How I Rescued A Hijacked MSP Sales Process

00;00;00;01 - 00;00;19;16

Unknown

He's going to ask that question and they're going to say, well, you know, we actually we don't have an IT strategy roadmap. And you're going to go. Have you ever walked out of a discovery meeting or sales meeting and realized, I never got to ask any of my questions, like, I just got owned in this process? A client of mine recently reached out.

00;00;19;20 - 00;00;37;45

Unknown

He was frustrated, little anxious, and he's like, hey, I went into what I thought was a discovery and I was meeting with the guy that, you know, initially had the inquiry and it turned out this was a consultant that they had actually hired as a third party. I show up and I just get interviewed. I didn't do but 10% of the question asking.

00;00;37;45 - 00;00;59;58

Unknown

So I just got discovery run on me. And now if I'm a finalist, I've got to go present to multiple owners, and I didn't get a chance to get all the information that I needed. What do I do? Now, this wasn't just any deal, all right? Like this was it was a big deal. First of all, a lot of me that was associated with it, but it was also sweet spot, right?

00;00;59;58 - 00;01;20;14

Unknown

Like in terms of the vertical, the industry, the size of company. So by that standard it was like, all right, we need to we want this we want this account like it gives us more social proof in our space. And they were a pretty reputable player in the area. But more importantly, the owners of this company were a great connector to other companies for reasons that I won't get into.

00;01;20;15 - 00;01;47;46

Unknown

So there was some strategic importance to this, and now my client's supposed to show up and present blind, which runs completely counter to the process that we design, the process that we run like it's all based on, diagnose what the problem is, understand those problems, understand the pains that are associated with them. Create your solution around that diagnosis that you did so that when you deliver the prescription they go, wow, that's tailored to our needs.

00;01;48;01 - 00;02;07;39

Unknown

Well, in this case you don't know what the needs are. Any process that's consultative where you've got multiple steps when you lose control of discovery and that process gets run on you and you just turn into like an interviewee on the on a panel or something, then you've lost all of your leverage as a salesperson. So the question is how do you salvage this?

00;02;07;53 - 00;02;26;14

Unknown

Now the first thing I do is ask for the transcript, because I ask everyone that I work with on the sales side to carry some type of device and I device, or a recorder or something that allows us to capture what is actually happening on the sales calls, and we introduce it as a note taker, just like any other teams or zoom call.

00;02;26;19 - 00;02;48;42

Unknown

Right. And most people go, okay, cool. Got it. Like everybody's accustomed to that now. So he sends me the transcript. And what I do is sit down and look at what were the questions that the consultant was asking. What can we infer about their priorities and their problems and their pains from the questions that they're asking? Because they're asking those questions for a reason, right.

00;02;48;42 - 00;03;10;35

Unknown

Like they've hired this consultant, third party. He's obviously done. So I'm hoping done some work with the actual client and figured out, like, what the challenges are with the current provider and what their concerns are with going to another provider. And I can, I think, safely assume that the questions they're asking are tied to what those priorities, problems and pains are.

00;03;10;39 - 00;03;27;33

Unknown

So I start scanning the transcript. This is just detective work, right? Like this is. And me and my client both like, looking through this and we say, what can we infer? Right. Like what can we extract from this? And I found three really important insights, like takeaways that could guide the way that we present when we go in to do the proposal.

00;03;27;33 - 00;03;46;17

Unknown

And I have one suggestion on how to go about that. When discovery is basically been run on you and you've lost control, how do you take back control when you get to the proposal stage? So that's what I'm gonna share here. Now, the first real insight we could take from the questions that were being asked was they have a strong emphasis and concern about process.

00;03;46;17 - 00;04;06;53

Unknown

For all I know, the mssp that they've got today is running a shit show where they've got no SOPs and no processes. No, I have no idea. But they ask questions around, ticketing. They ask questions around what's the onboarding process going to look like? They ask questions around, what are your internal systems? They asked a couple of questions around, processes with the team.

00;04;06;53 - 00;04;28;31

Unknown

And so you can look at that and you can go, hey, this business that we're talking to runs on structure, and they're very process oriented themselves. And, or they've been burned by a provider that doesn't. Okay. So they've there's been some pain that's been associated with that. And they're saying, hey, can we please make sure that the next MSP that we bring on board has their shit together in this area.

