Invisible String
WMMM #098 - This week, I share a tip for solving a common obstacle.
Jeff Keplar Newsletter May 17, 2025 4 min read
Letting the Cat out of the Bag
I was given a list of opportunities.
They called it their pipeline.
I pick one and ask them to tell me about it.
They've been working on this one for over two years.
They are proud of their perseverance (as well they should be.)
They feel they are close to landing a pilot that will lead to a significant order.
I attend the next scheduled "Touch Base" call.
I learn that we've been dealing with the same individual for the entire time.
This person is a fan of our solution and is "helping" us find the right use case in this enterprise.
Their manager will approve our pilot.
Our sponsor agrees to arrange a meeting with this manager.
We scheduled the next "Touch Base" call for a few weeks out.
On that call, we ask for an update on the meeting with the manager.
The response is that the manager is "heads down" on another project.
Once off the call, I offer that we might be chasing this account too much.
We should consider allowing them to make the next move - reach out to us when the manager agrees to meet.
Allow them to reveal to us that they are interested in taking the next step.
But we ask for another "Touch Base" call for the following month.
Next month rolls around, and we attend the call.
This manager still has not found any free time for a call, but gave our sponsor a message to give to us:
"Another team moved forward with a competitive product, replacing a legacy solution our sponsor was targeting for us."
"The manager feels they will be 'pushed' to use this competitive product."
Our sponsor says: "...the decision was made…my manager was surprised."
To me, this is a pretty good indication that this team should be investing its time elsewhere.
I'd remove this one from the Pipeline.
Change the Deal from Prospect to Suspect and establish a nurturing program to keep our brand top-of-mind when they are ready to consider solutions like ours.
For sure, there are plenty of other areas where we can help this company.
We will need to interact with more than one person over the next two years to do that.
No need to continue to staff these calls with valuable company resources.
Use periodic email, social, and webinars to maintain consistent contact.
But what is it called when the amount of time we have invested in an opportunity creates a bias that makes it difficult to walk away?
It's called the sunk cost fallacy.
The sunk cost fallacy is the tendency for people to continue investing in an opportunity based on the cumulative prior investment (time, money, or effort), even when current evidence suggests that the cost of continuing outweighs the expected benefit.
This team appears to have the sunk cost fallacy bias.
It is unclear if there was ever an "opportunity" for which they now have a sunk cost fallacy bias.
So I recommend "Do Nothing" again.
Go silent and see if the Prospect reaches out to us.
Their response will speak volumes.
As Certain as Day Follows Night
A well-run sales cycle precisely follows a prescribed sales process.
Each step is executed flawlessly, followed by the next in sequence.
The Prospect remains in lock step with their salesperson from the beginning.
They have agreed with everything we have told them.
No drama, no surprises.
This is a no-doubter.
Begin preparing the Closed-Won report.
Not so fast.
Deals like this terrify me.
Tension
Each scenario highlights the same problem.
Tension.
The lack of it.
In the enterprise space, if there is no tension, there is no deal.
In most sales cycles, it is easy to feel, see, and hear the tension between the Buyer and Seller.
Here are some hypothetical examples.
Consider the feature our competitor has that we don't.
And how that competitor has convinced our Prospect that they absolutely need this feature in their chosen solution.
Consider when the sourcing professional redlines one of only three untouchable paragraphs in our Master Service Agreement.
Consider when the ultimate decision maker asks our sponsor: "Who else did we look at and why are we recommending this one over those?"
If there are one hundred instances that we touch a Prospect during a sales cycle, each represents an opportunity for something to go awry, creating tension.
Tension is so common that it is unnatural not to have it.
In fact, without it, something isn't right.
Our deal is at risk.
But what if, like in our first scenario, we have not actually entered a sales process?
What if our prospect isn't executing their decision process?
We may not know if we have tension.
How do we find out?
Imagine the Prospect with one end of a string in their hand.
We hold the other end.
Give the invisible string a tug (metaphorically.)
If they pull back, we have tension.
If they don't, we are probably chasing something that isn't there.
An example of "a tug" is "Do Nothing."
If the Prospect fails to respond to us going silent, they aren't invested in moving forward with us.
If an enterprise is engaged and serious about evaluating our solution, it will respond.
This sounds simple and straightforward.
In practice, it is not as easy as it sounds.
In sales, clarity is better than hope.
"Yes" is the ideal outcome—commitment, alignment, and a path forward.
"No" is the second-best outcome - it provides closure, allowing the salesperson to stop spending time and resources on that prospect. It also opens up capacity to pursue more promising leads, accelerating overall sales velocity.
"Maybe" is the least desirable because it represents uncertainty and drains time and energy without a clear outcome. A "Maybe" drags out the sales cycle, occupying bandwidth that could be better spent on prospects more likely to convert. Sales reps often get stuck in endless follow-ups, ambiguous negotiations, and vague objections.
However, many sales reps find it challenging to do anything that might produce a "No."
They want a "Yes" so badly that they avoid seeking the "No," even when it is much better than a "Maybe."
The top performers learn to hunt for and accept the "No,' and eliminate working on the "Maybe" prospects.
Lessons Learned
1) If we don't have tension, we don't have a deal.
2) Remember the invisible string to determine if we have tension.
3) Beware the sunk cost fallacy.
4) Understand why a "No" is better than a "Maybe."
Thank you for reading,
Jeff
When you think “sales leader,” I hope you think of me.
If you like what you read, please share this with a friend.
I offer my help to investors, founders, sales leaders, and their teams.
I possess the skills identified in this article and share them as part of my service.
In my weekly newsletter, Win More, Make More, I provide tips, techniques, best practices, and real-life stories to help you improve your craft.
