There are leads, but no sales. A salesperson calls the client, answers questions and sends materials. Then the deal stalls with the explanation: “He likes everything, we’re waiting for a decision.”
I would not blame either the lead or the salesperson yet. First, I would open the deal and ask: who exactly needs to make the decision, what do they need to approve, and have they even seen our proposal?
A good conversation does not mean the sale is moving forward. Sometimes a salesperson spends weeks helping someone who can gather information but cannot buy.
There is a contact. There may be no path to a decision
In the CRM system, a deal like this looks active. There have been calls, emails, a presentation and new dates for further contact. The client replies and does not say no.
Now remove the communication history and leave three facts:
- who will use the product;
- who assesses the terms;
- who has the authority to approve the money and give the final “yes”.
This could be one person. Or it could be three different people. If the salesperson only knows the name of the person they are speaking to, they are managing the contact, but not yet managing the decision.
At this point, we often hear: “Our contact will pass everything on to management.” Perhaps. But “pass it on” tells us nothing about the sale. What exactly will they pass on? How will they explain the value? Which question will they be unable to answer? When will management discuss it? What next step has been agreed for after the discussion?
If there are no answers, the next stage of the deal is not in the salesperson’s calendar but in someone else’s internal correspondence, which the sales team cannot see.
Different situations lie behind “waiting for a decision”
The first: the person you are speaking to really does make the choice themselves, but lacks a fact needed to decide. Then you need to identify that fact: a calculation, the terms, confirmation that something is possible, or an answer about a risk. The salesperson’s job is to find out what the question is and resolve the uncertainty.
The second: the person you are speaking to influences the choice, but someone else approves the budget. Then the task is not to explain everything to the same contact again. You need to understand what the person giving approval will base their decision on and agree how they will join the conversation: through a joint meeting, an email with a specific calculation or an answer to their questions.
The third: the person you are speaking to gathers proposals and does not move us towards a decision. They may be polite, reply quickly and ask for materials. But there is no date for a discussion, no participants and no criterion for choosing. There is activity. There are no grounds for expecting the deal to close soon.
From the outside, all three situations look the same: the client is in touch. Each needs a different solution. So the number of interactions does not show whether the sales team is any closer to a purchase.
The request to “reach the decision-maker” may not fix anything either
The obvious solution is to demand that salespeople speak only to those who sign the contract.
This can lose you a useful participant in the deal. In a complex sale, a future user, specialist or department head helps you understand the task, gather requirements and take the proposal through the company. They are not an obstacle just because they do not control the budget.
The problem is not that the first contact does not make the final decision. The problem is that the salesperson has not worked out the path from the first conversation to that decision.
That is why “Are you the decision-maker?” is a weak question. Someone may say “yes” because they choose the supplier, but the business owner still approves the budget. Or they may say “no”, even though the purchase will not be approved without their recommendation.
You need questions about actions:
- How do you usually make decisions like this?
- Who else will look at the terms, and which points will they consider?
- What needs to be clear to each participant?
- When will you discuss this internally?
- What have we agreed to do after that discussion?
The answers do not guarantee a deal. But the sales team stops replacing uncertainty with an optimistic status.
The head of sales’ work begins when a salesperson hears “I’ll pass it on”
It is not enough for the head of sales to ask at a sales meeting: “When will there be a decision?” If the salesperson does not know who is involved or how approval works, the new date will be a guess.
The head of sales must open a specific deal and establish the last confirmed step. The contact received the proposal — that is a fact. They promised to discuss it — that is a fact if they said with whom and when. The internal discussion took place — that is a fact if the salesperson received the outcome. Everything else is still an assumption.
After the review, the salesperson’s action should change. Not “send a reminder on Friday”, but, for example, prepare an answer for the finance director, arrange a joint meeting or honestly remove the deal from the near-term forecast if the path to a decision has not been confirmed.
If, a week later, the deal record again shows a new date without a new participant, question or decision, the review has not changed the work. The head of sales has simply joined the salesperson in moving the wait to a later date.
What to check in one week
Take five deals where the client replies but no decision comes. For each one, ask the salesperson to write down:
- Who uses what the purchase provides.
- Who compares the options.
- Who approves the budget and terms.
- What matters to each of them.
- Which internal step has already been confirmed.
- What the salesperson needs to do after it.
Do not demand that every box be filled with guesses. An empty field is a useful result: it shows exactly what needs to be found out.
After a week, do not check the number of calls. Look at whether the team has gained access to the next participant, whether the criterion for the decision is now known, whether the promised discussion took place and whether the head of sales changed the action where an assumption was not confirmed.
You cannot honestly promise new sales in a week. But you can see whether the sales team is managing the client’s decision or simply keeping a conversation going with one contact.
Where RENTROP fits in
In the “turnkey sales management” model, the head of sales reviews deals and salespeople’s actions every day: who is involved in the choice, what has already been confirmed and where the next step exists only according to the salesperson. The business development director checks the quality of these decisions and brings the head of sales back to the facts if the forecast is based on expectations. AI helps find stalled deals and review available communications, but does not guess on the client’s behalf who makes the decision.
The product, price and budget remain the business owner’s responsibility. RENTROP is responsible for sales management within the agreed scope: making sure the team sees the deal’s path, changes its actions when things move off course and does not present a good conversation as an imminent payment.
As long as the salesperson only knows who they are talking to, they have a contact. A deal begins when they know how the client makes decisions.