00;04;28;31 - 00;04;43;35

Unknown

So we look at that better and we say, what do we do with this information. All right. Now here's what most sellers do. They answer questions and say things like yeah, you know we're we're really process oriented. And you know, of course we have SOPs and yes, we have documentation. So they answer the questions and they hope that's enough.

00;04;43;39 - 00;05;00;59

Unknown

But here's my recommendation to my client. I said we should know from the pattern of questions here that this is a priority for them. So we need to overindex in our answers, in our proposal and how we're presenting things for this. Now, we're not well, we're not going to do is go in and say, hey, we do all these processes.

00;05;00;59 - 00;05;23;15

Unknown

All we're going to do is we're going to introduce things like, hey, we run on iOS, like the entrepreneurial operating system, because they do like that's their internal operating system, right? That's very process oriented. So highlight well when we use iOS, and we use that to onboard our new teammates. And we're documenting things and our integrator. Right. So you're like using the terms that they go okay.

00;05;23;15 - 00;05;46;41

Unknown

Like they're they're legit. They're real about the processes. And you find opportunities to weave in your processes. So if you have a standardized onboarding process for new clients, if that's documented, then what I recommend. And in his case it's already done. But what I recommend is name that process right. Like make it something proprietary and say yes about the migration and the onboarding process.

00;05;46;54 - 00;06;06;57

Unknown

I just wanna introduce you to our Xyzzy process. You know, it's the onboarding thing that makes this as simple as one, two, three. And it feels proprietary. It feels almost like IP. And you're like, okay, well they must care about this process enough to have named. It has more credibility when you present it as a product, right? As a framework.

00;06;06;57 - 00;06;27;06

Unknown

And even better, if you can model it out right, like show them an illustration on one slide that says, here's the process. Find other ways to visually show what you're doing without directly saying, hey, I know this is important to you. So I brought these pictures in. Like what you're saying is here, we've got our dashboards and this is the ticketing process.

00;06;27;06 - 00;06;49;54

Unknown

This is what they're going through. In fact, this is yesterday's screenshot of our score on such and such or our timing on such and such. So you're just subtly moving through and saying, I have proof, right? Instead of me telling you that we're process oriented, what I'm gonna do is show you proof and I'm gonna I'm going to demonstrate that through the actual visualization, through the processes, through the frameworks, whatever it is that we can present.

00;06;49;54 - 00;07;18;16

Unknown

And we're going to emphasize that throughout all the aspects of the presentation that we can. Now, in this case, my client is very systematized, like all the way through the business. So finding areas where we have customization, you're like, well, we've kind of intentionally created better processes and repeatability throughout the business. That's why there's not a ton of personalization except when it comes to things like pricing, right, and packaging and exactly what's going into a certain thing.

00;07;18;16 - 00;07;42;50

Unknown

And he's intentionally designed the business based on systems, right? So there's not a ton of customization for every individual customer. Right. Like by design. Like that's that's the way that it's been built. And the the idea behind that is of course like, hey, we're going to bring more consistency, we're going to bring more effectiveness. We're going to be better at doing it because we've got this dialed in instead of like every time somebody comes to the door, we're like, hey, we're figuring it out from scratch, right?

00;07;42;50 - 00;07;59;25

Unknown

So makes all the sense in the world. But of course, the customer wants to know, is it tailored for us or are you just giving us like some, you know, cookie cutter solution? Is it going to actually work for us? What I recommended to him was let's look like let's let's evaluate where here can we actually show that we do some customization.

00;07;59;25 - 00;08;17;58

Unknown

Now the one area they could really focus on is the pricing. Because the pricing isn't just a standard per user thing. Right. Like there's actually there's it's based on margin. He has a slightly different pricing model. So it is actually tailored to that specific company. So that's an area that we get to lean into and say, see we don't think everything's like the exact same.

00;08;18;03 - 00;08;42;15

Unknown

Right. Like we don't think as a business it's a complete template. We know that there are differences between you and your neighbor and you and a competitor, perhaps. So we actually tailor our packages and our pricing for you. That's also how you know that this is going to be the right solution for you, because we're going to make sure that the package that we're offering you is exactly what you need today, and make sure that you're set for where you need to go tomorrow.

00;08;42;16 - 00;09;08;09

Unknown

So you're going to highlight the fact that pricing, it varies, right. Like there are different packages and I have different offerings at different levels, and I do different things for different people. And that's the one place that I allow the the customization and personalization that you're probably looking for. So let me leverage that in the proposal. So it's all about going through these things and taking the bits and pieces of your offering and making sure that that's what you emphasize.

