What Sloan got right with a sales agent for commercial plumbing

Sloan put a Sales Agent in front of its Sink Configurator so architects and designers, dealers and sales could answer a few project questions and get a tailored sink configuration in real time. Instead of asking users to start with product expertise, Sloan starts with the project: venue, traffic, and design priorities.

The Result: users get 80% of the way to a finalized sink design in roughly 20% of the time.

Sloan guided design asking a few project questions

A guided path into the right configuration

“Threekit helps us advance users 80% of the way in 20% of the time”

Sloan sink configurator with a recommended configuration

Sloan’s AI-powered Guided Design sits at the top of the Sink Configurator.

Users answer a few questions about their project. The system recommends a tailored sink configuration, generates a visual, and lets the user keep refining from there.

That means users do not need to understand every product, rule, or fixture pairing before they begin.

A few specific things they got right:

Start with the project, not the spec. First questions are venue, traffic, and design priorities. Things any specifier can answer on day one.
Generate imagery immediately. After the first answers, the user sees a real rendering. Not a stock photo. That single move pulls them from research to evaluation.
Explain tradeoffs in plain language. Sloan offers both solid surface and quartz, which is rare. The AI surfaces the difference at the moment it matters, so the rep or the buyer learns as they go.
Change without starting over. Swap a material, a station count, an accessory, and the configuration updates in place. No reset, no error code.
Hand off cleanly to the full configurator. When the AI is done, the user drops into the full tool with the recommended sink loaded. Same product, same analytics, more entry points.

From a first conversation to full configuration.

Faster answers, early pricing, flexible configurations, and better-qualified leads – all with less strain on sales.

A new rep can sound like a veteran on day one.

The AI Sales Agent answers the questions the rep used to forward to engineering or a senior colleague. Tradeoffs, value, pricing implications, aesthetic and functional differences, all surfaced inline.

Budgetary pricing surfaces early.

The rep can give a customer a credible number in the first conversation, not the fifth.

Customers can change their mind without burning the day.

Material swap, station count, accessory change. The configuration flexes.

Frequently asked questions about AI guided selling.

How is this different from CPQ?

CPQ is built around rules, forms, and SKU lookups. An AI Sales Agent is built around a conversation. It asks a few high-level questions, makes a recommendation, explains why, and lets the user keep changing their mind. Sloan kept its configurator and put the AI in front of it. That is the pattern.

Who is it for?

Sales reps, architects, contractors, facilities leads, end customers. Any of them can answer questions about venue, traffic, and design priorities on day one.

Does this replace the rep?

No. It makes a new rep credible faster and frees a senior rep from holding hands through the early decisions.