Circles
A Circle in WintheDeals is more than just a group or a static account. It’s a dynamic, business-centric structure that enables business engineers to map, organize, and leverage the collective influence of stakeholders within complex B2B environments. Circles help you:
- Visualize teams, departments, committees, or any cluster of Flags that share a common context.
- Understand the dynamics, relationships, and power structures within and across organizations.
- Drive collaboration, targeted actions, and strategic engagement at the group level, not just with individuals.
- Go beyond the limitations of traditional CRM “Accounts” by capturing the reality of how business is done: through networks, alliances, and circles of influence.
Circles answer the question: Who forms the real decision-making or operational group in this deal, and how do their roles and relationships impact my business strategy?
Table of Contents
1. Features
A Circle in WintheDeals is a flexible and powerful business entity designed to:
- Group Contacts (Flags): Aggregate multiple Flags (contacts) into logical business clusters such as teams, departments, project groups, steering committees, or external alliances.
- Custom Naming & Typing: Assign names and types (e.g., “Buying Committee”, “IT Department”, “Executive Board”, “External Advisors”) for advanced segmentation and reporting.
- Role & Power Mapping: Visualize the roles, attitudes, and decision powers of each member within the Circle, providing a clear map of influence and authority.
- Dynamic Membership: Add or remove Flags at any time to reflect organizational changes, team rotations, or evolving project needs.
- Multi-Deal Association: Link Circles to one or more Deals to represent stakeholder groups involved in specific opportunities or projects.
- Document & Task Association: Attach documents, notes, and tasks to the Circle for centralized collaboration and tracking.
- Visibility & Access Control: Manage who can view or edit the Circle, ensuring confidentiality and compliance in multi-tenant environments.
- Audit Trail: Track all changes, membership updates, and actions for transparency and accountability.
2. Relationships
Circles are deeply integrated with the WintheDeals ecosystem:
- Flags: Each Circle is composed of multiple Flags, with each Flag retaining its own profile, attitude, and power within the group context.
- Deals: Circles can be linked to one or more Deals, making it easy to identify which stakeholder groups are driving or influencing each business opportunity.
- Tasks & Activities: Assign tasks to the Circle as a whole or to individual members, facilitating group follow-ups and accountability.
- Documents & Attachments: Store and share relevant files, presentations, or contracts at the Circle level for easy access by all authorized users.
- Multi-Tenant Security: Ensure that Circles and their data are isolated by tenant, maintaining strict confidentiality across business units.
This relational architecture enables a true 360° view of group dynamics, influence networks, and operational realities in your business landscape.
3. Everyday Usage
For business engineers, Circles are a strategic and operational tool used daily to:
- Stakeholder Group Mapping: Instantly visualize all groups (e.g., buying centers, project teams, executive boards) involved in a deal or account.
- Influence & Power Analysis: See at a glance which Circles or members have the most influence, who are decision makers, and where resistance may exist.
- Account Planning: Organize engagement strategies at the group level, not just with individuals.
- Collaboration: Share notes, documents, and insights with your team regarding entire groups, not just single contacts.
- Change Management: Quickly update group composition as organizations evolve or as new stakeholders emerge.
- Engagement Tracking: Monitor all interactions and activities at the Circle level for a holistic view of progress.
- Compliance: Ensure all group data is auditable and up-to-date..
4. Added Value Compared to a Traditional CRM
Unlike a simple Account in most CRMs, a Circle in WintheDeals is:
- Multi-Contact & Multi-Role: Designed to reflect real-world business groupings, not just static company records.
- Dynamic & Actionable: Memberships and relationships can be updated in real time to match business realities.
- Relationship-Centric: Focused on mapping influence, power, and collaboration, rather than just storing company data.
- Contextual: Can represent internal teams, cross-departmental groups, external advisory boards, or even temporary project squads.
- Operationally Integrated: Directly linked to deals, tasks, documents, and analytics for actionable business intelligence.
In summary: A Circle is a living, operational entity that empowers business engineers to manage relationships and strategies at the group level, far beyond the limitations of a static Account in traditional CRMs.
5. Comparison with Salesforce
- Salesforce Account: Primarily a static record for a company or organization, with contacts and opportunities managed as related but separate objects.
- WintheDeals Circle: Represents dynamic groups of contacts, with explicit mapping of roles, power, and group influence, directly linked to deals and operational workflows.
- Advantage: More accurate reflection of real-world decision-making groups and business processes, enabling faster, more effective stakeholder engagement.
6. Comparison with HubSpot CRM
- HubSpot Company: Focuses on company-level data, with contacts and deals associated to the company, but limited group mapping or dynamic stakeholder analysis.
- WintheDeals Circle: Built for mapping complex stakeholder groups, tracking group dynamics, and managing engagement at the collective level.
- Advantage: Greater operational depth and flexibility for B2B sales cycles involving committees, project teams, or multi-role buying centers.
7. Comparison with Pipedrive
- Pipedrive Organization: Designed for simple company records and pipelines, with basic contact associations but limited support for complex groupings.
- WintheDeals Circle: Offers rich, flexible group mapping, dynamic membership, and operational integration with all business objects.
- Advantage: More powerful for account-based selling, enterprise sales, and scenarios where group influence is critical.
8. Top 3 Advantages of WintheDeals Circles for Business Engineers
- 360° Group Relationship Management: Instantly see every group, member, and activity linked to a deal or project.
- Business-Centric Design: Circles are built for the realities of B2B sales, reflecting how decisions are made in teams and committees.
- Operational Efficiency: Save time and drive better results by managing strategies and actions at the group level, not just with individuals.
WintheDeals Circles empower you to move beyond static company records and build actionable, strategic group relationships that drive business success.