Our deals keep slipping or stalling. Why aren’t we closing?

The surface symptom

Deals progress. Demos or discoveries go well. Proposals are sent.

Then,

• responses slow down

• timelines extend

• decisions get postponed

Eventually, the deal either dies quietly - or worse, drags on indefinitely. Most teams see this as - we’re not closing enough.

The usual explanations

Teams typically blame:

• weak objection handling

• poor follow-ups

• pricing resistance

• negotiation skills

So they respond with:

• more scripts and templates

• multi-channel follow ups

• discounting and bundling

• urgency tactics

Sometimes, these help. Very often, they don’t.

What’s actually happening beneath the surface

In most stalled deals, the real issue isn’t persuasion. It’s decision clarity.

Specifically,

• Who is the decision owner?

• What internal trade-offs must be resolved?

• What does the buyer lose if they do nothing?

If these questions remain unanswered, deals don’t “fail.” They pause indefinitely.

Why this shows up at your stage of growth

When you’re on the small to mid-sized growth trajectory, the buyers you are talking to

• have more complex buying processes

• take longer to reach internal alignment

• face decisions that carry higher perceived risk

If your sales process doesn’t actively help buyers decide, the burden shifts back to them - and most won’t carry it, unless they’ve burning problems.

Where deals usually break

These breakdowns tend to cluster in the same few moments of the deal.

Common failure points:

• discovery focused on features, not consequences

• demos that explain the product/solution but don’t advance a buyer decision

• proposals that summarize activity instead of reinforcing a choice

• follow-ups that ask “any thoughts?” instead of helping buyers resolve trade-offs

These are process design gaps, not skill gaps.

What to examine first

Start by paying close attention to:

• how questions are framed during demo/discovery

• the language buyers use when they discuss decisions

• whether exit criteria per stage are explicit

• what buyers are left to figure out on their own

If your process assumes buyers will self-navigate complexity, stalls are inevitable.

The key insight

Deals don’t close because sellers push harder. They close because decision-making became easier for the buyer.Fix the decision architecture, and closing improves without force.