Upper_Class_SaaS

Account Executive

Deal Stuck in Procurement

I hate when I have busted my butt to get a deal across the line to only have it stalled out by procurement and legal at the last minute.

How do y'all get your contracts through legal/procurement quicker? Is there a timeline you follow to get the papers out and signed? What questions are you asking to figure out how to fast-track your deals?

This has been my Achilles heel so far in my sales career, and I am trying to figure out how to grow, any ideas?

I move the ball by:

Attached poll

🐕 Hounding their legal contact 🏆 Push my champion to bug legal 🧘🏼‍♂️ Wait it out, its a done deal ✍🏼 other: comment below

*Voting in this poll no longer yields commission.

📈 Closing

🤷‍♂ Poll

📃 Procurement

17 comments

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illexpenseit

Opinionated

Account Manager

Share a skeleton copy of the contract mid way through the sales process and have their legal begin to review and make changes. This way when they get to the point they are ready to sign, the legal aspect has already gone through.

InQ5WeTrust

Arsonist

No marketing, mayo isn't an MQL

This for sure with any Enterprise peeps. Get that MSA early or your terms over sharpish.

Legal is often overworked.

Upper_Class_SaaS

Politicker

Account Executive

yea that's real, I currently am working mid-market as of now, but want to get a grip on this so I can have a better process once I move into enterprise

Upper_Class_SaaS

Politicker

Account Executive

I have this going with one customer as of now and it has fast-tracked the SOW up to this point which is good!

I appreciate the advice

ExtremeVibeChecker44

Arsonist

Inside Sales

Damn this is a great idea.

mitts2

Politicker

Account Executive

Reiterating some points that work for me:
1. Get legal started early, this always takes the longest
2. When talking to procurement / legal, lead with value. "Hey this is what we have been working on, this is what we solve for, this is the ROI."
3. Quick product overview so they know WTF you are talking about
4. @bigmeech nailed this. Spend a little extra time building rapport with procurement. If they see you as more than just a salesperson to negotiate with you are in good shape. Bond about literally anything (I currently talk baseball with a 65+ yr old procurement guy every week)
5. If shit stalls, go back to your business champion and have them try to apply pressure. This is ideal if your champ is your DM / signer.
6. Most importantly, procurement is a dance of give / gets. If they ask for something, make sure you get something in return. Could be as small as a follow up call on the cal, turnaround time commitment, etc.

Hope this helps.

Upper_Class_SaaS

Politicker

Account Executive

I appreciate the play by play! Super helpful

BmajoR

Arsonist

Account Executive

@BigMeech had some good advice on getting on procurements good side

CoorsKing

WR Officer

Retired King of the Coors Knights

Yeah you HAVE to get procurement on your side. I always spend extra time 1:1 with my procurement contact building them as a champion. An easy place to start is by giving them a quick overview of the tool before you start. Chances are they have no idea what you do, all they know is they got a ticket and have to negotiate their 15% off. Once you get them on your side, they can help push legal and help expedite signatures.

friendlyginge

Politicker

Account Executive

How do you usually get connected to the procurement person? This has happened to me once and happens to my team members. In my situation the previous rep left and this opp was passed to me, and it’s been stuck a year in procurement and we never got intro’d to that team

CoorsKing

WR Officer

Retired King of the Coors Knights

You don’t have a designated contact negotiating with you? Or are you already in the “this is in the signature funnel” bit. In that case I would just go back and look through your activity history in your CRM to see who the old rep was communicating with, and hit them up.

Upper_Class_SaaS

Politicker

Account Executive

Thanks, @BigMeech this is rock solid advice! Tough to always get the right POC at the company because a lot of the companies I deal with have super small legal dept's and often don't even have the bandwidth to communicate with me.

Upper_Class_SaaS

Politicker

Account Executive

Thanks for looping folks in @beezechurger !

someoneinsales

Tycoon

Director of Sales

Meet early and often with Procurment and Legal. I usually try to get introduced to legal after the first meeting, specially if an NDA is needed. Once a POC start, get engaged with Procurment to start the chat and setting expectations for a tech win.

If you run your cycles in stages of POC, Legal then procurement, there goes 6-9 months of your life in 1 deal.

Try to accomplish POC, Legal and Procurement in parallel.

Use you Champion as much as possible

Upper_Class_SaaS

Politicker

Account Executive

Yea I need to get in front of legal more quickly for sure.

poweredbycaffeine

WR Lieutenant

☕️

Other: nip this process in the bud earlier in the deal cycle. Set timelines, clear expectations, and get your champion to illustrate the process by which you'll have to abide.

Upper_Class_SaaS

Politicker

Account Executive

This is good! I need to lay the groundwork early and often

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Upper_Class_SaaS

Deal Stuck in Procurement

I move the ball by:

17 comments

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