering Reference Center Collection.
   https://minds.wiscon.edu/handle/1793/301
3. Covey, S. R. (1989). The 7 habits of highly effective people. Free Press.
   https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/The-7-Habits-of-Highly-Effective-People/Stephen-R-Covey/9781982137274
4. Segall, K. (2013). Insanely Simple: The Obsession That Drives Apple’s Success, New York, United States: Penguin Group.
   https://kensegall.com/books/
5. Maeda, J. (2006). The Laws of Simplicity. Design, Technology, Business, Life. Cambridge, Great Britain: MIT Press.
   https://mitpress.mit.edu/9780262539470/the-laws-of-simplicity/
6. Karpathy, A. [@karpathy]. (2025, February 2). There’s a new kind of coding I call “vibe coding”, where you fully give in to vibes, embrace exponentials, and forget that code even exists. X.
   https://x.com/karpathy/status/1753472166197080428