Red Flags, and Actually Closing

Learn the shapes of deals that never close. 'Send me a deck' is usually a soft no: a way to end the call without buying anything. Endless friendly meetings with no next step, pilots that drift with no conversion criteria, and champions who can't name their budget or their boss are all the same pattern. Motion without commitment.

The antidote is qualification and forward momentum. Every interaction should end with a concrete next step and a date. If you can't get one, you've learned the real answer, and your time is better spent at the top of the funnel.

Closing has its own mechanics: ask early how their procurement works, run legal review and security questionnaires in parallel instead of in sequence, and keep tight communication with your champion. Then treat implementation as your job, not the customer's. A signed contract with a failed rollout is a churned customer with extra steps.