The night before.

I have a 460k ARR, 2-year deal in AdobeSign in a client's inbox. He told me that if there were no red lines he'd sign it tomorrow. $920k ACV would be the 3rd biggest deal my company has seen. It was an inbound lead from an org I had sold 5 years ago at what is now my top competitor. In '19, it was cold outbound. When I called him and reminded him that I was the guy who put him on the software he's currently on, he remembered clearly. We had a chuckle and started. Disco booked.

Aware of his issues, I built a one-page deck, named it "Solution Matrix" on top, listed the problems his segment has in a column on the left, starting with his, and put the name of the corresponding software cure in rows on the right, and started the call with that. We went down the list and in shorthand nailed the issues. He got cozy, and revealed another. 2 demos, much back and forth, some reference checks, and a proposal for everything I could possibly sell him. Total process, 3 weeks.

This deal isn't signed. It may not ever get signed. it's 100% out of my hands until it closes or requires more work. I'm posting this non-deal because it would have been a 6-month adventure for half of the ACV if I didn't know the prospect. It wouldn't be a deal at all if I had done anything unethical, or mistreated him the first time.

TL;DR When the shit shakes out, all you've got is your name. When it shows up the second time, it better be a good one.

I'm not superstitious or religious. But I could use some positive mojo on this one. Please send it. Will report back tomorrow.

1/31/24 EDIT: NO DEAL TODAY

Prospect is still trying to figure out what his commitment is on the contract I sent him 5 years ago. He doesn't have a copy of the agreement. What he doesn't know is that it was 1-year with an auto renew. When he gets his hands on it, he'll see that he's got about 5 months left. We'll need about 2 to implement. Leaves a 3-month wait window. I'm going to white knight it and tell him to honor his contract while we carry him for 90 days. At least, this is the plan. We shall see. Bahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhfuk