Choose negotiation concessions before the proposal call, with a delivery cost and an approval owner attached to each. I'd start with quoted onboarding waived for a signed agreement. Keep the recurring rate intact, and find out what the buyer needs before you offer anything else.
The US MSP model puts the seat-price goal at $225 a month and the floor at $150. That floor is a danger line, not a suggested counteroffer. In a worked example using the model's 20-seat client, the goal produces $4,500 in monthly managed revenue. Don't make the floor your opening negotiation plan.
Find Out What the Price Objection Means
Say a prospect tells you the proposal is too expensive. You haven't yet learned whether they mean the recurring budget, the cash needed at the start, or work they thought was included. I'd ask: Is the difficulty the monthly amount, the cost of moving over, or something in the scope you weren't expecting?
If they say another quote is lower, ask to compare what the fees include. Use your actual proposal: support hours, covered users and devices, baseline security, account work, and separately priced projects. Don't say the other MSP must have cut corners when you haven't seen its scope.
Then ask: If we resolve that point, what else would stop you from going ahead? The answer helps decide whether a concession addresses the objection at all. It isn't a promise that the next signature will follow.
Generic advice to give a little on price needs translating for an MSP. A recurring discount changes the revenue funding the service every billing period. A bounded piece of work has a different cost to assess, which is why I'd build the offer around specific work rather than a smaller seat fee.
Price the Work You Might Give
Start with the delivery owner, before the salesperson offers a bonus. Describe the task, who will perform it, the expected work, and the result the client receives. Include tools or other direct costs where they apply, and check whether your team has capacity when you propose to deliver it.
Onboarding is the model's usual concession: quote the fee, then include it free for the signed agreement. The model records no onboarding revenue and allows 60 hours of unpaid project-engineer work per new client. That's a planning allowance, not a promise that every environment takes the same time.
Waiving the invoice doesn't put those hours back into the project calendar. Check the prospect's actual environment and the other starts already scheduled. Keep remediation or a larger migration separate when it goes beyond the onboarding scope you costed.
The model targets a 50% managed-services gross margin after burdened delivery labor and tools. A proposed extra service belongs in that calculation. Gross margin still has to fund overhead and sales before it becomes profit, so reaching that target doesn't give sales an unlimited bonus budget.
Build a Short List Your Seller Can Use
I'd keep an approved list in the proposal record. Start with the least additional commitment that resolves the stated problem, then stop when you've addressed it. Don't hand over the entire list as a bundle just because the prospect asked for a better deal.
| Possible Offer | What You Need to Settle First | How to Describe It |
|---|---|---|
| Quoted Onboarding Included | Scope, project-engineer capacity, and the cost already allowed for the transition | We can include the quoted onboarding work with the signed agreement. The monthly managed rate stays as proposed. |
| A Defined Additional Review | What it covers, who performs it, and whether it is already included | We can include a review of the named issue and the agreed written findings. Any implementation work is separate. |
| A Revised Transition Sequence | Which activities can move without leaving a service gap, and who approves the dates | We can adjust the order of the transition around your operating schedule. These are the dates and responsibilities we would change. |
| Different Notice Arrangements | Commercial effect, contract review, and whether the extra flexibility is affordable | We can review the notice wording you raised and confirm the exact change before signature. |
These are offers to cost and approve, not standard entitlements or proven closing techniques. A review already included in your service isn't an extra. Don't present it as a special concession, and don't promise a deliverable your team hasn't agreed to provide.
Notice wording can affect both parties' flexibility. Give the requested commercial change to whoever maintains your agreement, and confirm the resulting wording. Don't improvise contract terms on the call or describe a longer notice period as automatically better for the buyer.
Keep These Out of the Bargaining
Keep baseline security in the managed plan. The model includes endpoint protection, MFA, awareness training, and email protection in every plan, with advanced tools sold as add-ons. Don't strip out that baseline to make the monthly comparison look cheaper.
Keep the fixed annual price step, too. The model uses 5%, written into the agreement with advance notice. Removing the step reduces future recurring revenue, so a price freeze belongs with the recurring discounts you're avoiding.
Also separate a genuinely different service from the same service at a lower price. If the prospect needs a narrower scope, have delivery cost and approve it before issuing another proposal. List the changed responsibilities plainly and check the resulting price against the floor and your actual cost.
Try this response: I can change the scope if there's work you don't need us to take on. I can't promise the full service at a lower recurring rate. Let's identify the responsibilities you want covered, then I'll bring back a proposal the team can deliver.
Write the Agreement Back Before You Close
Once you find an acceptable offer, send the revised proposal with the concession spelled out. Name the included work, its boundaries, the delivery timing, and the condition for receiving it. Show the recurring fee separately so billing doesn't have to interpret a sales note.
I'd say: We can include the quoted onboarding on the scope we've agreed. Your monthly service remains at the proposed rate, with the annual increase shown in the agreement. I'll send the revised proposal so you can check both before deciding.
Use a genuine scheduling constraint if one exists and delivery has confirmed it. Don't invent a deadline to make an unchanged offer sound scarce. If the buyer needs to wait, confirm the next action and when you'll speak again.
After the deal, compare the promised work with the time and cost actually delivered. Have sales record whether the original objection was resolved, and have delivery record any extra work the concession created. Use those results when approving the next offer, rather than treating a signed agreement as proof that every concession was worth its cost.
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Written by Natalie Brandt
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