To maximize your impact and elevate from a tactical transactional vendor to a Trusted Advisor, use these prompts to guide your journey through the Selling the Sage Way AI Sales Coach. 

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If you have not been through the Selling the Sage Way training, it will be helpful to understand the Selling the Sage Way basics:

 

Vision - A Sage Seller’s North Star is to elevate from a tactical transactional vendor to a strategic partner, what Selling the Sage Way calls a Trusted Advisor. This differentiates you from your competition and unlocks strategic and durable value for both parties (buyer and seller). 

 

Guiding Principles - These are the behavioral sales DNA and mindset that anchor the foundation of the Trusted Advisor relationship vision.  You can ask the Sage AI agent what are the guiding principles of a Sage Seller?  For example, one of the guiding principles is “How you sell is more important than what you sell.”

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Sales Comfort Food - A tactic to use at the beginning of the meeting to inspire the buyer to open up, be transparent, and share their truth. This sets the foundation for a valuable meeting and for the next step in the qualification process called Peel the Onion.

 

Peel the Onion (3 Layers) - An agreement and/or qualification process that enables both parties to come to an agreement and decide whether pursuing a solution is a worthwhile endeavor.  It focuses the buyer on their most important challenges (Layer one), the economic impact (Layer two), and the priority (Layer three).

 

Elevator Pitch & Scope of Opportunity - A narrative story that convinces the buyer or doesn’t, to invest more time and resources in taking a more comprehensive look at the seller’s solution.  Secondly, it allows the seller to collect the necessary information from the buyer in order to put an accurate proposal on the table.  

 

Investment - An agreement that the buyer is willing and able to make the necessary investment should they complete the due diligence of the seller’s solution and decide to move forward with a purchase.

 

The W’s (Decision Game Plan) - After the Investment step is agreed upon, the seller now has a Sage-qualified deal worthy of pursuit.  To advance that opportunity to an outcome, which is a “yes, we will buy” or “no, we will not buy” decision, the seller must understand the When, Who, and What of the opportunity.

 

Delivery of Proof - An agreement between the seller and buyer to co-build a Mutual Outcome Plan (MOP) that defines how the seller and buyer’s team will collaborate together to deliver and review the required evidence that enables the buyer to make a “yes” or “no” decision in a mutually agreed upon timeframe.  The MOP will contain activities, ownership, and due dates. 

 

Negotiate the Win-Win - To reach a final agreement on business and contractual terms with minimal effort as quickly as possible.

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Step 0: Set the Foundation

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Tell the Sage Coach about your world:

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• Company & Title: Who do you represent, and what is your role?

• Solutions: What core problems do you solve?

• Ideal Customer Profile (ICP): Which companies benefit most from your help?

• Buyer Personas: Which specific titles are you engaging with (e.g., CFO, IT Director)?

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Here are 10 specific prompts per stage of the Sage framework that you can ask. These are designed to help you create, qualify, close, and grow more business.

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1. Create Demand​

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Focus: Provoking curiosity, elevating buyer urgency, uncovering unmet needs, and building a high-quality pipeline.

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1. "Help me draft an outreach email to a [Insert Persona] that challenges the status quo instead of just pitching my product features."

2. "I need to elevate buyer urgency. What are three provocative questions I can ask a [Insert Title] to help them see a problem they might be missing?"

3. "Based on the Sage principle of 'making the invisible visible,' how can I frame [Insert Industry Trend] as a critical risk to my prospect?"

4. "I want to stop chasing low-value leads. Help me define a stricter Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) based on organizations likely to realize long-term value."

5. "Review this cold call script. Does it sound like I am 'seeking to understand' first, or am I jumping straight to the solution?"

6. "How can I use the 'Peel the Onion' technique in my first conversation to uncover the 'First Layer' of business challenges?"

7. "I need to turn my inbound leads into a learning engine. What questions should I ask to feed market insights back into my product strategy?"

8. "Help me craft a message that positions me as a Trusted Advisor who offers valuable insights, rather than a vendor looking for a quick deal."

