Guided selling: the B2B sales portal where reps negotiate inside the rules
In the boardroom · Commerce director
Each role with its own approval limit, by customer and table.
Every discount has an author and a reason, and anything above the limit goes up for approval in the order itself.
Illustrative scene with a real CWS Platform screen in a demo version. People, stores and on-screen data are fictitious.
In the session · Sales rep
The customer comes identified, and the rep closes the order on their behalf.
The My Sessions bar carries who is on the other side: price, terms and address are already that customer's.
Illustrative scene with a real CWS Platform screen in a demo version. People, stores and on-screen data are fictitious.
On the phone · Reseller buyer
The buyer asks in the chat and the rep answers with the stock.
The conversation ends in the cart: human service becomes a traceable order.
Illustrative scene with a real CWS Platform screen in a demo version. People, stores and on-screen data are fictitious.
In the office · Reseller buyer
The buyer opens the cart the rep built and sees what he changed.
In the Real-Time Shared Cart the buyer closes right there or sends it back to the rep to finish.
Illustrative scene with a real CWS Platform screen in a demo version. People, stores and on-screen data are fictitious.
Portals · by profile
In complex B2B, the rep spends much of the day quoting instead of selling. Assisted Selling is guided selling on the rep's digital negotiation table: the Assisted Selling Platform (Sales Hub), with the customer, the margin and the rules in plain sight.
In short
Guided selling is the B2B model where the sales rep leads the order together with the buyer, instead of just taking it down. On CWS Platform it runs in a B2B sales portal, the Assisted Selling Platform (Sales Hub): rep and buyer in the same Real-Time Shared Cart, with credit and margin in plain sight, and every discount inside the Commerce Rules Engine approval limits.
- Rep and buyer negotiate in the same Real-Time Shared Cart, in real time. Source: sales rep software on the Sales Hub.
- Every discount requires a Reason Code and follows the approval limit by profile. Source: business rules engine.
- The reorder goes to self-service, and the rep keeps the complex negotiation. Source: B2B customer portal.
- At Imdepa, the portal led to 3x more customers activated in three years, without growing the team in the same proportion. Source: Imdepa case.
Putting the rep inside the channel, not competing with it, is one of the criteria in the guide to choosing a B2B ecommerce platform.
What is guided selling
Guided selling is selling where the sales rep leads the purchase together with the customer: helping build the order, negotiating price, terms and quantity, and closing the deal, instead of just writing down what the customer asked for. In B2B, it handles the purchases that need a conversation, while routine reorders move to self-service.
On CWS Platform, that conversation happens in the buyer's own cart and inside each rep's approval limit. See it in a demo with your own case.
Guided selling in 1 minute
From order-taker to governed negotiator
The rep's role evolves through four stages: attendant, facilitator, governed negotiator and consultant with AI. The Sales Copilot does the behind-the-scenes work: account ranking, margin and inactivity alerts, and builds the quote. The Customer Intelligence Panel brings up the customer's context in one click.
Freedom to negotiate, on rails
The rep moves price, terms, freight and composition on the spot, and every concession goes through the same Commerce Rules Engine rules: Approval Workflows, Pre-Submission Guardrails, Discount Stacking Prevention and Reason Codes. The company gains speed without losing control of margin.
Within authority
The rep steps into the customer's cart and negotiates within their own limit.
In the assisted selling cart, the rep sees the customer type, the contract price list and their role's ceiling, and negotiates within that. Past the ceiling, the discount goes up for approval.
For the commercial director
Every discount has an author and a justification, approval limits are by profile, and account ranking shows where the team wins and where it leaves margin on the table. Governance without taking away the freedom to negotiate.
At checkout
The chat stays open at checkout: the rep negotiates and adds the item to the cart.
In the Assisted Selling Platform (Sales Hub), rep and buyer talk in the chat inside the same Real-Time Shared Cart: the rep adjusts the discount, which goes for approval when it goes past the authority limit, and adds the requested item, with the cart updated for both.
In real production · Imdepa
At Imdepa, the same machine that processes the simple transaction frees the rep from about 70% of the time spent on processing, redirecting it to proactive consulting. The portal led to 3x more customers activated in three years, without growing the team in the same proportion.
