Losing deals to no decision: spot it in your calls
Losing deals to no decision means an interested buyer ends up choosing nobody. The two causes of stalled deals, the signals to spot in your meetings, and what to do.
Losing deals to no decision is the loss that has no winner. The customer does not say no, they just stop replying, and they keep what they had.
The short answer: it has two causes. Either the customer is not convinced they need to change. Or they are convinced, but afraid of choosing wrong. The two call for opposite answers, so you need to know which one you are facing.
Your biggest competitor: no decision
Thursday, you follow up with a prospect for the third time. The demo went well. Since then, the next meeting slipped, then nothing. The deal stays open in the CRM until someone marks it lost.
This is not rare. In "The JOLT Effect", Matthew Dixon and Ted McKenna analysed more than 2.5 million sales calls: between 40% and 60% of deals end with no decision.
Why deals are lost to the status quo: two causes
- They would rather change nothing. The way they work today is good enough. Changing does not feel worth the effort.
- They are afraid of getting it wrong. They want to change, but fear the wrong choice or the wrong moment. According to the same study, this causes more than half of them.
Telling a worried buyer what waiting costs them only makes them more afraid of getting it wrong.
How to spot stalled deals in your calls
| What you hear | What it often means |
|---|---|
| "We have had this problem for ages" | They would rather change nothing |
| No date makes the purchase urgent | They would rather change nothing |
| Questions about risk and rollout | They are afraid of getting it wrong |
| One more option to compare on every call | They are afraid of getting it wrong |
| A new contact every time, never the decision maker | Nobody is deciding internally |
| "We will get back to you" at the end of the call | No next step |
One signal alone does not doom a deal. Several together should worry you.
Facing a buyer who prefers the status quo
- Ask what happens if nothing changes in the next six months.
- Reuse the consequences they described themselves: hours lost, errors, unhappy customers.
- Tie the purchase to a date: a season, a hire, a budget. Without a date, nothing moves.
Facing an indecisive buyer afraid of getting it wrong
- Recommend one option, only one, and say why.
- Offer a small start: one team, a reduced scope.
- Give the person backing you internally the answers to their colleagues' objections.
- Skip the discount: it fixes a price problem, not a fear.
Count no decision losses separately
As long as deals lost to no decision are filed with losses to a competitor, you cannot see them. Give them their own category. Every month, check how many deals ended that way, and which open ones have had no recent conversation: those are next.
With us, every conversation joins the customer file. Every won or lost deal gets the reason the customer gave, and no decision is one of them. The people on the customer side are captured with their role when it was stated, so you see whether the decision maker shows up. Customers are sorted by the date of their latest conversation.
Count your no decision deals
Ask the assistant how many deals stopped with no decision this quarter. It also shows you what the customers said just before.
A deal lost to a competitor teaches you something about your offer. A no decision deal teaches you something about the way you sell.
Frequently asked questions
What does losing a deal to no decision mean?
It is a deal that ends without the customer choosing anyone, neither you nor a competitor. They keep the way they work today, and the project is dropped or put off with no date.
How many B2B deals end with no decision?
According to Matthew Dixon and Ted McKenna, who analysed more than 2.5 million sales calls, between 40% and 60% of deals.
How can you tell a deal is stalling?
Listen to your meetings: no date that makes the purchase urgent, questions about risk, one more option on every call, a decision maker never met, calls ending with no next step.
Should you offer a discount to unblock a stalled deal?
Rarely. A discount fixes a price problem, not a fear of getting it wrong. A clear recommendation and a small start unblock deals more often.