Supporting the planned interactions that improve sales representatives understanding of customers and their business needs

Person with laptop on lap working on an interaction plan

Date Completed

November, 2023

Overview

Sherwin Williams’ sales force is crucial to the company’s success, playing a key role in driving sales alongside the high-quality paint products they offer.

As part of a broader initiative to modernize the internal tools used by Sherwin Williams’ sales representatives, I led the redesign of the sales planning experience, empowering representatives to better plan their meetings and calls with professional customers.

To increase the adoption of sales planning, I developed a streamlined workspace that consolidates customer business insights, sales methodology resources, and text areas for writing plans—making it easier for sales reps to access everything they need in one place.

Collaborating closely with an internal team of business owners, directors, and Deloitte’s UI/UX design contractors, I helped organize, conduct, and analyze user research that shaped the final design decisions.

This version aims to convey the project’s value, your contribution, and the outcomes more directly while improving readability. Let me know if you’d like to refine it further or expand on any aspects.

Feature Goals

Structured and Efficient Pre-Call Preparation
Data-Driven and Informed Selling
Customer-Centric and Value-Driven Selling
Continuous Growth and Adaptability

Research Plan

Discovery workshop
Synthesis
Conceptual design
Workshop / feedback
Final UX
Final UI
Co-design Workshop

Process

learn

The redesign process began with a comprehensive exploration of Sherwin-Williams’ stage-based sales planning tool. My objective was to deeply understand the tool’s real-world use, uncover areas for improvement, and align the redesign with the needs of its users.

To achieve this, I attended sales representative training sessions at Sherwin-Williams, where I gained valuable insights into the tool’s role in everyday sales interactions. Observing firsthand how sales reps utilize the application allowed me to identify key pain points and improvement opportunities.

In addition to training, I analyzed the application’s existing structure and conducted interviews with key stakeholders—including sales VPs, district managers, and sales leads—to gather a broad perspective on its current limitations and the goals for a more streamlined experience. This discovery phase revealed that simplifying the tool and focusing on actionable, user-centered steps would be essential to enhancing usability and engagement.

Key Milestones

To redesign the call preparation phase, I led the UX effort while collaborating closely with Deloitte, using a user-centered approach to inform the updates. Key milestones of the process included:

10/9: Conducted a functional synthesis of insights from the Call Preparation Focus Group, setting the stage for the initial UX wireframes.
10/16: Kicked off the initial wireframes for call preparation, based on gathered insights and identified user needs.
10/26: Collected final feedback on conceptual wireframes to refine the approach before an in-person workshop.
Week of 10/30: Reviewed wireframes during in-person workshops held in Florida, integrating real-time stakeholder feedback.
Week of 11/6: Synthesized feedback from workshops and refined the wireframes. Developed a presentation deck summarizing the proposed changes.
11/13: Delivered a comprehensive readout of the call preparation findings and proposed updates.
11/14-11/20: Updated the wireframes according to the feedback received and continued to iterate.
11/21: Conducted a final review of the updated wireframes, incorporating additional stakeholder input.
11/22: Implemented final feedback and made adjustments to the call preparation wireframes.
11/27: Completed the final UI design adjustments.
12/15: Facilitated virtual workshops focusing on the call preparation phase.
2/15: Prepared all finalized design iterations for handoff to development, ensuring alignment with user requirements and business objectives.

Man wearing Sherwin Williams shirt at a work event talking with someone

Understanding the Existing Stage-Based Planner

To build a user-centered redesign, I began by thoroughly examining Sherwin-Williams’ existing stage-based sales planning tool. This tool is an essential resource for store managers and sales representatives, supporting them in preparing for strategic customer engagements. Through my initial research, I identified that this planner not only drives customer relationships but also plays a role in career development within the organization.

My research methods included direct interviews with key stakeholders, including sales leadership and representatives, as well as an analysis of the current application. I explored the planner’s functionality, its structure, and the challenges users face, all with the goal of identifying opportunities for streamlining and enhancing usability.

Interviews: I spoke with the VP of Sales who developed the sales methodology and training program, gaining insights into how the planner aligns with Sherwin Williams’ sales strategies.
Application Analysis: I collected screenshots of the current application and related training materials, organizing them in a visual workspace for thorough examination.

