Deal Desk Installation

Case Study

Author: Hunter New | 7 minute read

Executive Summary

A B2B software company with complex enterprise sales was losing deals due to slow approval cycles and inconsistent pricing. Every deal required executive escalation, creating bottlenecks and frustration on both sides. New Wave Associates redesigned their pricing architecture and implemented a scalable deal desk function that accelerated deal velocity while protecting margins and establishing data-driven guardrails for sales team autonomy.

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The Opportunity

The company had grown through multiple product acquisitions, resulting in a complex SKU catalog with inconsistent pricing logic. Sales reps were confused about what to quote, and prospects were frustrated by long approval cycles.

Key challenges included:

  • Average deal approval time of 12 days creating competitive disadvantage
  • Discount levels ranging from 10% to 60% with no clear rationale
  • 150+ SKUs with overlapping functionality and unclear bundling rules
  • No deal desk function - every non-standard deal went to CFO
  • Limited visibility into pricing performance and win/loss patterns

The Approach

New Wave Associates led a comprehensive pricing and deal governance redesign:

  • Analysis (Weeks 1-3): Analyzed 18 months of deal history to understand discount patterns, conducted competitive pricing benchmarking, interviewed sales team and top customers, and mapped current approval workflows.
  • Design (Weeks 4-8): Rationalized SKU catalog from 150 to 45 core offerings, designed tiered pricing structure with clear value metrics, established discount authorization matrix based on deal characteristics, and created deal desk operating model with clear SLAs.
  • Implementation (Weeks 9-14): Built deal desk workflows in Salesforce, created pricing playbooks and training materials, hired and onboarded Deal Desk Manager, and launched pilot with top-performing sales team.
  • Scale & Optimize (Weeks 15-20): Rolled out to full sales organization, established weekly deal review cadence, built reporting dashboards for pricing analytics, and documented continuous improvement process.

The Outcome

The new pricing and deal desk model dramatically improved both sales efficiency and margin protection:

  • Deal approval time reduced from 12 days to 2 days average
  • Average discount decreased from 38% to 28% while maintaining win rates
  • 80% of deals now approved at Deal Desk level without executive escalation
  • Sales team satisfaction with pricing support increased by 45 points
  • Quarterly pricing reviews now enabled by comprehensive analytics

The Deal Desk function now serves as a strategic partner to sales, providing guidance on complex deal structures while maintaining pricing discipline and protecting margins.

Meet The Team

Hunter New

Struggling with pricing complexity or slow deal cycles? We can help streamline your approach.