Chris Barnes MSP Sales Training Review: How Mindset Changes Everything
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Chris Barnes Fox & Crow Group Sales Training Review: Why Mindset Is the Missing Piece in IT Channel Sales
Thank you to Chris Barnes for this review of his MSP sales training experience with Carrie Richardson, Co-Founder of Fox & Crow Group.
First Published: October 1, 2025
Last Updated: May 1, 2026
Most MSP sales training focuses on what to say. Scripts. Frameworks. Objection handlers. Voicemail templates.
What gets skipped — and what makes or breaks a sales professional's long-term effectiveness — is how they think about selling itself. Mindset shapes behavior, and behavior shapes outcomes.
This Chris Barnes Fox & Crow Group sales training review makes that case directly. Barnes, an IT channel professional, describes an experience that changed how he approaches both sides of a sales conversation: the calls he makes and the calls he receives.
"There are a lot of sales courses out there that teach salespeople 'how to sell'. I think too many of them drop the ball conveying the importance of the salesperson's mindset. Many of us would rather get a root canal than make a sales call, and many of us would also rather get a root canal than take a sales call. Both of those are an issue of mindset. Carrie taught us to change that mindset. I make better calls now, and the interaction is less forced. Additionally, I take calls in a better manner now as I learn what works for me as a prospective client and what fails when tried by the salesperson calling. I highly recommend working with Carrie even if you don't plan on being the salesperson making calls."
The Mindset Problem Most MSP Sales Training Ignores
Managed service providers face a particular challenge with sales mindset. Many MSP founders and technical leaders entered the industry because they love technology — not because they love selling.
The result is a sales culture that tolerates prospecting rather than embraces it. Reps delay outreach. Calls feel transactional. Conversations are stiff.
Barnes identifies a version of this that runs deeper than most acknowledge: the aversion is not just to making sales calls — it is also to receiving them. When the person responsible for sales has never reflected on what it feels like to be a well-handled prospect, they have no internal compass for what good looks like.
This gap — between how a salesperson wants to be treated and how they treat others — is one of the most overlooked causes of poor MSP sales performance.
What Happens When the Interaction Is "Less Forced"
The specific shift Barnes describes — that his calls now feel less forced — is worth examining closely.
Forced sales interactions happen when the salesperson is operating from anxiety rather than curiosity. The call has a hidden agenda, and prospects can sense it.
Training that addresses mindset rewires that dynamic. When a rep approaches a call with genuine curiosity about whether there is a real fit, the tone changes. Questions become more natural. Listening is more present. The conversation shifts from a script being executed to a professional exchange between two people evaluating an opportunity.
That shift — from performance to presence — is what separates average MSP sales from great MSP sales.
The Dual Benefit: Better as a Caller, Better as a Prospect
One of the more valuable observations in this Fox & Crow Group sales training review is that the training made Barnes better on both sides of the phone.
That dual awareness has real value in the IT channel, where professionals regularly attend vendor presentations, take partner calls, and participate in channel sales conversations.
When you understand what effective prospecting looks and sounds like — not from theory but from lived experience — you develop a clearer sense of when someone is earning your attention versus wasting it. That discernment feeds directly back into your own outreach. You stop doing the things that do not work because you have been on the receiving end of them.
Why This Applies Even If You Are Not the One Making Calls
Barnes specifically recommends this training even to people who do not plan to prospect themselves. MSP owners and sales leaders who understand the psychology of a sales conversation are better equipped to:
- Coach reps through common resistance and avoidance patterns
- Evaluate the quality of prospecting activity, not just volume
- Build a sales culture that treats outreach as a skill worth developing
- Recognize when underperformance is rooted in mindset rather than knowledge
MSP sales coaching that addresses the human side of prospecting creates lasting behavioral change — not just a temporary bump from new scripts.
A Practical Takeaway
Chris Barnes' experience with Fox & Crow Group sales training illustrates a principle easy to overlook: the quality of a sales call is more often determined by what the salesperson believes about selling than by what they know about their product.
When that belief system is addressed directly — through training that takes mindset seriously — the results show up quickly and consistently.
Learn how the MSP Sales Process approaches sales mindset and prospecting.
See more Fox & Crow Group testimonials and case studies.
Book a call to discuss sales training for your MSP team.
FAQ: MSP Sales Training and Mindset with Fox & Crow Group
What does Fox & Crow Group's MSP sales training cover?
Fox & Crow Group's MSP sales training covers prospecting mindset, outbound calling technique, discovery, qualification, and sales conversation structure — with particular emphasis on the behavioral factors that drive consistent performance.
Is MSP sales training useful for people who are not making calls themselves?
Yes. As Chris Barnes notes in this review, understanding the dynamics of an effective sales call makes you a better coach to the people on your team who are prospecting, and a better evaluator of outreach quality.
How does the MSP Sales Process differ from generic sales training?
The MSP Sales Process is built specifically for the IT channel. It addresses how managed service buyers evaluate providers, how to build prospecting habits that survive day-to-day pressure, and how to move from transactional to consultative selling.
Can Fox & Crow Group train my MSP sales team?
Yes. Fox & Crow Group offers sales training through the MSP Sales Process platform, including live coaching, LMS content, and recorded call review. Schedule a conversation to discuss your team's specific needs.
MSP sales training at the team level produces different challenges than one-on-one coaching. K Herrit's review covers the team development side directly, and Daniel Johnson's account addresses the individual rep improvements that aggregate into team-level change when the training is consistent. Fox & Crow Group's MSP sales training and LMS learning paths are built to handle both dimensions.
MSPs exploring what structured sales training produces when it addresses the mindset dimension most programs skip will find the same shift documented in detail — and can see how that training builds into a complete MSP sales process that produced record results.