The tool itself organizes the sales process into four distinct stages, each guiding reps in supporting customers through a specific phase of their journey. These stages are as follows:

The stage-based planner consists of a series of web pages accessible from the sales tools dashboard. It helps sales reps prepare for customer interactions by structuring their planning around four stages of the sales process, each representing a different phase of the customer relationship. The stages are:

Engage:
Initiate relationships and set the foundation for future interactions.
Advise:
Support customers as they evaluate solutions during the buying process.
Support:
Assist customers in maximizing the value of the products or services.
Deepen:
Strengthen relationships by exploring additional needs and growth opportunities.

Each stage within the tool is designed to empower reps to tailor their approach based on the customer’s current needs. By understanding this framework, I was able to design a solution that aligns with both the practical needs of sales reps and the strategic goals of the company.

Understanding Effective Communication in Sales Planning

In the redesigned planner, a key objective was to equip store managers and sales representatives with tools to foster effective communication with customers. During the “Learn” stage, I focused on transforming foundational training guides into practical, accessible resources directly integrated into the planner tool. This shift allowed training materials to evolve from passive content into active reference points that managers and reps could quickly consult while crafting meeting plans.

To accommodate the diverse communication needs of sales reps, I restructured the guides to support in-the-moment usability. Tailored for each customer relationship stage, the guides provide clear, actionable advice that aligns with the user’s immediate goals—whether they’re preparing for an initial interaction or strengthening an established relationship. The revised guides simplify complex sales strategies into concise, actionable tips, empowering users to adapt their approach based on customer communication styles, anticipate objections, and build value-driven dialogues.

Refining the Guide Materials

The redesigned interface addresses the need for clear, contextually relevant guidance by offering links to detailed sales methodology within the planner tool. Users can open these resources in new tabs to further support their preparation. This design approach blends strategic sales guidance with structured prompts, enabling reps to prepare for meetings with increased confidence and efficiency.

This board documents the UX-rewritten guide materials, serving as an example of our work to analyze and improve the content used by Sherwin-Williams’ sales representatives. By reimagining these training resources for in-context use, we aimed to create actionable, user-friendly reference points that reps could access while planning their customer interactions. This process allowed us to both deepen our understanding of the original training materials and explore how these resources could be more effectively integrated into the planning experience to support informed, customer-centric sales interactions.

Anchors and Sails Workshop: Identifying Challenges and Opportunities

In this concluding part of the “Learn” phase, we conducted a design thinking workshop using the “anchors and sails” methodology to dive deeper into the day-to-day experiences of Sherwin-Williams’ sales reps, store managers, and regional managers. This collaborative session allowed us to identify “anchors” (barriers) that hindered productivity and “sails” (drivers) that facilitated successful customer interactions. By organizing these insights visually on a FigJam board, we captured a comprehensive view of both the challenges and the potential solutions for enhancing the sales planning tool.

Participants across roles shared valuable perspectives, helping us understand how existing processes affect customer relationships, task efficiency, and job satisfaction. This exercise provided a clear map of the factors that needed to be addressed in the redesign to better support sales reps and enable smoother interactions with customers.

Train the reps to be able to have interactions organically without a stage based planner — because they’ve done it so much!

Participants

We conducted interviews with Sherwin Williams business leaders across multiple levels, from top executives to front-line sales representatives:

Vice presidents of sales
District managers
Sales leads
Sales Representatives (two groups)

Research methods

Our participants were seasoned users, many with decades of experience. We found that discussions on the effectiveness of the existing tools were most productive when we focused on uncovering the learned behaviors of these skilled individuals. Our research methods included:

Initial Conversations: We began by discussing the purpose of the stage-based planner and its role in call planning during recorded Teams meetings.
Anchors and Sails Workshop: We facilitated a workshop to identify what’s working well and what challenges hinder the sales process today.
Rapid Ideation: With a whiteboard full of insights, we quickly transitioned into ideation, speculating on potential solutions and improvements with the participants.

Summary of the Learn Stage

The “Learn” stage of this project provided a foundational understanding of the current sales planning process, highlighting the unique needs of Sherwin-Williams’ sales force. By engaging in training observations, conducting interviews, and using interactive workshops, we identified key pain points and actionable insights that would shape the next phase of the design. This comprehensive approach ensured that the redesign would not only align with business goals but also empower users to build stronger, value-driven customer relationships.

As we transition into the “Understand” stage, these insights will drive our focus toward creating intuitive, user-centered improvements to the sales planning experience, helping reps spend less time on administrative tasks and more time engaging meaningfully with customers.

understand

Deepening Our Understanding Through Targeted Analysis

Building on the insights gathered in the “Learn” phase, we transitioned to a targeted analytical stage focused on synthesizing and refining our understanding of the sales planner’s impact across various roles within Sherwin Williams. By collaborating with sales reps, managers, and senior leaders, we developed a comprehensive view of the tool’s current functionality and identified key areas where strategic enhancements could amplify its value.