9. "What are some 'Third Layer' personal priority questions I can ask early on to see if this problem actually matters to the buyer personally?"

10. "I want to create a 'compounding' GTM motion. How can I use my current conversations to refine my messaging for future prospects?"

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2. Qualify Demand

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Focus: Rigorous qualification, 'pre-closing', and avoiding the 'closed/no decision' trap.

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1. "I have a new opportunity. Help me use the 'Peel the Onion' framework to dig three layers deep: the business challenge, the financial impact, and the personal priority."

2. "I suspect this deal might be a 'ghost' opportunity. What specific questions can I ask to disqualify it early and save my time?"

3. "How can I use conversational intelligence cues to spot risk factors or budget issues that the prospect isn't explicitly saying?"

4. "Help me structure a conversation to 'pre-close' this opportunity. I want to ensure we are aligned on a 'go/no-go' decision timeframe."

5. "My prospect agrees on the problem (Layer 1), but we haven't quantified the cost (Layer 2). What questions can I ask to establish the financial impact?"

6. "I need to identify the 'who, when, and what' of the decision process. What questions will help me map out the buying committee?"

7. "The prospect says this is a problem, but I'm not sure it's a priority . How do I ask about their personal motivation (Layer 3) without being intrusive?"

8. "Review my qualification checklist. Am I focusing enough on 'qualifying truth' rather than just checking boxes?"

9. "How can I use the 'Sage Insight' that 60% of deals stall and do not create urgency in my qualification questions?"

10. "I want to ensure I'm not wasting resources. Help me draft an email that politely 'qualifies out' a prospect who isn't ready to buy."

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3. Advancing Deals and Closing Demand

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Focus: Execution, navigating complexity, building consensus, and negotiating winning deals.

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1. "I am facing a complex buying committee. How can I map out the decision-making process to ensure I have consensus among all stakeholders?"

2. "Help me prepare for a negotiation. I want to focus on value and mutual outcomes rather than just discounting price to get the deal done."

3. "My prospect is stalling on the final signature. What 'pre-closing' questions did I miss, and how can I recover the timeline?"

4. "How do I transition from 'vendor' to 'strategic partner' during the closing phase to justify my price and terms?"

5. "I need to close the feedback loop. What questions should I ask a lost prospect to learn why we lost and feed that back into my process?"

6. "The buyer is asking for a discount. How can I use the 'Layer 2' financial impact we discussed earlier to defend my pricing?"

7. "Help me draft a 'mutual action plan' email that confirms the steps remaining to get to a decision by [Date]."

8. "I want to ensure a seamless handoff to Customer Success. What information should I capture now to make the implementation successful?"

9. "How can I use conversational intelligence to pick up on subtle hesitation in the buyer's voice during the final review?"

10. "What are the key 'risk factors' I should be looking for in the final stages that might cause this deal to slip?"

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4. Growing Demand

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Focus: Leveraging Trusted Advisor status for renewals, up-sells, and cross-sells.

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1. "I have a renewal coming up. What questions can I ask to confirm the executive team is seeing ROI and to uncover new unmet needs?"

2. "How can I transition a post-sale check-in call into a conversation about organic growth or cross-sell opportunities without sounding aggressive?"

3. "Help me draft an email to a current customer that leverages our success so far to ask for a referral or introduction to another division."

4. "I want to align with my Customer Success team. What specific 'growth signals' should we be looking for in our customer conversations?"

5. "My customer is happy, but I want to expand the account. How do I 'Peel the Onion' again to find new challenges we can solve?"

6. "How can I turn this customer into an advocate who helps me sell to others? What specific request should I make?"

7. "I want to use 'conversational intelligence' to spot churn risk. What phrases or topics should I be listening for in support calls?"

8. "Help me structure a Quarterly Business Review (QBR) agenda that focuses on future value and expansion, not just past performance."

9. "How can I use the 'Sage Insight' that customers are a high-leverage resource to build a referral program?"

10. "I want to propose an up-sell. How do I frame it as a natural evolution of our partnership rather than a new sales pitch?"