phData sales process + DSA training (phData-internal — never public)

Founder shared three slides from phData sales training (photos preserved in this folder: 2026-06-11-sales-process-work-stream-slide.jpg, 2026-06-11-scope-proposal-sow-slide.jpg, 2026-06-11-sales-roles-slide.jpg) and disclosed: he is training to be a Solutions Engineer — specifically a Delivery Solutions Architect (DSA). Built him a visual reference site (founder-spec layout) from the three slides — ~/Projects/phdata-sales-process/, published behind the rdco.dev OTP wall (ben@ only).

The process in one paragraph

Five stages — Qualification → Discovery → Scope → Proposal → Negotiate — each with declared inputs/activities/outputs. The real skeleton is the ◆ gates: BANTC confirmed + qual questions documented → customer goals defined → approved scoping doc w/ team+effort → customer "will you buy?" confirmation → SOW through Contracts. Stage 5's outputs (Staffing initiated, Sales→Delivery Knowledge Transfer) mean the funnel terminates INTO engagement delivery.

Observations delivered to founder

1. The ◆ diamonds are the process; everything else is technique.
2. Two output→input chaining gaps (slide drift): Stage 2's "high-level solution approach" output has no declared consumer; Stage 4's "approved estimate sheet" input has no upstream producer by that name. Both dangling artifacts are SE/DSA deliverables — his new job description falls through the cracks of the process doc. Flagged as a sharp question to raise in training.
3. The funnel's terminal edge (Sales→Delivery handoff) is the same seam the CAF restructure formalizes from the delivery side — as DSA he sits on both sides of phData's most valuable boundary.
4. The three documents harden as audience widens: Scoping (internal, iterative) → Proposal (customer, negotiable) → SOW (legal, binding).

Role definitions (slide 3, verbatim summary)

• AE — quarterback of external stakeholder interactions + internal pursuit team (Meetings, Slack, Salesforce, Customer and Partners).
• SE — drives technical credibility externally; develops opportunity approach, scope, estimates; validates with SMEs and Delivery Leadership. DSA = founder's target seat.

Founder's refinement (same evening, ~17:26 ET) — the CAF mapping

• As Principal he works as the SE and hands off to Delivery Leads (DLs) on his team — he's the SE side of the SE→DL handoff (corrects the earlier read that he was the DL being identified in Stage 2).
• CAF's two halves map onto the sales process: first half = accelerating SALES (the assessments are pre-sales artifacts feeding Discovery→Scope→ Proposal); second half = productizing DELIVERY.
• AI Workforce practice (smaller team): SE likely = DL = him. Both seats, one person.
• Implication for the restructure proposal ([[2026-06-09-caf-restructure-proposal]]): the engagement manifest (move #2) is the connective tissue between CAF's two halves — sales-time artifacts (assessment outputs, scoping, estimates) land in engagements/<client>/ and delivery RESUMES from the same state. Stage 5's "Sales→Delivery Knowledge Transfer" becomes a file handoff instead of a meeting. For AI Workforce (SE=DL) the handoff cost → zero and the tooling compounds at both seats. Addendum to be added to the proposal doc.

Career implications (for briefs + cert planning)

• DSA training stacks with the cert escalators ([[cert-progress]]): Snowflake GenAI Specialty (2026-08-24) and Anthropic Architect cert both directly feed the SE/DSA credibility function ("representing phData's technical capabilities").
• Expect his calendar to grow Stage 2-4 artifacts: discovery calls, scoping docs, estimate reviews. The /morning-prep [phData] event classifier may start seeing customer-facing pursuit meetings.

Related

• [[2026-06-09-caf-restructure-proposal]] — the delivery-side of the same seam
• [[2026-06-10-caf-current-state-teardown]]
• [[cert-progress]]

Slide 4 (added later same evening): BANT-C Framework

Photo: 2026-06-11-bantc-framework-slide.jpg. phData's qualification framework behind the Stage 1 gate — C = Competition ("What competitor has been involved deeply?"), not Champion/Compelling-event as in other BANT variants. B = Budget (spending ability) · A = Authority (decision-maker) · N = Need (immediate/urgent problems) · T = Timing (solution time frame).

Threshold asymmetry (the operative rule): ONE identified element opens an opportunity; the Stage 1 ◆ gate requires BANTC CONFIRMED across all five. Open cheap, qualify hard.

Founder mnemonic request: BANT (qualification, funnel's mouth) vs BATNA (negotiation walk-away leverage, funnel's tail — Stage 5). They bookend the funnel. Added to the site as a "Stage 1 gate, expanded" section.