During this stage, we organized our findings into thematic insights tailored to the specific needs and objectives expressed by each user group. The themes identified for each role provided a structured framework for understanding the planner’s potential and aligning its future design with the unique challenges faced by users at different levels within the organization. This board captures the core insights that emerged from these analyses, establishing a foundation for informed design decisions that resonate with the daily workflows of sales representatives while aligning with Sherwin Williams’ broader sales strategies.

Themes and Alignment

To effectively communicate our findings, we created a concise set of slides that highlighted key insights and organized feedback gathered from rapid ideation sessions and expert input. This iterative process allowed us to distill a more precise understanding of the planner’s challenges and opportunities, guiding the next steps in design.

Reps & Stores: Focused on efficient call preparation, autonomy, and strengthening customer engagement.
District Managers (DMs): Emphasized field preparedness, sales rep autonomy, a customer-centric approach, and optimized sales outcomes.
Sales Leads: Concentrated on aligning reps with impactful sales strategies and fostering a customer-focused mindset.
Vice Presidents (VPs): Advocated for structured and efficient call preparation, data-driven decision-making, and adaptability for growth.

Workshop Synthesis

The workshop insights were organized into two main focus areas: “Goal Alignment” and “Skills Alignment.” These categories allowed us to identify shared strengths, key areas of focus, and common objectives across the different user groups. By organizing the findings in this way, we gained a clear view of the priorities and challenges faced by sales reps, managers, and executives.

Goal Alignment: We explored ways to streamline the call preparation process, making it easier and more intuitive. This focus included shifting the perception of planning from a routine task to an essential tool that drives meaningful engagement with customers.
Skills Alignment: This category emphasized the importance of customer-centric strategies, a desire for increased autonomy in decision-making, and the need for structured, consistent guidance in preparing for calls. These insights reinforced the need for a solution that balances empowerment with support, helping reps approach each customer interaction with confidence and precision.

By synthesizing these findings, we defined our strategic direction, shaping UI design strategies to deliver relevant contextual data and quick access to customer information. This synthesis served as the foundation for enhancing user experience, ensuring that the interface supports the unique goals of each role involved in the sales process.

define

Establishing a Structured Blueprint for Sales Planning

In the Define stage, we transitioned from insights to structure, shaping a clear and actionable blueprint for the sales planning tool. Based on the insights gathered in the “Learn” and “Understand” stages, our goal was to develop a process that supports efficient and effective interactions between sales representatives and customers. This phase involved mapping out each step in the sales planning workflow, ensuring that every interaction and tool aligned with the needs identified through user research.

The process map below illustrates the envisioned journey within the tool, capturing the pathways sales reps take to prepare, engage, and follow up with customers. Each step was carefully crafted to streamline their experience, reduce time spent on administrative tasks, and maximize customer engagement. By visualizing the flow of interactions, we laid the groundwork for a cohesive, user-centered interface that seamlessly integrates with the existing workflows at Sherwin Williams.

Optimizing the Entry Point for Seamless Plan Creation

During our process mapping, the existing calendaring functionality within the sales platform emerged as the natural starting point for creating plans. Initially designed as a scheduling hub, the calendar was not equipped with the contextual tools needed to guide users fluidly into the planning workflow.

Integrating the calendar with plan creation workflows revealed gaps in functionality and context, underscoring the need for a more deliberate entry point. To address these challenges, we prioritized streamlining the transition from scheduling to planning, ensuring that sales representatives could easily initiate and develop strategic plans without disruption. This enhancement was essential to elevate the user experience, making the planning process more intuitive and accessible directly from the calendar interface.

Bridging Insights to Ideation

The “Define” stage solidified our understanding of the challenges and opportunities within Sherwin Williams’ sales planning workflow. By mapping out the system and analyzing user needs, we identified critical gaps and areas where enhancements could improve usability and efficiency. This groundwork provided a structured, user-centered foundation to address pain points and support the planning process more effectively.

With these insights, we were ready to transition into the “Ideate” stage, where we explored innovative solutions to streamline the workflow, enhance user engagement, and build an intuitive, value-driven planning experience.

ideate

Kicking Off Ideation with a Competitive Analysis Workshop

Our ideation process began with a collaborative meeting involving Sherwin Williams’ Salesforce experts to conduct a competitive analysis. This session aimed to explore any existing platforms or tools comparable to our intended solution, providing a clearer understanding of potential design benchmarks and functionality expectations.

