Why do deals stall at the proposal and quietly go nowhere?
2 min
Most deals that stall at the proposal were never deals in the first place. The need was assumed at the start and never tested – someone showed a little interest, we decided they wanted what we've got, we spent the meeting making our case, and when they said “send me a price” we heard a yes. Half the time it's the opposite: the polite way to end a conversation that was never going to move. Nothing is pushing the client hard enough to act, and nobody actually checked.
So the pipeline fills with deals that are alive on paper and dead in reality, and your best hours pour into follow-ups that can't win. I started working with a well-established company recently that was certain it was losing to competitors. We picked apart its top twenty losses, one by one – and sixteen of the twenty never went to a competitor at all. The client had simply decided to do nothing.
The way out is the opposite of selling. From the first conversation, get the client talking about themselves: what's going on, what's pressing in on them, what happens if nothing changes. They start to trust you, and you get a straight answer up front instead of a polite dodge weeks later. That company started asking instead of assuming, got back all the capacity it had been burning on dead deals – and in the first half of this year, it doubled its business.
Every word of the video, in plain text.
Late last year I started working with a well-established company, picking apart its top 20 losses – not their wins, but their sales losses. They were sure that they'd been beaten by the competition, that their offer wasn't strong enough. So we went through them, one by one, and 16 of the 20 never went to a competitor at all. The client just decided to do nothing. Those deals weren't lost. They were never deals in the first place. Nothing was pushing the client hard enough to act, and no one had actually checked. The team had assumed that the need was there and went straight into selling.
And we all do it. Someone shows a little bit of interest and we decide that they want what we've got. We spend the whole meeting making our case – our solution, our value, why we are the right call. And we never find out what's going on with them. So when they say, send me a price, we hear a yes. And half the time it's the opposite: the polite way to end a conversation that was never going to move.
And so the pipeline fills with deals like that, alive on paper, dead in reality. You build the proposal, you send the follow-ups, you give them your best hours, and the business stays flat because all of that effort isn't going where it can win.
The way out is the opposite of selling. From the first conversation, get the client talking about themselves. What's going on? What's pressing in on them? What happens if nothing changes? Two things come from that. Firstly, they start to trust you. And you can tell early whether there's something here that you can genuinely help them with, or whether to walk away. You get a straight answer up front instead of a polite dodge weeks later.
That company I told you about started asking instead of assuming. It handed them back all the capacity that they'd been burning on dead deals. And in the first half of this year, they doubled their business.
See where your own selling sits
Seven quick reads, a gut answer to each – no email asked for, nothing you answer is saved. Useful whether or not we ever speak.