There’s a fine line between "solution mode" and desperation, and most sellers cross it without even knowing. I want to talk about "desperation at scale" because I’m seeing it everywhere right now in the MSP space.
Here’s the setup: a seller starts out hot, they’re confident, they’re closing deals, they’re focused on the client. Then, they hit a dry spell. Maybe a couple of big deals stall out, maybe the pipeline looks a little thin for next month. And instead of leaning into the process, they start leaning into the result. They start needing the deal more than the client needs the solution.
And that "need" is a scent. Prospects can smell it a mile away. It shows up in your follow-ups—you’re not following up to add value anymore; you’re following up to check the status. It shows up in your tonality—you’re a little more rushed, a little more pushy. It shows up in your discovery—you’re skipping questions because you’re trying to hurry up and get to the pitch so you can get to the close.
This is what I call "desperation at scale." It’s when you take that needy, result-oriented mindset and you apply it to your entire activity list. You’re making 50 dials a day not because you want to find 50 people you can help, but because you’re desperate to find one person who will say yes so you can pay your mortgage.
And the irony is, the more desperate you are for the "yes," the more "nos" you’re going to get. Sales is a transfer of confidence. If you aren’t confident in the outcome for the client because you’re too worried about the outcome for you, the transfer fails.
I was coaching a guy yesterday who was complaining that "nobody is buying." I listened to his last three discovery calls. People were buying; they just weren’t buying from him. He was talking over them. He was ignoring their actual pain points so he could pivot to his "special promotion" that expired on Friday. He wasn't selling a solution; he was begging for a check.
If you feel yourself slipping into this, you have to stop and reset. You have to detach from the result. I know that’s hard when bills are due, but it’s the only way out. Your job isn't to get a "yes." Your job is to find the truth of the situation. Is there a problem? Can you fix it? Is the value of fixing it higher than the cost?
If you focus on the truth, the confidence returns. If you focus on the commission, the desperation scales. Don't scale desperation. Scale your ability to solve problems.
By the way, if you want the frameworks I use to keep my team in "solution mode" and out of the desperation trap, check out the newsletter at raizemail.com. It’s free and we break this stuff down every week. Hope it helps. Adios.