To prepare, I reviewed relevant tools like HubSpot pages and other Salesforce-integrated resources frequently used by sales teams. Many team members in the meeting had firsthand experience with these platforms, allowing us to quickly confirm that we were building a custom solution rather than modifying an existing product. This clarity helped us pivot our focus toward creating unique design patterns tailored to the specific needs of Sherwin Williams’ sales representatives.

With this groundwork, our ideation shifted toward specific design goals, including ways to navigate a guide material catalog and a potential tagging system for common objections or inquiries. Inspired by platforms like Typeform, we also considered a structured, distraction-free, step-by-step planning approach to minimize cognitive load and streamline user experience.

Open Questions for the Sales Business Experts

Throughout this phase, we posed several critical questions to guide our design direction.

What customer-based metrics should be included to support pre-plan research?
Could we integrate a relational database to deliver guide information tailored to each customer?
How much of the planning process could we streamline through training or automation?

Ideation Summary

Our open-ended questions around customer metrics, relational database integration, and process automation helped clarify key elements of the user journey, guiding us toward a solution that would support sales representatives effectively in their planning tasks. With a clear set of priorities and strategic insights, we were well-prepared to move into the next phase, translating these ideas into actionable prototypes and detailed design solutions.

prototype

Prototyping Solutions for an Enhanced Sales Planning Experience

To address the diverse needs of Sherwin Williams’ sales teams, we developed three distinct prototypes for evaluation in hands-on workshops with store managers, sales leads, sales representatives, and district managers. Each concept presented a unique approach to sales planning, balancing simplicity, structured guidance, and user autonomy.

1: Simple, open-ended planning

Designed to extend the platform’s existing scheduling capabilities, this concept focused on minimizing input fields to only the most essential questions. The aim was to encourage customer-specific, value-driven thinking without overloading the user with information.

Value levers

Promoted autonomy by allowing reps to craft individualized plans.
Streamlined planning to reduce cognitive load and increase speed.
Empowered users to approach interactions with a focus on customer value.

2: Robust, tap-based planning

This concept offered a step-by-step, guided planning experience, using a tap-based interface to organize tasks within taxonomic hierarchies. The approach facilitated a structured preparation process that could adapt to both current and future planning needs.

Value levers

Transitioned from open-text fields to guided input, offering clear, structured guidance.
Provided flexibility by accommodating various planning styles.
Enhanced planning speed while ensuring consistency across the sales team.

3: Customer-Based, Full-Page Guide Library Planner

Prioritizing user autonomy, this concept enabled reps to access an entire guide library directly within the planner, eliminating the need to consult external resources. The design allowed rapid navigation, ensuring that all necessary information was readily available for efficient plan creation.

Value levers

Facilitated faster, more focused planning sessions, targeting three- to five-minute completion times.
Engaged users with an intuitive workflow that increased efficiency and accessibility.
Offered streamlined navigation to ensure quick access to all stages of the planning process.

Chosen Direction: Customer-Based, Full-Page Guide Library Planner (Option Three)

After thorough evaluation and user feedback, we selected the third concept as the foundation for the final solution. This direction aligned most closely with the needs of sales reps and managers, combining user autonomy with comprehensive, in-context support. Key features of this solution included

Top-Level Navigation: We positioned the planner as a primary navigation item within the calendar interface, allowing reps to open it directly without navigating through nested menus. This top-level access point minimized friction and improved accessibility.
User-Centric Design: Customer data was displayed as the default view, catering to advanced users who rely heavily on contextual information. Additional resources, such as planning guides and taxonomies, were seamlessly accessible through a structured sidebar for easy reference.
Simplified Navigation: Leveraging a familiar tree structure, users could efficiently move between different sales stages without needing to leave the planning interface. This consistency in navigation supported users in managing each stage of the sales journey, from initial engagement to closing.
User Research Insights: Through testing and feedback, we learned that sales reps often operate on short-term schedules, making last-minute planning a necessity. This solution accommodated rapid plan adjustments, ensuring sales leads could monitor and support ongoing customer interactions effectively.

By implementing these features, we created a solution that enhanced usability, improved efficiency, and fostered greater user satisfaction across the sales team. The chosen direction emphasized Sherwin Williams’ commitment to empowering its salesforce with a planning tool that is both powerful and intuitive, meeting the demands of their fast-paced roles.

Test

Gathering Real-World Insights Through Hands-On User Testing

Through these discussions, we uncovered several key insights.

