Field guide

The deal has gone quiet

What is happening

Check which stage it went quiet in. If the prospect is interested but has not decided, you are in the one place the show says deals get stuck the most: between interest and decision, stage two and stage three.

What to do now

Treat it as the expected failure mode rather than a surprise, and go get a decision instead of more interest. More information is what interest wants; a decision is a different ask, and it has to be made explicitly.

What not to do

Do not send another piece of collateral. Interest is already the stage you are stuck in, and feeding it is how the stall gets comfortable.

Source: The Sales Funnel and How it Relates to Marketing Strategy, episode 14 of the Oil & Gas Sales & Marketing Podcast.

Other situations

The next step

Bring this to your own pipeline

If the way energy buyers actually buy is costing you deals, talk it through with ModalPoint, the go-to-market firm Matthew Bertram runs. A 30-minute discovery call: no scope, no commitment, and a mutual NDA before anything substantive. You get a reply within one business day, and the first call is with someone who works in the sector.