Win the governance wedge. Open the account.
Your job: land the discovery baseline, prove it works, and expand into Phase 2. You own the stakeholder, the deal structure, and the expansion momentum. SA and Delivery support you. Here's what it takes to close.
Why governance wins.
Governance is the easiest door into an enterprise right now. It's top-of-mind, low-friction, and the discovery it forces hands you the whole account. You're not selling a risk-management service. You're selling the gate that opens to everything else.
Your opening: "Every company scaling AI needs governance. You don't have a real governance system yet. We can assess your AI estate, show you the gaps, and get you compliant in 90 days. Let's start with a discovery—3 weeks, 2 people, you'll know exactly where you stand."
Who to target. How to get in.
Ideal target
- Board/CEO mandate on AI governance (recent board decision, regulatory pressure, M&A due diligence).
- CTO or Chief AI Officer as the champion (they own the problem, have budget).
- Already using cloud + AI (AWS/Azure/GCP, GenAI, Copilot).
- $100M+ revenue (budget for a 3-week engagement exists).
Entry vectors
- Warm intro: a board member, investor, or peer CTO who knows them + your sponsor.
- Compliance trigger: "I see you're in financial services—your board will ask about AI governance by Q3."
- Fair housing angle (real estate): "There's new HUD guidance on AI in housing. We just built this for another PM company. You're next."
- Nexthink play (if they have it): "Your AI adoption is growing fast. You need governance to keep it from going sideways."
The opening conversation.
You're in the room with the CTO / Chief AI Officer. You have 30 minutes. Here's what you say.
Opening (2 min)
"We work with enterprises scaling AI at MCG/Kelly. The pattern we see: 95% of AI projects don't have real governance. Not policies — governance. An actual system that knows what's running, who approved it, whether it's compliant. That's us. We've built a framework and a playbook to do this in 90 days start to finish. Sound relevant?"
Discovery pitch (3 min)
"We start with a 3-week discovery. $X cost, 2 people on your team full-time. We map your AI estate—everything you're running, approved and shadow. We score it against NIST, ISO, whatever your board cares about. You get a readout: here's what's governed, here's what's not, here's the critical gaps. Then you decide if you want to fix it."
Why MCG/Kelly (3 min)
"Most governance firms sell you a report. We actually build and run the system. We design it, implement it, operate it. When you're done with us, you have a live dashboard that your team runs forever. We're not consultants handing you work—we're partners standing this up with you."
Close (2 min)
"Let's start with discovery. If it's valuable, we'll design the build. If it's not, you've got answers and you're done. Either way, you know what you're dealing with. Yes or no?"
The first contract.
Discovery is the wedge. It's low-risk for them, high-value for you. Here's what you close.
Deal terms
- Duration: 3 weeks, fixed-end date.
- Cost: $X (fixed, no overruns).
- Deliverables: readout deck + findings spreadsheet + "what's next" brief.
- Your team: 2 people (SA oversight + 1 discovery engineer), on-site or remote.
- Their team: 1 full-time liaison (IT director or security engineer) + access to cloud credentials, logs.
Success criteria (use this in the MSA)
- Complete inventory of AI systems and models (target: >95% coverage).
- Shadow-AI discovery (unapproved tools, users, exposure).
- Governance gaps mapped to NIST / ISO standards.
- Readout + recommendation on Phase 2 scope and investment.
The hook for Phase 2: The discovery readout will uncover enough gaps that Phase 2 (assessment + implementation) is obviously necessary. Your job: make the readout undeniable so the follow-on deal is a "yes" by default.
From first call to contract signed.
| Stage | Your action | Timeline | What SA does | What Delivery does |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Qualification | Warm intro, first call, 30-min pitch | Week 1 | Tech audit call (30 min) — what's their stack? | — |
| Due diligence | Deck on discovery, cost, timeline. Answer Qs. | Week 2 | Brief architecture sketch ("here's how we'll do it") | — |
| MSA negotiation | Terms + signature | Week 3 | Approves the design, signs MSA | Approves the scope, signs SOW |
| Kickoff | Intro call, champion warm-up | Week 4 | SA + Delivery brief the client team | Delivery lead confirms data access |
| Discovery | Weekly exec updates to champion | Weeks 5–7 | SA oversight, QA on findings | Delivery runs discovery (3 weeks solid) |
| Readout | Present findings to board / leadership | Week 8 | SA frames the narrative, slides | Delivery presents raw data, answers Q |
Total time to discovery signature: 3 weeks. Total time to discovery completion + Phase 2 deal signed: 8–10 weeks. You own the momentum.
Your checkpoints. What SA and Delivery must verify.
| Checkpoint | Sales | Solution Architect | Delivery Lead |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kickoff readiness | Signs off: sponsor is warm, team access approved, timeline locked | Confirms: discovery design is clear, no ambiguity on tools/scope | Confirms: crew ready, data flow known, no blockers |
| Discovery completion | Reviews findings 24h before readout (high-risk only) | QA's the inventory and shadow-AI findings; approves readout narrative | Owns data quality; flags any gaps or concerns |
| Readout sign-off | Owns the presentation; you're the voice to the board | Co-presents; answers technical Q | Available for deeper technical Q if needed |
| Phase 2 deal | Closes the assessment + implementation contract | Presents the design + effort estimate; commits to timeline | Approves: I can deliver this on schedule with this headcount |
Legend: R = Responsible (does the work) · A = Accountable (signs off) · C = Consulted (input) · I = Informed (kept in loop)
How to grow the deal.
Discovery gets you in the door. The readout opens the account.
- Phase 2 conversation: "The discovery showed you have X critical gaps. Assessment + implementation gets you from 20% governed to 80% in 90 days. Here's the investment, here's the timeline, here's who we'll add to the team."
- Discovery dividend: While governing AI, you'll map their whole tech estate. Use it: "We also noticed your Y is outdated. Want to add that to the scope?" (More revenue, same team, same client, same momentum.)
- Expansion into MCG services: Once governance is live and the relationship is warm, there's your opening for modernization, migration, managed services. Governance was the wedge. Build & run is the prize.
Your measure of success: By month 6, you've converted 1 discovery into 1 full engagement (Phase 2 + Phase 3) + 1 expanded service opportunity. That's how the wedge works.