"O valor real não é a receita que se vê nos números. É a operação que você consegue sustentar com o mesmo custo de estrutura. Crescemos 3x em clientes sem contratar 3x mais vendedores."
Paulo R. S. Pereira, Digital Sales Coordinator at Imdepa · read the case
Seller configurations, from least autonomy to most4
Seller autonomy is a configuration, not a culture. An operation starts at the first level, with no margin risk, and moves up as the team gains confidence, without changing platforms.
- Attendant
- Zero pricing autonomy. The seller builds the order and runs the conversation, and the price is whatever the engine derived. It is where an operation starts when it wants no risk at all.
- Facilitator
- Low autonomy, typically freight only and within a narrow band. It serves the transition: the seller gains a real lever, and product margin stays untouched.
- Negotiator with thresholds
- Governed autonomy over price, freight and terms, with mandatory justification and a block before an unviable order exists. This is the level where the platform starts to look like a risk desk.
- Consultant with AI
- The greatest autonomy, with the Sales Copilot alongside suggesting the next offer and anticipating what would not pass. The agent queries the same rule that constrains the human.
The journey is dual, and both run on the same core3
What changes between them is who is in front, not the engine behind. When they are two systems, the portal's price and the seller's price drift apart, and the buyer learns not to trust the portal.
- Self-service
- The buyer identifies themselves, sees the table for their own profile, gets automatic campaigns applied and closes on their own. The trail is browsing and order history.
- Assisted
- The seller identifies the customer and receives credit, outstanding items and history before building any proposal. They adjust price and freight within their threshold, and each adjustment requires a justification.
- The same cart
- The two meet in the same cart: the seller joins a negotiation that started self-service, or sends the link for the buyer to finish. There is no handover between systems because there are not two systems.
Frequently asked questions
Does the CWS Platform take the rep out of the equation?
No. The Assisted Selling Platform (Sales Hub) gives the rep a better tool: seller and buyer in the same Real-Time Shared Cart, with context and approval limits. Some operations run 100% through it.
How does the manager control the discount each rep grants?
Through Approval Workflows applied by the Commerce Rules Engine, with approval limits by profile and a mandatory Reason Code, so every concession has an author and a justification.
What does the rep see about the customer?
The Customer Intelligence Panel brings up the customer's history, credit and context in one click, and account-based access ensures each rep sees only their own base.
What is guided selling in B2B?
It is selling where the rep leads the order together with the buyer, negotiating price, terms and composition, instead of just keying in what the customer asked for. On CWS Platform this happens in the Assisted Selling Platform (Sales Hub), with rep and buyer in the same cart and every concession inside the approval limit of the rep's profile.
What is a B2B sales portal?
It is the portal where the sales rep sells, not only where the buyer orders. On CWS Platform the rep opens the customer's context in one click, shares the same cart with the buyer in real time and grants discounts inside the approval limit of the profile, while routine reorders go to the B2B self-service portal.
What is the difference between guided selling and B2B self-service?
In guided selling the rep negotiates with the customer; in self-service the buyer places the order without waiting for anyone. Both run on the same core and the same rules: the reorder goes to the B2B customer portal, and the rep keeps the complex negotiation and the relationship.
What is discount governance in B2B sales?
It is the control over who can grant which discount, under which condition and with which justification. On the CWS Platform, the Commerce Rules Engine enforces it: each rep has a tiered approval limit, a line above the ceiling stays blocked until a reason is entered, and a manual discount overrides automatic coupons instead of stacking. Every concession keeps its author and Reason Code.
Persona · Field sales rep
I no longer spend my day quoting. I negotiate price and terms on the spot.
In the Assisted Selling Platform (Sales Hub), the Sales Copilot builds the quote, and every concession stays within the profile's approval limits in the Commerce Rules Engine.
Persona · Sales manager
No more chasing discounts nobody owns: every concession has an author and a reason.
Approval Workflows in the Commerce Rules Engine enforce approval limits by profile, and a line above the ceiling stays blocked until a reason is entered.