Core Concepts and Terminology
Guided Selling helps you streamline your sales process by automating outreach and follow-ups with prospects. Think of it as your personal sales assistant that helps you stay organized and consistent with your sales activities.
What is Guided Selling?
Guided Selling is a Salesforce application that automates your sales outreach process. Instead of manually tracking when to call, email, or text prospects, Guided Selling creates structured workflows (called Sequences) that guide you through each step of engaging with potential customers.
The Main Building Blocks
Sequences 📋
Think of a Sequence as your sales playbook for engaging with prospects. It’s a step-by-step plan that might look like:
- Day 1: Send welcome email
- Day 3: Make a phone call
- Day 7: Send follow-up text message
- Day 10: Send final email
Each sequence is designed to help you nurture relationships and move prospects closer to a sale through consistent, timely interactions.
Participants 👥
Participants are the prospects (leads or contacts) who are enrolled in your sequences. These are the people you’re trying to reach and convert into customers.
Actions 🎯
Actions are the individual steps within a sequence. Each action tells you what to do and when to do it. There are four types:
| Action Type | What it does | Example |
|---|---|---|
| 📞 Call | Prompts you to make a phone call | “Call to introduce yourself and your company” |
| Sends an email automatically | “Send welcome email with company overview” | |
| 💬 SMS | Sends a text message | “Send quick check-in text” |
| ✅ Task | Creates a reminder for you | “Research company background before next call” |
How Sequences Work
Manual vs Automatic Sequences
Manual Sequences:
- You personally add people to the sequence
- Perfect when you want to handpick who receives your outreach
- Example: Adding high-value prospects from a trade show
Automatic Sequences:
- People are added automatically based on criteria you set
- Great for consistent lead nurturing
- Example: New website visitors automatically get a welcome sequence
Getting Started
Understanding these basics will help you:
- Create effective sequences for different types of prospects
- Know when to use manual vs automatic enrollment
- Track your outreach activities more effectively
- Follow up consistently without missing opportunities
Next Steps
- Learn how to create your first sequence
- Explore sequence concepts in Using Guided Selling
- Review scale and performance for operational guidance
For technical details about how Guided Selling works under the hood, administrators can reference the reference architecture.