00;09;08;14 - 00;09;34;01

Unknown

The third thing that I that I took from this transcript and this was, I think, the biggest I think this was the most important thing that he should leverage and focus on going into this. The consultant asked several times about strategy and one way or another, right. Like it strategy. How do you determine that were future proofed? You know, something about the roadmaps at one point asked directly about, you know, do you offer a strategic support or anything like that?

00;09;34;06 - 00;09;57;23

Unknown

And I told I told my client, I said this, this is a big one. And here's why I think that not only are they asking questions about strategy, which, by the way, I think makes some of the best prospects, like if you if you have a prospect that is asking you about it, strategy, chances are you have somebody that understands the importance of it in the business and the like.

00;09;57;23 - 00;10;19;43

Unknown

The importance of you guys being partners and aligned, and where they are at now, or who they have now, is not providing that. So they've even been exposed to what happens without a gap like that's that's good from a sales standpoint. Sucks for them. Here's the other thing. They hired a consultant to help them buy IT services. So whatever is going on behind the curtain over there is so not right.

00;10;19;43 - 00;10;39;42

Unknown

Or they feel they lack the confidence in their own abilities to make the IT decision. So they've employed a third party, somebody else, to come in and say, hey, I did what we're doing today, didn't work. The decision that we made before clearly didn't work. These are the problems that we're having. Can you help us find a better provider?

00;10;39;42 - 00;11;02;02

Unknown

There is more evidence that you need of a company that is basically admitting we don't have the IT experience, like we don't have the strategic experience and we need it. We recognize the need for it. We don't have it, and it's important to us in the next partnership. Now, the best part of this is my client requires, like, you know, four meetings a year minimum, you know, has a virtual CIO offering.

00;11;02;02 - 00;11;23;01

Unknown

Like there's there's different parts of this, but strategy is a big part of what he does because he's looking for like great fit clients. He wants people just like this. So I said, here's what you don't want to do. You don't want to say, hey, by the way, I noticed you ask some questions about strategy. So, hey, we're really strategic and we require meetings four times a year and we have this CIO thing, you know, like, that's not what you want to do.

00;11;23;15 - 00;11;46;43

Unknown

Like this is a perfect example or perfect case where you use questions to deliver your point. So instead of saying, hey, we obviously create an I.T roadmap and a strategy roadmap. And we stick to that. And we kind of serve as your strategic partner and guide you through the decision as you grow and adjust those priorities. I want the prospect to know that.

00;11;46;54 - 00;12;12;40

Unknown

I want them to infer like, oh, okay, they care about strategy. They're good at strategy. Without me as a salesperson having to say it or without him having to say it. So here's what I coached him to say. I said, as you're going through this proposal, at some point you're going to have some interaction. What I would recommend is that you go in and you ask a question, something along the lines of, well, hey, like so I know you have a current provider and you're moving for whatever reason, we can get into that.

00;12;12;45 - 00;12;31;46

Unknown

What I would love to know is what aspects of the strategy roadmap that are in place today would you like to keep versus discard? Right. Like would we be doing a complete strategy overhaul from the current plan today, or are there pieces of that strategy plan that we're actually going to keep and you feel are the right direction?

00;12;31;48 - 00;12;52;51

Unknown

He's going to ask that question and they're going to say, well, you know, we actually we don't have an IT strategy roadmap. And you're going to go. No, you're not, but you're you're going to go, oh, okay. You've planted the idea that you need them to have, which is, hey, they know strategy. They care about strategy. They're going to help us and be our strategic partner.

00;12;53;01 - 00;13;14;41

Unknown

Without you saying it right. You use questions to lead your prospects to the same conclusion that you want them to have, without you having to tell them. It's a strategy of pulling information and pulling people to the finish line as opposed to pushing them. And I can tell you this, having coached this technique for a long time, prospects believe themselves more than they believe you.

00;13;14;45 - 00;13;38;53

Unknown

So if they come to that conclusion through questions and that's the understanding that they have, it is going to carry more weight than you saying, hey, we're strategic and we require, you know, for meetings a year or whatever it is. Now, those are the three kind of takeaways that we pulled from the transcript. And we said, all right, let's be strategic, which this is a part of sales I love, by the way, like getting strategic creative, like, you know, positioning things the right way.

00;13;38;53 - 00;13;57;26

Unknown

But he's still going in blind. Right. Like we've we've done a pretty good job. Like it's it's he's probably ahead of the competition. They'd like ten people going up for this thing and I'm sure he's I'm sure he's well ahead of everybody. However he still doesn't have the actual information for sure. So here's the last thing that I coached him on.