Customer Account Information: Users shared that it would be helpful to see additional details in the customer account section, such as notes about the account, recent purchases, customer type, stage in the sales cycle, year-to-date sales, and more.
Plan Reusability: We realized we had overlooked the need for a feature to carry a plan forward to future interactions. Users expressed a desire for the ability to reuse or duplicate the content of a plan, enhancing efficiency in follow-up meetings.
Integrated View for Sales Calls: A saved plan view that supports both note-taking and order creation was highly valued. Users indicated that having everything in one place would streamline the process of conducting sales calls, logging interactions, and creating orders simultaneously.
Flexible Planning, Not Fixed Appointments: Users emphasized that their call plans aren’t tied to specific calendar dates like appointments. Instead, they operate with more flexibility, similar to bike messengers, meeting with customers as opportunities arise throughout the week. They typically prepare a loose plan for the week on Sundays, which they share with their sales lead, who understands that these plans are adaptable rather than rigid schedules.

A Final Iteration: Crafting a Simple, Powerful Planning Tool

Our final design iteration, guided by insights from the co-design workshop and principles from design theory, led us to adopt a full-page, top-level navigation approach for the planning experience. Through detailed analysis, I demonstrated to the team that using panel-based, step-by-step modals was an incorrect approach for this tool. Modals are designed to provide contextual information within a parent page, allowing users to return seamlessly to their original place upon closing. Using panels as a standalone navigation mechanism for a planner experience contradicted this principle. Therefore, a full-page, independent planner with top-level navigation emerged as the optimal solution.

We decided to move forward with the page based solution. I was able to show the larger team that panel based step by step experiences are an incorrect use of modals.

User feedback had consistently highlighted low engagement with the existing planner due to its complexity and the time it took to create a plan. We learned that seasoned Sherwin sales reps, with decades of experience, felt the tool was a time-consuming task, while newer reps found it overwhelming and difficult to incorporate into their busy schedules. This feedback emphasized the need for a streamlined, intuitive experience that met users at their level of expertise.

BJ Fogg’s Behavior Model and research from Frontiers in Psychology, emphasizing three elements critical to usability.The final design embodies this simplicity, providing clear, actionable prompts within a minimalist interface. It draws on psychological insights, including

Motivation: Sales reps are driven by external motivations, such as meeting sales goals set by leads, but true engagement and relationship-building come from intrinsic motivation.
Ability: The new design is easy to use, enabling users of all experience levels to navigate the planner effortlessly. It incorporates familiar elements from eCommerce, facilitating task completion with minimal cognitive load.
Prompts: Simple, direct prompts guide reps through each step, making the experience feel achievable and intuitive.

Our design approach also integrates foundational aspects of intrinsic motivation:

Autonomy: The planner allows users to bypass certain steps if they don’t need guidance, creating a sense of control over the process.
Competence: For those seeking more support, a well-organized navigation system enables quick access to relevant sales methodology, enhancing confidence and effectiveness.
Relatedness: The planner supports more meaningful customer interactions, fostering a shared purpose between Sherwin’s sales reps and the business owners they serve.

This final design is a tool that respects users’ time and expertise, empowering them to plan effectively while fostering stronger, purpose-driven customer relationships. By focusing on simplicity, usability, and intrinsic motivation, the new planner aligns with the daily realities of Sherwin’s sales reps, enhancing both user engagement and customer outcomes.

Reflections & takeaways

The sales force at Sherwin-Williams is integral to the company’s success and growth. As the face of the brand, they are essential in building strong relationships with customers—ranging from contractors to individual consumers—by delivering expert guidance and personalized service. Their role extends beyond driving sales through product knowledge and persuasive techniques; they also provide valuable feedback that helps Sherwin-Williams stay attuned to market trends and customer needs.

Their dedication to expanding the company’s reach, securing contracts, and ensuring customer satisfaction solidifies Sherwin-Williams’ position as a leader in the paint and coatings industry. In essence, the sales team embodies the company’s commitment to excellence and plays a vital role in its sustained success.

The coordinated efforts between Sherwin-Williams’ sales team and the business owners they support present an opportunity to enhance the value delivered to customers. Developing a design solution that complements this dynamic underscores the importance of aligning user needs with business goals.

This design process was greatly enriched by the extensive hours spent collaborating with Sherwin-Williams’ sales force. The insights gathered throughout confirmed the appropriateness of our solution for its intended users and their specific contexts, ensuring that the final product was well-suited to meet the needs of the people who rely on it most.