Sales Playbook — Helmsman (B2B Logistics SaaS)

Team / segment: Mid-market new business (North America) Owner: Priya Nair, VP Sales Last reviewed: 2 March 2026 Next review: 1 June 2026

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1. Ideal Customer Profile (ICP)

Helmsman is route-optimisation and fleet-tracking software for companies that run their own delivery vehicles. Our best accounts share a clear profile.

• Company size: 40–400 employees, operating 15–250 vehicles
• Industry: Regional distribution, food and beverage delivery, building-materials supply
• Region: United States and Canada
• Budget signal: Already spending on fuel cards and a basic GPS tracker — they feel the cost of inefficient routing
• Buying triggers: Recent fuel-cost spike, a new distribution centre, or a missed-delivery complaint that reached the owner
• Disqualifiers: Fewer than 10 vehicles (too small to see ROI), or they outsource all delivery to a third-party carrier

2. Buyer personas

Persona	Role / title	What they care about	Pain we solve	How they're measured
Operations Director	Econ. buyer	On-time delivery, cost per mile	Manual routing wastes fuel and hours	Delivery cost, on-time rate
Dispatch Manager	Champion	Less daily firefighting	Re-planning routes by hand every morning	Routes planned per hour
Driver	End user	Clear, simple directions	Confusing paper manifests	Stops completed per shift

3. Pipeline stages and exit criteria

Stage	What happens	Exit criteria (must be true to advance)	Forecast %
Prospecting	Outreach to ops leaders at fit accounts	Reply secured and a discovery call booked	10%
Qualification	Confirm fleet size, spend, and intent	15+ vehicles, a named pain, and budget owner identified	25%
Discovery	Map current routing process and cost	Weekly fuel and overtime cost quantified	40%
Evaluation	2-week pilot on one depot	Pilot shows measurable mileage reduction	65%
Proposal	Present annual pricing and rollout plan	Proposal reviewed by the Operations Director	80%
Negotiation	Agree contract term and onboarding	Terms agreed, procurement sign-off pending	90%
Closed-won	Contract signed	Signed order form	100%

4. Discovery question bank

Situation

• How do you plan your delivery routes each morning today?
• Who builds the routes, and how long does it take them?

Problem

• Where do routes most often go wrong — traffic, last-minute orders, driver availability?
• How do you find out when a delivery is going to be late?

Impact

• Roughly what are you spending on fuel and driver overtime each week?
• What does a missed delivery cost you in refunds or lost customers?

Decision process

• Besides yourself, who would weigh in on a tool like this?
• If a pilot showed a 12% mileage drop, what would the next step be?

5. Objection handling

Objection	Response
We already use a GPS tracker	"That's useful for seeing where vehicles are. Can I ask — does it actually build the routes for you, or just track them after the fact?" Then position planning vs. tracking.
No budget until next fiscal year	Explore the weekly fuel waste, then offer a paid pilot now that rolls into the annual contract at renewal.
The drivers won't adopt new software	Acknowledge, then point to the driver app's turn-by-turn simplicity and offer to include a driver in the pilot.
It's cheaper to keep planning manually	Reframe around the dispatch manager's hours and overtime — the manual cost is hidden in payroll, not on an invoice.

6. Qualification checklist (BANT)

• Budget — currently spending on fuel cards and GPS; routing budget can be reallocated
• Authority — Operations Director controls the operations tooling budget
• Need — manual routing is costing fuel and overtime, confirmed in discovery
• Timeline — wants a decision before the summer delivery peak

7. Tools and cadence

• CRM: All deals logged with the stage definitions above; exit criteria recorded as checklist fields.
• Outreach cadence: 8 touches over 18 days — email, call, LinkedIn, value-add resource, breakup.
• Sales tools: Call recording for discovery review, scheduling link, proposal tool with e-signature.
• Meeting rhythm: Weekly pipeline review, twice-weekly deal-desk for evaluation-stage deals.