00;13;57;30 - 00;14;16;50

Unknown

This is the this is the bonus. But you effectively want to say is, hey everybody, nice to meet you. You know, your rapport, your, you know, handshakes, all that stuff. When you sit down, say, okay, I've got this proposal that I've created for you guys based on what I think are the the challenges or the priorities that you may have now, candidly, I didn't I didn't have a chance to ask a lot of questions.

00;14;16;50 - 00;14;32;57

Unknown

And normally I would I would make sure that the information in here is really targeted to the things that you care about most. Do you mind if I, if I spend just ten minutes asking a few questions to make sure that what I present here is actually relevant for you, that I don't waste any time on stuff that you may not even care about.

00;14;32;57 - 00;14;54;25

Unknown

And what you're doing when you ask that is one you're taking back control, okay? Like you're saying, hey, let me I know you're going to run this interview on me. What I'd like to do is flip the script, and I would like to start asking questions right, to you've actually increased your status, right? Or your positioning because instead of going in and just getting grilled, you've said, can I lead this thing?

00;14;54;28 - 00;15;10;27

Unknown

And then three, you've given yourself a chance because 99% of the time they're going to say, yeah, who wants their time wasted, right. And you didn't get to ask any questions as long as you frame it as a benefit for them. Most of the time I'm going to say, yeah, go ahead. And like you still have X amount of time.

00;15;10;27 - 00;15;30;09

Unknown

Like it doesn't change your time, but now you have some time to ask questions and actually tailor the information that you're going to present to them. So you may be wondering here what happened. Ray. Good question. So my client went from ten candidates that were interviewed for ten that made it to the panel. So potentially more right. Like but I have no idea.

00;15;30;16 - 00;15;46;25

Unknown

But ten went to this panel. And of that panel they picked two finalists and he was one of the two finalists. And then he did go ahead and win the deal. It's a sizable deal. And like I said, it's got some strategic importance. It is a great sale like beyond just the revenue because it does open up some other doors.

00;15;46;25 - 00;16;09;41

Unknown

And the takeaway is as a salesperson, we never stop acting like detectives. We never stop hunting for problems. We never stop hunting for pain. We never stop trying to take control and run the process as best we can. And there are going to be limitations. There are going to be times where life, some other person, a situation says, no, you're not going to get to run it perfectly.

00;16;09;41 - 00;16;26;23

Unknown

And that's fine, right? Like it's not going to be perfect every single time. But even when the script is flipped on you, even when the circumstances don't work out, that you can run your process. Exactly. The fundamentals don't change, right? So in this case, he had somebody grilling him. He had somebody interviewing him. All right. Well let's work with that.

00;16;26;28 - 00;16;42;48

Unknown

Right. Like that's the week. We can't necessarily control that and certainly not after the fact. But what we can do is say how can we take control going forward? What can we infer from what we found? How can we be smart about this and make sure that we give ourselves the highest probability of a deal? And that's what we did.

00;16;42;50 - 00;17;12;54

Unknown

And that's because the best salespeople aren't robots. Like, I love a process as much as anybody else. But the best salespeople, they're they're detectives, right? They don't just answer questions. They ask questions. They they diagnose, they double click. They're like pulling on threads. They're trying to find, you know, different things. So the next time you feel a meeting slipping away, use some of these tactics like think about it this way, reframe it, pull back control, and watch how quickly you go from just another vendor to trusted advisor.

00;17;12;56 - 00;17;28;41

Unknown

Now, I hope this has been helpful for you. If this kind of breakdown on a on a daily basis has been helpful at all, go ahead and tell me in the comments. Like I we I have opportunities to to break these deals down and try to give you some tactical, actionable advice all the time. It was helpful. Let us know.

00;17;28;41 - 00;17;48;16

Unknown

And if you're an MSP and you want access to our MSP sales toolbox, which is basically a place writers add things almost every month, right? Like it's, you know, comp templates, it's forecasting tools, it's playbooks, it's scripts, templates, things like that. You can, you know, drop in your email, you have lifetime access, including to anything that we add going forward.

00;17;48;21 - 00;18;00;41

Unknown

And there's a bunch of stuff in there already that's that's really valuable. So go ahead and check it out. Link for that is below and I will see you in the next video. I hope.

00;18;00;46 - 00;18;01;09

Unknown

You.