an MSP seller told me last Tuesday
that his pipeline was the fullest that
00:00:03.919 --> 00:00:08.720
it had ever been. Um, somebody that
we're coaching and I asked him, I said,
00:00:06.960 --> 00:00:13.759
"That's phenomenal. Excellent. What's
driving it?" He said, "I don't know. I
00:00:11.280 --> 00:00:17.920
don't think anything's changed." And I
said, "All right, something has changed
00:00:15.920 --> 00:00:23.119
somewhere. This is an MSP seller. We're
coaching them. I'm He's really stoked.
00:00:20.160 --> 00:00:27.439
He's looking at Q3, Q4 numbers, and
they're looking better than they they
00:00:25.359 --> 00:00:30.960
have in in a while, which is which is
great news. Like sales is just one big
00:00:29.279 --> 00:00:33.840
system. You've got inputs. They go
through a process. You get an output.
00:00:32.399 --> 00:00:38.399
There's a feedback loop. That's what a
system is. If the output changed, then
00:00:36.239 --> 00:00:42.239
something in the input or the process
changed. Maybe marketing did something
00:00:40.239 --> 00:00:47.520
different. Maybe the positioning
changed. Maybe SEO hit, GEO hit, maybe
00:00:45.680 --> 00:00:50.800
the founder went on a podcast a few
months ago. Do we actually know where
00:00:49.360 --> 00:00:54.399
those leads are coming from? And he
didn't. And I said, "Pause, man. Like,
00:00:52.640 --> 00:00:59.359
let's celebrate. Like, high five.
Absolutely kickass. I'm glad we've got
00:00:56.719 --> 00:01:03.520
pipeline. Now, let's reverse engineer to
the source of it and figure out what the
00:01:00.879 --> 00:01:08.320
hell caused it so that we can repeat it,
right? Or or at least start to see which
00:01:06.400 --> 00:01:13.360
trends are real, which trends aren't.
That step right there is is the one that
00:01:10.479 --> 00:01:17.920
I see skipped in sales over and over and
over again. And and it's it's why we get
00:01:15.600 --> 00:01:21.920
these waves. Same company, same sellers,
same market for years, and they're
00:01:20.400 --> 00:01:26.320
sitting there waiting on conditions to
change. Like, man, I don't know. Like,
00:01:24.240 --> 00:01:29.840
we used to get inbound, now we don't.
And then a good quarter comes,
00:01:27.759 --> 00:01:35.360
everybody's fired up, and it's followed
by a bad quarter, and everybody's in the
00:01:32.240 --> 00:01:39.439
dumps, and nobody's asking how to get
how do we get control of this? And and
00:01:37.840 --> 00:01:42.799
look, like, man, I'll take windfalls all
day long. Like sometimes you just get a
00:01:40.960 --> 00:01:46.640
windfall. And and you should absolutely
take it, but you want it to be
00:01:44.799 --> 00:01:51.200
repeatable. like better than repeatable.
You want it to be like a steady climb up
00:01:48.720 --> 00:01:55.360
and and to the right. Which means you've
got to know what the knobs and the dials
00:01:53.759 --> 00:01:58.399
are in the system that are creating the
outputs that you're getting. What's
00:01:56.880 --> 00:02:01.360
creating those opportunities? What's
creating the right opportunities? What's
00:01:59.920 --> 00:02:05.280
moving them through the pipeline? What's
making them turn into closed deals?
00:02:03.040 --> 00:02:09.520
What's turning them into good customers?
And understanding that at the root is
00:02:07.680 --> 00:02:12.720
like the cheapest thing that you can do
to to make sure that a couple years from
00:02:11.599 --> 00:02:15.680
now you're not sitting around like
twiddling your thumb going, "Man, I
00:02:14.080 --> 00:02:21.040
really hope really hope we get some more
leads this time. It used to be like the
00:02:17.200 --> 00:02:23.599
good old days and like and complaining,
you know, about the economy or
00:02:22.480 --> 00:02:25.760
complaining about the market or
complaining about competitors or
00:02:24.800 --> 00:02:29.440
complaining about how everything's
changing with AI or whatever the hell it
00:02:27.520 --> 00:02:32.640
is like blaming some externality. I want
to get control of And the data is
00:02:30.959 --> 00:02:37.040
usually right there. Like your marketing
and your sales, especially outbound
00:02:34.800 --> 00:02:41.280
stuff. It's all R&D. It's like it is
research and development. If you if you
00:02:38.959 --> 00:02:45.440
make the effort to understand what's
driving results and what isn't and you
00:02:43.840 --> 00:02:49.440
watch it over time and you measure it,
you start to learn how to control it.
00:02:46.959 --> 00:02:53.280
And something that feels like it used to
be passive is back into your hands. And
00:02:52.080 --> 00:02:56.800
then you're the one driving your
pipeline. And you're the one driving
00:02:54.879 --> 00:03:01.360
your forecast. You can dial it up. You
can dial it down. I don't know why I
00:02:58.720 --> 00:03:05.360
would ever dial it down. Well, different
story. Maybe it's in your control
00:03:03.200 --> 00:03:08.640
because now you know which numbers are
are the leading indicators. What are the
00:03:07.120 --> 00:03:13.200
the things that are going to drive the
outputs that we want. So, learn from the
00:03:11.280 --> 00:03:17.519
success as much as you learn from the
failure. Run it both directions. By the
00:03:15.440 --> 00:03:21.280
way, like the same the same exercise on
every deal that doesn't close at the end
00:03:19.440 --> 00:03:26.159
of the at the end of the pipeline. Where
did it go sideways? Like what what do we
00:03:23.599 --> 00:03:29.760
tweak? How do we how do we trace it back
to something in Discovery or elsewhere
00:03:27.920 --> 00:03:34.480
to change it? Because the more of that
that you do, the more control that
00:03:31.760 --> 00:03:37.920
you've got. And and once you've got the
control, you can actually, like I said,
00:03:36.480 --> 00:03:43.959
you can turn the dials and you can turn
the knobs and that is how you scale.
00:03:40.400 --> 00:03:43.959
Hope it helps. Adios.
