The buyer went quiet: which part of the deal never got past its first rung, and the one message to send
A buyer who goes quiet after a demo or a verbal yes has usually stopped needing the next step, and another check-in won’t give them a reason. Below: the four places a deal stops first, and the one question to send for each.
Updated
Why did the buyer go quiet after the demo?
Usually because nothing on their side needs the next step yet. A good demo shows them the product. It doesn’t give them a date they have to meet, a person who gains from pushing it, or a signer with a reason to say yes. Silence usually means one of those never got past its first rung.
If they still answer but the close date keeps moving, that’s a different problem: why your deal keeps slipping.
They said yes, then went dark. What happened?
Usually, the yes was your contact’s, not the signer’s. A verbal yes tells you one person liked it. If the person who signs is still only a name to you, the yes went up to them and stopped there, and your contact may not want to be the one to tell you.
Should I keep following up?
Not with the same message. “Just checking in” asks them to explain the silence, and the easiest reply is none. Send one question they can answer in a line, one that tells you something you didn’t know. If that goes unanswered too, tell them you’ll stop writing, and stop.
What’s the one message to send?
One question, aimed at the part of the deal that stopped first. Find the row below that matches what you still don’t know, name what they told you last time, and ask its question. Send nothing else with it: no recap of the demo, no deck. If they answer, you’ll know which part stalled.
Compelling Event
Nothing happens to them if they wait
dated
“Is there a date on that — and whose date is it?”
A date the customer holds survives; a date you proposed moves.
What a good answer sounds like
A day, and the name of whoever set it: a contract ending, an audit, a launch. “This quarter” is a hope. If there’s no date, you’ve probably found why they stopped answering.
Economic Buyer
The yes came from someone who doesn’t sign
motivated
“What is [name] on the hook for this year — the number they get asked about?”
Gets the buyer’s personal measure, which is rarely the champion’s.
What a good answer sounds like
A number, and the meeting where they get asked about it. If your contact can’t say, they probably haven’t talked to the signer about this, and that is where the yes stopped.
Champion
Your contact likes it, and gains nothing from pushing it
motivated
“What does a win here look like for you personally?”
Finds the motivation, or finds that there isn’t one — both are worth knowing in month two.
What a good answer sounds like
Something about them, not the company: a target they hit, a job that gets easier, credit they’d get. If the answer is only what the company gains, they’re a fan, and a fan rarely chases it inside for you.
Identify Pain
Nobody’s week gets worse while they wait
contextualized
“Who feels that day to day, and what do they do instead right now?”
Moves a stated problem into context by finding the workaround, which is where the cost lives.
What a good answer sounds like
A team or a named person, and the workaround they use today. When nobody feels it this week, the problem can wait, and so can your deal.
SalesWolf doesn’t know they went quiet.
Nothing reaches it unless you paste it in, and it never emails, chases or sequences the buyer. Paste the last thread in and it proposes what the thread says, dimension by dimension. Nothing goes on the deal until you accept it. Then each item shows the rung it has reached, and a dimension with nothing on it shows as a gap, so you can see which part never got past its first rung, or never started.
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