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# Where is this deal, really?

Pick the one live deal that's keeping you up. Walk it down the five stages, and tick every statement you can *honestly* say yes to. The first gate you can't clear is where the deal is actually stuck – not where the paperwork says it is. Nothing you tick or type is saved or sent; it's yours for this sitting.

Just a label, so "they" means the business. Nothing is saved.

**How it works.** Five stages, in order – and the proposal is last for a reason: it writes down an agreement you've already reached, it doesn't go hunting for one. Tick what's true of your deal today. Two words are used precisely here: *your contact* is the person you're actually talking to, and *the person who signs it off* is whoever has to approve it – sometimes the same person, often not. Where you name the business, that's the company. A stage you can't fully tick is a stage you haven't finished.

1

### Prospecting

Decide who's worth the approach, before you spend a conversation on them.

Is there a reason the company would move *now* – or does it just look like a fit?

I know **who I'm speaking to** – and whether that person **decides**, **recommends**, or neither.
I know what the company does, and why them specifically – not just a name that came up.
I believe there's real work here, worth both our time.
There's a trigger – something that's changed at the company – not just a fit on paper.

The trap

A full pipeline reads as progress. A name on a list is a guess about where a deal might be, not a deal – and a list of guesses can't tell you which of them would survive a real conversation. Only the conversation does that.

**Pipeline.** Every live opportunity the business is working on, with where each one has actually reached. [Full entry →](https://stoneforgegroup.com/glossary/#pipeline)

Clears to qualification when

There's a specific reason this one is worth researching properly – not just that they'd be a good logo.

2

### Qualification

Do the homework: enter informed, not assuming.

Have you learned enough to walk in credible – while holding your picture of the company loosely enough to be wrong?

I know **who would ultimately have to sign this off** – and whether I have a path to that person.
I've learned what can be learned about the company – how they make their money, how long they've been at it, which way they're heading – as far as any of it is knowable from outside.
I have a working hypothesis about the company's situation – a guess, not a verdict.
On the surface, the company looks like the kind of client I serve well – and us the right people for it.

The trap

Letting the research harden into a diagnosis. A business that reads as a growth case from outside can be an owner planning their way out – and the surface view would have sold the wrong thing.

Clears to discovery when

You can enter the room informed, carrying a hypothesis you're willing to have overturned – not a pitch you're ready to give.

3

### Discovery

Find the real need under the one they handed you.

Do you know what the company needs in order to act – not just what you've been asked to quote?

I know what the company has already tried here, and why it didn't hold.
I know what's underneath the request – what **my contact** hasn't said out loud yet.
I know what happens to the company if nothing changes.
This conversation has tested my hypothesis – I know where it held and where it broke.

The trap

Taking the brief at face value. What they asked you to price is their own guess at their problem. Qualification would have found a healthy business – discovery is where you find the owner inside it.

**Qualification.** Deciding, on evidence rather than optimism, whether an opportunity is real – whether something is genuinely pushing the buyer to act, whether the people who can decide are involved, and whether the work fits what the business does well. [Full entry →](https://stoneforgegroup.com/glossary/#qualification)

Clears to scope when

You can name what they actually need in a way they'd recognize as truer than the request they walked in with.

4

### Scope & alignment

Shape the work together, and hear the conclusion in their words.

Can **the person who signs it off** say back, in their own words, why this is worth doing – including the part they'd have to carry?

The work the company would have to do is on the table, plainly – not just the work I'd do.
I've heard the conclusion from **the person who signs it off**, in their own words – I'm not reading quiet as a yes.
**The person who signs it off** has named what this takes from their side – time, change, disruption – and said they'll carry it.

The trap

Mistaking your own clarity for theirs. You can see why it's worth it long before they do; alignment isn't reached until they've said it, not nodded at it.

Clears to proposal when

The decision is effectively already made between you – the paperwork is the only thing missing.

5

### Proposal

Write down the agreement you've already reached.

Is this a record of something settled – or a last attempt to talk them into it?

The document I'd send – proposal, scope, or a plain email confirming it – says back what I've been told the company needs, in the shape we agreed.
There's nothing in it **the person who signs it off** hasn't already said yes to.
If I sent it right now, it would confirm – not try to convince.

The trap

Using the proposal to do the selling. If it's carrying the persuasion, a stage upstream got skipped – and a polished proposal is the most expensive place to discover that.

You've arrived when

Sending it changes nothing that wasn't already true. It confirms; it doesn't convince.

Where your deal actually is

Tick the statements that are true of your deal today. From your first tick, this names the stage the deal is stuck at and the gate it has to clear.

This part needs JavaScript. Without it the boxes still tick, but nothing is worked out here – the five stages above carry the same walk, and the first one you can't fully tick is your answer.

**Where you can't clear a gate** – that isn't a lost deal, it's the deal telling you where it actually is. Go back and do the work that stage is asking for, rather than carrying the deal forward into a proposal that would have to do that stage's work as well as its own.

Questions owners ask about their deals

## What are the five stages of a sales deal?

Prospecting, qualification, discovery, scope and alignment, and proposal. They run in order, and the proposal is last for a reason: it writes down an agreement you've already reached, it doesn't go hunting for one. A stage you can't fully complete is a stage you haven't finished – and the deal is stuck there.

## How do I know what stage my deal is really in?

Walk the deal down the five stages, one gate at a time. The first gate you can't clear is where the deal actually is – not where the paperwork says it is. The stalled deals we see are further back than they look – stuck in discovery or alignment while a proposal sits out ahead of them.

## Why do deals stall or go quiet?

In our experience, because a stage got skipped. A proposal sent before discovery and alignment are done is carrying the persuasion itself – and that's the most expensive place to discover the work was never earned. When a deal goes quiet, the real question is which upstream gate was never actually cleared.

## When is a deal ready for a proposal?

When the decision is effectively already made between you, and the paperwork is the only thing missing. A good proposal confirms; it doesn't convince. If sending it would change something that wasn't already true, you're not at the proposal stage yet – however polished the document is.

### Want to see where your selling stands overall?

The two-minute sales scorecard places you – on the plateau, owner-held, or built to run without you – and points you to the areas worth starting with. No email, no sign-up.

[The Sales Scorecard →](https://stoneforgegroup.com/scorecard/)

### This is yours to use, whether or not we ever speak.

This guide is yours to run any time, on your own. A fractional seat is a different thing altogether: a senior operator in the room on your actual deals – the strategy behind the pipeline, the judgment about which deals are worth your firm's effort and which aren't, and the standing hand that builds a way of selling that keeps producing. The first conversation is free – bring the deal you just placed.

[Talk to Us →](https://stoneforgegroup.com/contact/)
Fifty minutes, about your business, with the person who'd hold the seat.

What this produces is information, not advice – general by design, built from nothing but your own answers, and no substitute for guidance from someone qualified who knows your situation. Using it creates no client relationship or contract with Stoneforge LLC; results are provided as-is, errors and omissions excepted – see [our full terms](https://stoneforgegroup.com/terms/).