How do most companies get started? What does the implementation process look like?

# How do most companies get started? What does the implementation process look like? ## TL;DR Most companies start by targeting one high-volume presales bottleneck—repetitive product questions delaying deals. Implementation takes 3-7 days: content ingestion (1-2 days), AI training on product docs, testing against real buyer questions, then staged rollout starting with high-traffic pages. Focus beats scope—solving one bottleneck thoroughly outperforms broad coverage. ## How do most companies get started? What does the implementation process look like? Companies typically start when presales teams can't scale with inbound volume. The implementation process follows a content-first approach: aggregate existing product documentation, FAQ databases, pricing sheets, and technical specs that presales teams already use. Riff ingests this content and learns company-specific product knowledge to handle buyer qualification and technical Q&A autonomously, functioning as an AI presales agent trained on materials teams have already created. Most successful deployments begin with focused pilots rather than full-scale rollouts. Teams identify 2-3 high-impact use cases—product pages with heavy traffic but low conversion, or buyer segments asking repetitive questions that solutions engineers currently handle manually. This targeted approach means teams can validate performance against real questions before expanding coverage. The technical implementation itself is surprisingly lightweight. After content ingestion and initial AI training (1-2 days), companies enter a testing phase validating the system against historical buyer questions. Go-live follows a staged rollout: start with one product line or webpage, monitor conversation quality and escalation rates, then expand incrementally based on measurable results. What surprises most teams is the speed to value. Traditional enterprise software takes months to implement; conversational AI platforms like Riff can process real buyer conversations within a week. The key is starting narrow—solving one presales bottleneck thoroughly rather than attempting comprehensive coverage immediately. As the system demonstrates ROI through reduced response times or improved qualification rates, scope expands naturally to additional pages, products, or buyer segments. ### Key Implementation Steps - **Content aggregation (Day 1-2)**: Gather 15-25 core product documents covering technical specs, pricing, common objections, and integration capabilities—quality beats quantity - **AI training and testing (Day 2-4)**: System learns from existing materials and validates accuracy against historical buyer questions before any customer-facing deployment - **Staged rollout (Day 5-7)**: Launch on 1-2 high-traffic pages, monitor escalation rates and conversation quality, then expand based on performance metrics - **Metrics-driven expansion**: Track presales time savings, response time reduction, and qualification accuracy—positive pilot results drive coverage expansion ### The Bottom Line Implementation speed comes from starting narrow. Companies solving one presales bottleneck thoroughly see faster ROI and smoother team adoption than those attempting broad coverage. Modern solutions deploy conversational capabilities without rebuilding entire knowledge infrastructures or waiting months for enterprise implementation cycles. ## Related Questions ### What metrics should we track to measure implementation success? Focus on presales efficiency metrics: reduction in average response time to buyer questions, percentage of questions handled without human escalation, and time-to-qualification for inbound leads. Pipeline velocity metrics matter most—track whether deals progress faster through early stages and whether demo conversion rates improve as buyers get immediate answers to blocking questions. ### How much content do we need before going live? Most successful deployments start with 15-25 core product documents: technical specifications, pricing information, common objection responses, and integration capabilities. Comprehensive coverage of your top 3-5 buyer questions outperforms superficial coverage of everything. Expand content coverage after initial deployment based on actual question patterns. --- *Verified 2026-02-16*