Latest / Closing the Deal with Fexingo: Sales, Negotiation, and Revenue Conversations for Operators / The Rep Who Won by Asking for the Broken Process
Transcript
- Lucas: There's a story from a SaaS company I've been following — mid-market, enterprise HR software — and one of their senior reps had a deal that had been sitting in limbo for six months. The prospect kept saying 'we're still evaluating,' which usually means you've already lost, you just haven't been told yet. Luna: Right, the classic polite stall. So what did this rep do differently? Lucas: She stopped pitching. She stopped sending case studies. She stopped asking for the next meeting. Instead, she asked the buyer one thing: 'Can you walk me through your current process from end to end — every step, every handoff, every pain point?' And she just listened. Luna: That sounds almost too simple. But I bet the buyer was surprised — they're probably used to being sold to, not being interviewed. Lucas: Exactly. The buyer actually said, 'No one has ever asked me that before.' They spent an hour on a screen-share, going through their actual workflow — spreadsheets, manual approvals, email chains. The rep took notes. She didn't interrupt. She didn't even mention her product until the very end. Luna: So the rep basically conducted a free audit. That's a pretty big investment of time on both sides. Did it pay off? Lucas: It closed two weeks later. And the proposal she sent was basically a map: 'Here's where your process breaks. Here's how our product fixes each break.' She didn't sell features — she sold a fix for the specific friction they just described. Luna: I love that. It flips the dynamic from 'here's what we do' to 'here's what you need.' That's a completely different conversation. Lucas: And it's hard to argue with. The buyer can't say 'we don't need that' because they just showed you exactly where they're bleeding time and money. Luna: If these conversations have moved your work forward in some small way — whether it's a new technique you tried or a perspective shift that stuck — listener support is what keeps this show ad-free and independent. You can find us at buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. And now back to the process audit. Lucas: So the key insight here is that the rep didn't ask for a budget or a timeline or a referral — she asked for the broken process itself. That's a fundamentally different ask. Luna: It is. And I think it works because it's disarming. You're not putting the buyer on the defensive. You're saying, 'Help me understand your world.' That builds trust. Lucas: There's research behind this too. A study from Corporate Visions a few years back found that buyers are actually more likely to choose a vendor who diagnoses their problem thoroughly — even if that vendor is more expensive — over one who jumps straight to the solution. Luna: Because the diagnostician seems more credible. They've earned the right to propose a fix. Lucas: Exactly. In this case, the rep was about 20 percent more expensive than the incumbent. But she had documented six specific pain points the buyer had described. The incumbent was just saying, 'We've been your partner for five years, renew.' That was the difference. Luna: So how do you actually run a process audit conversation without it feeling like a consulting engagement you're not billing for? Lucas: Good question. The rep I mentioned used a framework she called 'The Three Layers.' First layer is what happens — the steps, the tools, the people involved. Second layer is what hurts — where do things slow down, where do errors happen, what frustrates the team. Third layer is what it costs — how much time, how much rework, how many lost deals. Luna: Three layers. I like that. It keeps the conversation structured without being scripted. Lucas: And the key is to ask open-ended questions throughout. Not 'Do you have trouble with X?' but 'Tell me about the last time X went wrong.' The more specific the story, the more concrete the pain. Luna: What do you do if the buyer says their process is fine? That's got to be a common objection. Lucas: It is. And the rep's response was: 'I'm glad to hear that. But if you don't mind, I'd still love to understand your workflow just to see if there are any small improvements we could suggest. No pressure.' Usually the buyer will cave and show you something. And almost always there's something they've just learned to tolerate. Luna: That's the hidden pain. The stuff they've normalized. Lucas: Right. And once you surface that, you have an opening. But you have to be genuinely curious, not just fishing for an objection to overcome. The moment the buyer senses you're just looking for a wedge, the trust breaks. Luna: So the mindset shift is: you're a problem detective, not a solution salesperson. Lucas: Exactly. And this works in almost any B2B context — software, services, even capital equipment. Because every business has a process that could be better. The rep who asks to see it is the rep who will be remembered. Luna: One thing I'd add: after the audit, you need to present your findings in a way that's easy to digest. A simple one-pager with the current state, the pain points, and the proposed fix — no jargon, no fluff. Lucas: That's what this rep did. She sent a four-slide deck. Slide one: current workflow diagram. Slide two: the six pain points with the buyer's own quotes. Slide three: how her product addresses each one. Slide four: a proposed next step. That's it. Luna: Short enough to actually be read. And it made the decision easy because the buyer could see their own fingerprints all over the proposal. Lucas: That's the real magic — the buyer co-created the diagnosis. They're not being sold a solution, they're being sold their own insight packaged as a solution. Luna: I've seen this work in reverse too. A friend of mine runs a marketing agency and when a prospect says they're happy with their current agency, she asks them to walk her through their last campaign — the brief, the creative process, the results. She almost always finds a gap. Lucas: And then she can say, 'What if we could fix that specific gap?' It's the same principle. The process audit is a universal tool. Luna: So for someone listening who wants to try this tomorrow, what's the first question they should ask? Lucas: I'd start with: 'Could you walk me through how you handle from beginning to end? I'd love to understand the full picture.' No agenda, just curiosity. Then listen. Luna: And if they say it's confidential? Lucas: Then you ask for a hypothetical. 'If you were to design the ideal process from scratch, what would it look like?' That still reveals their pain points — what they'd change, what they'd keep, what they wish existed. Luna: That's a great workaround. And it keeps the conversation forward-looking, which buyers tend to prefer. Lucas: One more thing: after you do the audit, don't pitch immediately. Say, 'Let me digest what you've shared and come back with some thoughts.' That shows you're taking it seriously. Then when you come back with your proposal, it feels like a recommendation from a trusted advisor, not a sales pitch. Luna: That pause builds anticipation too. The buyer is wondering what you found. Lucas: Exactly. And when you deliver, you've already won the credibility battle. The rest is just details. Luna: I think the biggest takeaway here is that asking 'show me your process' is actually a power move wrapped in humility. You're not claiming to know their business — you're asking them to teach you. And people love to teach. Lucas: Especially when the teaching leads to a solution that makes their life easier. That's a win-win.