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Sell & Grow

Commercial Path

Identify opportunities, engineer value and lead complex AIDC business.

01

How the path progresses

For sales professionals, business developers, account managers, channel teams and commercial leaders.

  1. Auto DigitID Professional Level 1 · Shared foundation · $295 The same foundation both paths begin from. If you already hold it, you never buy it again.
  2. Sales Specialist Commercial Path · Level 2 · $795 Discover · Qualify · Position · Value · Propose · Advance
  3. Commercial Expert Commercial Path · Level 3 · $2,195 Strategise · Engineer Value · Orchestrate · Negotiate · Close · Grow
02

Where this path leads

Typical roles held by people on this path.

03

What is actually taught

The full curriculum, not a summary of it. Both credentials are built from named modules with stated outcomes.

Sales Specialist — 13 modules, 70–90 hours
  1. SS01 The AIDC Commercial Professional From knowing the technology to knowing how it creates business value: role boundaries, the enterprise buying environment, stakeholders and the commercial lifecycle.
  2. SS02 Customer & Operational Discovery Reading an operation: people, process, object, identity, data, system, decision and exception.
  3. SS03 AIDC Solution & Use-Case Positioning Translating a problem into barcode, RFID, RTLS, mobility, vision or automation — without overpromising.
  4. SS04 Industry & Vertical Opportunity Development The largest module in the credential. One full topic per vertical, each following the same Vertical Opportunity Canvas.
  5. SS05 Consultative & Value-Based Selling Moving the conversation from product to operational problem to measurable value.
  6. SS06 Opportunity Qualification & Sales Strategy Budget, authority, need, timing, technical feasibility, procurement path and competitive position.
  7. SS07 AIDC Value Engineering, ROI & TCO Quantifying labour, error, accuracy, throughput and asset visibility. CAPEX, OPEX and lifecycle cost.
  8. SS08 Solution Scoping & Commercial Architecture Turning a qualified opportunity into a defensible scope, with assumptions and boundaries stated.
  9. SS09 Proposals, Presentations & Demonstrations Executive summaries, solution narratives, proof of concept positioning and demonstration discipline.
  10. SS10 Procurement, Tenders & Competitive Selling RFI, RFP and RFQ, specifications, compliance matrices, vendor-neutral requirements and bid/no-bid.
  11. SS11 Partner, Channel & Ecosystem Selling OEM, distributor, integrator, ISV, ERP and network partners, consultants and customer IT.
  12. SS12 Sales Governance, Ethics & Commercial Discipline Recommending appropriate technology rather than unnecessary hardware. Forecast hygiene and commercial integrity.
  13. SS13 Applied Sales Practicum & Certification Assessment A full opportunity worked end to end and assessed.
Commercial Expert — 13 modules, 90–120 hours
  1. CE01 Enterprise Commercial Strategy Market, segment and portfolio strategy for an AIDC business.
  2. CE02 Strategic Account Management Account mapping, white-space analysis, executive relationships and multi-year account development.
  3. CE03 Complex Opportunity Leadership Buying committees, political landscape, technical champions, economic buyers, blockers and competitive strategy.
  4. CE04 Advanced Value Engineering & Investment Cases Baseline cost, current losses, labour impact, error and compliance cost, productivity and risk reduction.
  5. CE05 Executive & Board-Level Selling Translating AIDC into the language of a CIO, COO, CFO, CEO, permanent secretary or programme director.
  6. CE06 Commercial Solution Strategy & Deal Architecture Shaping the commercial anatomy of a solution: hardware, software, services, support and lifecycle.
  7. CE07 Pricing, Margin & Commercial Economics BOM economics, licensing, professional services, TCO and margin protection.
  8. CE08 Enterprise Procurement, Tenders & Contracting Tender lifecycle, specifications, compliance matrices, consortiums and local partner structures.
  9. CE09 Negotiation & Deal Leadership Pricing discipline, discounting, contractual risk, scope boundaries and change control.
  10. CE10 Ecosystem, Alliances & Channel Strategy Orchestrating OEMs, distributors, integrators, ISVs and consultants around one outcome.
  11. CE11 Customer Success, Expansion & Lifecycle Value Pilot, deployment, adoption, outcome validation, expansion and enterprise standardisation.
  12. CE12 Commercial Governance, Forecasting & Leadership Forecast integrity, commercial approvals, deal review and team leadership.
  13. CE13 Commercial Expert Capstone & Panel Defence A complex opportunity carried end to end and defended before a panel.
04

Industry and vertical training

SS04 is the largest module in Sales Specialist — around a fifth of the credential. Every industry gets a full topic, and every topic answers the same fifteen questions, so the thinking transfers to an industry you have never sold into.

SS04.1

Logistics, Warehousing & 3PL

Inbound, receiving, put-away, replenishment, picking, packing, staging, loading, delivery and returns. WMS, ERP, TMS, YMS.

SS04.2

Retail & Distribution

Replenishment, shrinkage, POS scanning, apparel RFID, omnichannel fulfilment and stock accuracy.

SS04.3

Healthcare & Life Sciences

Patient, medication, specimen, blood, laboratory, pharmacy, medical device, asset, staff, consumable and cold chain.

SS04.4

Manufacturing & Industrial Automation

WIP tracking, traceability, genealogy, quality, tooling, maintenance and finished-goods identification.

SS04.5

Courier, Express & Postal

Collection, sortation, hub scanning, line haul, last mile and proof of delivery.

SS04.6

Government & Public Sector

Asset registers, national programmes, identity, revenue protection and public procurement.

SS04.7

Banking & Financial Services

Branch and cash-in-transit assets, document tracking, IT asset management and secure custody.

SS04.8

Energy, Utilities, Oil & Gas

Field assets, inspection rounds, metering, safety compliance and remote site visibility.

SS04.9

Transport, Ports & Aviation

Container and unit-load identification, gate operations, baggage, ground handling and yard visibility.

SS04.10

Hospitality & Events

Access, accreditation, asset and linen tracking, and stock control across venues.

SS04.11

Agriculture, Food & FMCG

Farm-to-fork traceability, batch and lot control, cold chain and GS1 identification.

SS04.12

Cross-Vertical Opportunity Lab

Applying the canvas to an unfamiliar industry, which is what the job actually requires.

The Vertical Opportunity Canvas — the fifteen questions
  1. How does this industry operate?
  2. Where are the critical workflows?
  3. What or who must be identified?
  4. Where is data capture required?
  5. Where does visibility break?
  6. What are the high-value AIDC use cases?
  7. Which technologies fit?
  8. Which enterprise systems are involved?
  9. Who buys?
  10. Who influences?
  11. What business outcomes matter?
  12. What should I ask?
  13. What should I sell or position?
  14. What should I NOT sell?
  15. What creates expansion opportunity?
05

How you are assessed

Sales Specialist

Five assessed components, weighted. A knowledge exam alone would not evidence commercial competence.

Sales Specialist assessment weighting
Knowledge exam30%
Discovery and qualification case20%
Value and ROI exercise20%
Solution positioning case15%
Commercial proposal15%

Commercial Expert

Three stages, deliberately harder than Level 2.

  1. Stage 1. Knowledge assessment
  2. Stage 2. Complex opportunity case: opportunity strategy, stakeholder map, solution hypothesis, value case, commercial strategy, risk register and executive proposal
  3. Stage 3. Panel defence, 30–45 minutes. The panel plays CFO, CIO, Operations Director and Procurement
06

What it costs

Standard rates. Student, Academic Partner, Founding Cohort and challenge routes are on the pricing page.

Professional + Sales Specialist

The foundation and the commercial credential most employers ask for together.

$950

$1,090 bought separately — save $140

Complete Commercial Path

Professional + Sales Specialist + Commercial Expert.

$2,795

$3,285 bought separately — save $490

Dual Expert Pathway

Both paths in full — Professional, Specialist, Expert, Sales Specialist and Commercial Expert.

$5,250

$6,675 bought separately — save $1,425

07

Adding the other path

Already certified on the other path? You never buy Professional twice, and the credential-holder rate applies at your equivalent level or above.

Technical and commercial credentials are not interchangeable. A commercial credential does not confer a technical role title, and technical role titles remain gated behind technical competency.

Cross-path progression