Configuring guided selling in Tacton isn’t for the faint of heart. If you’re dealing with B2B products that have a million options, custom rules, and sales teams who’d rather do anything than enter data, this one’s for you.
This guide walks through setting up guided selling workflows in Tacton so your team actually gets what they need: an easier way to sell complicated products without endless back-and-forth. I’ll point out practical tips, things to skip, and what will bite you if you’re not careful.
What Exactly Is Guided Selling in Tacton?
Quick reality check: “Guided selling” is just a fancy way of saying “help your sales team (or customers) make the right product choices without screwing up.” In Tacton, this means creating workflows and logic that guide users through a series of questions or steps, narrowing down options based on what’s possible, allowed, or smart.
If you’re in a business where “one size fits all” is a joke, guided selling is how you avoid chaos.
Step 1: Map Your Product Logic—Don’t Skip This
Before you even log in to Tacton, you need a clear, honest map of your product. Not the idealized, marketing version—what actually gets sold, and what rules are non-negotiable.
What you need: - A list of all product features and options. - Which options depend on others (dependencies). - Rules: What’s allowed, what’s forbidden, what’s just dumb. - Common dealbreakers or “gotchas” that trip up sales.
Pro tip: Talk to your most cynical sales rep and your crankiest engineer. They’ll tell you where things break down. Capture those rules.
Skipping this step means you’ll end up reworking your workflow later, or worse, guiding your team into dead ends.
Step 2: Set Up Product Models in Tacton
Now you’re ready to touch Tacton. In the admin interface, you’ll build your product models. This is the foundation for everything else.
Key tasks: - Define product structure: Main product, subassemblies, accessories. - Add features and options: Each selectable thing—colors, sizes, voltages, whatever. - Set up dependencies: Use Tacton’s constraints engine to enforce what can (and can’t) be combined.
What works: Tacton’s constraint logic is powerful for complex stuff—think “if you pick motor A, you can’t have voltage B.”
What doesn’t: Overcomplicating the model. Try to keep it as flat as possible. If you need a PhD to follow your dependencies, sales won’t use it.
Step 3: Build Out the Guided Selling Flow
This is where you design the step-by-step experience your users will follow.
In Tacton, you’ll: - Create questions: What do you need to know to narrow down the options? Prioritize must-haves over nice-to-haves. - Group questions logically: Don’t scatter related choices—keep them together. - Set up dynamic filtering: Use Tacton’s logic to hide irrelevant choices as answers are selected.
Tips to avoid pain: - Don’t ask users for info you can infer (e.g., don’t ask “region” if you already know it from their login). - Keep the number of questions as low as possible. Every extra step is a chance to lose someone. - Test the flow with a real sales rep. Watch for eye rolls.
Step 4: Configure Rules and Constraints
This is where Tacton shines—and also where you can get lost if you’re not careful.
Types of rules you’ll need: - Compatibility rules: “If X, then not Y.” - Required combos: “If you pick A, you must also pick B.” - Exclusions: “You can’t have C with D or E.”
How to do it: - Use Tacton’s constraint editor. It’s logic-based, so you’ll need to think in “if/then” and “must/must not” statements. - Prioritize rules that prevent expensive mistakes—those that cost time, money, or customer trust.
What to watch out for: - Don’t go crazy with edge-case rules. Cover common and critical scenarios, not every theoretical possibility. - Keep a spreadsheet or document with all your rules—Tacton’s UI isn’t great for seeing the big picture.
Step 5: Design the User Interface (UI)
It’s easy to get caught up in logic and forget the UI. Don’t make that mistake—salespeople (and customers) judge with their eyes.
Best practices: - Keep it clean: Avoid clutter. Only show what matters at each step. - Use plain language: No internal jargon. If your sales team says “widget,” don’t write “articulated transfer unit.” - Show progress: Let users know how many steps are left.
What doesn’t work: - Overusing tooltips and popups. They slow things down. - Hiding error messages. Make it clear why a choice isn’t available.
Pro tip: Have someone outside your project team test the UI. If they get stuck, so will your users.
Step 6: Test with Real Scenarios
Don’t trust your own work. Test the guided selling flow with real-world scenarios, not just happy paths.
How to test: - Run through common deals, weird edge cases, and “impossible” combos. - Watch your users—don’t just ask for feedback. If they’re frustrated, your workflow needs work. - Check for logic loops or dead ends.
What to ignore: Fancy demo data. Use messy, real data that your team actually sees.
Step 7: Iterate and Roll Out
No matter how much you plan, something will break or confuse people. Plan to iterate.
How to handle rollout: - Start with a small group of users (sales ops, power sellers). - Collect feedback: Where do they get confused? Where do they cheat or bypass the flow? - Adjust the workflow—don’t be precious about your first version.
What works: Quick, visible fixes. If users see their feedback acted on, they’ll trust the system more.
Step 8: Train, Support, and Measure
Even the best workflow falls flat if no one uses it. Training and support are just as important as fancy logic.
Training tips: - Keep it short. Focus on what not to do as much as what to do. - Share a cheat sheet of “common mistakes” and how to avoid them.
Support: - Set up a dedicated feedback channel. - Make it easy to report workflow bugs or weird logic.
Measure: - Track usage: Are people actually completing quotes in the system? - Look for bottlenecks: Where do users drop out? - Monitor “shadow quoting” (people making quotes outside Tacton)—it’s a sign your workflow still has gaps.
What to Ignore (Unless You Love Wasting Time)
- Obscure configuration options: If you don’t know what a setting does, you probably don’t need it.
- Over-customizing the UI: Tacton’s default layouts are fine for most, and customizations break during upgrades.
- Trying to cover every possible scenario: You’ll never finish. Focus on what comes up 90% of the time.
Final Thoughts: Keep It Simple, Iterate Often
Guided selling in Tacton only works if people use it. Start simple, focus on the most common paths, and resist the urge to “boil the ocean.” Configuration is never “done”—treat this as a living system. Iterate based on real feedback, and don’t be afraid to cut features that no one uses.
Your sales team (and your sanity) will thank you.