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There is one consistent mistake I see across the board from my clients, or sales call roasts or random people I talk to at events or conferences.

→ The lack of intel we learn throughout the sales process.

It’s why you get off a call cheering because you “crushed it” and then 3 weeks later you still haven’t heard back.

It’s why you think you lost the deal on price.

And it’s why the sales process has been dragging for months.

→ There is too much ambiguity in your conversations.

Let’s shine a light on what that looks like.

Below is what ambiguity looks like in the real world.

These are actual phrases from actual buyers in actual sales conversations.

As you read through, what do you start to notice?

“We'd like to get going by the beginning of the year”

“We're looking at other options”

“I'd love to do this better”

“We have a couple of team members who weren't able to make it”

“This looks great”

“Maybe it's something down the road we might think about.”

“We're budgeting for January.”

“I have a meeting on Monday to discuss this.”

“We've had conversations internally.”

“We haven't fully decided yet, we're thinking about what we want to do.”

“I want to do this in 2027”

“I need to have the numbers ready for when I'm doing my budget.”

“We're now in the phases of getting some momentum behind it.”

“We're at the early stages of figuring this out.”

“I'm going to give it some serious thought”

“We want to just change one thing at a time to make this manageable”

“We have some money set aside for this project”

“Once we feel like we're seeing a good return”

“We want to get this going by the beginning of this year but a few priorities popped up that is pushing this back to probably Q2.”

“I don't even know if what we're doing is right”

“I'm not stuck on a certain strategy”

All of these phrases were said at different stages of different conversations from different buyers in different industries. All of that is irrelevant.

But, can you pick up what all of these responses have in common?

They’re not specific.

But, when I listen to recorded calls, the same patterns pop up over and over again.

Someone says something vague like “Other options”, “Better”, “Haven’t fully decided”, “some money”, “probably Q2” but instead of prying further we move on right past it to the next thing.

Buyers don’t consciously dodge questions or avoid sharing insight. They think they are giving you a good answer but what they are really giving you is like a 30,000 foot picture of the thing.

It’s your job to hone in and find the specifics.

You can’t just let them off the hook.

Let’s bring back the phrases from above. I’m going to provide one follow-up question that you could likely ask in these scenarios.

Based on their answer, that could change whether you ask more follow-ups or move on, but even just asking one follow-up gives you so much more intel into this deal and it’s potential.

My goal: This gets you thinking about pausing and asking one more question, even if it feels like one that creates tension. (ICYMI: Tension can be good)

“We'd like to get going by the beginning of the year.”

Q: How is that timeframe more helpful for you?

Why ask: Helps you understand if it’s a priority, budget, bandwidth or other issue.

“We're looking at other options”

Q: What else are you looking at?

Why ask: We need to know if it’s another vendor, internal solution, etc as it might help us help them think through the decision.

“I'd love to do this better”

Q: What does better look like for you?

Why ask: I want them to define what better looks like so we can get to the core of the issue and how they begin to quantify it.

“We have a couple of team members who weren't able to make it”

Q: Who are you missing, how are they involved?

Why ask: We want to know who else might be involved in decision making.

“This looks great”

Q: What was your favorite part?

Why ask: I want to know what they mean by great and if it’s a throwaway comment or geared toward a specific feature.

“Maybe it's something down the road we might think about.”

Q: What would need to happen to make this more of a priority?

Why ask: “Down the road” means it’s not valuable to solve now. What would be?

“We're budgeting for January.”

Q: How much are you planning on budgeting and why?

Why ask: Where are they getting the numbers from? (I’ve been in many situations where buyers talked to other vendors and were going to put a low number in the budget because they only talked to low cost providers).

“I have a meeting on Monday to discuss this.”

Q: What are you hoping is the outcome of that meeting?

Why ask: I want to know how deeply they’ve thought about next steps and driving this forward.

“We've had conversations internally.”

Q: Who has been involved and how has this project been received?

Why ask: Decision makers and priorities. I need to know who and what they are as that tells so much about the momentum of this project.

“We haven't fully decided yet, we're thinking about what we want to do.”

Q: How will you know when you’ve found the right fit?

Why ask: How are they actually evaluating a decision. Is it a gut feeling? Do they have a series of decision-criteria?

“I want to do this in 2027”

Q: When in 2027?

Why ask: January 2027 is different than December 2027. I need to know if they’ve thought about specific timelines as that could impact onboarding, roll-out, team priorities, etc and it definitely will impact their internal goals.

“I need to have the numbers ready for when I'm doing my budget.”

Q: When do you submit for the budget and what’s the approval process?

Why ask: Process question. This helps you understand internal steps to help get them to the desired result.

“We're now getting some momentum behind it.”

Q: What sparked the urgency, did something happen?

Why ask: Urgency is an important trigger for change. We want to know what is impacting the change.

“We're at the early stages of figuring this out.”

Q: What have you looked at so far?

Why ask: Where are they starting from? “Early stages” could mean this is their first call, they’ve looked at a few vendors or don’t even know if the thing they are “figuring out” is even a high-priority item.

“I'm going to give it some serious thought”

Q: Is there a specific area you’re stuck on?

Why ask: People don’t raise concerns unless prompted. By prompting they might tell you what they’re hung up on so you can address it with them.

“We want to just change one thing at a time to make this manageable”

Q: What do you want to start with?

Why ask: That’s great if they want to go slow but I want to know what that looks like for them.

“We have some money set aside for this project”

Q: How much?

Why ask: I want to know if we are even aligned on budget. If they already have a defined number and it’s way less than our product, why even continue talking. Flush this out so you know if money is a hurdle or not.

“We’re going to make a decision once we feel like we're going to see a good return”

Q: What does a good return mean?

Why ask: “Good” doesn’t help get to a specific target. It’s like saying I want to lose weight or I want to be a better parent. We need it defined so we can talk through how they get there.

“We want to get this going by the beginning of this year but a few priorities popped up that is pushing this back to probably Q2.”

Q: What were those priorities?

Why ask: Knowing those can help us give guidance based on others experiencing the same thing or at least be aware that these priorities might push back a decision even further. It saves us from pushing the prospect because we understand their situation.

“I don't even know if what we're doing is right”

Q: What have you tried so far?

Why ask: How can we offer a solution to a problem we don’t even know exists. “Doing” is on the surface. Defining it helps us provide clear direction.

“I'm not stuck on a certain strategy”

Q: If you could only do one, which way would you go?

Why ask: These types of phrases are non-committal. I want to know how they think and if they are decisive. Otherwise, we can show stuff all day but they’ll never make a decision.

→ Which question was an “AHA” moment for you? Where might you have heard similar phrasing before but didn’t follow-up with a question?

I’d love to hear what resonated. Reply and tell me. I read every response.

If there’s ambiguity, there’s risk in the deal.

More ambiguity, more risk.

How do we remove ambiguity? Get specific answers.

If you get an answer and think, “What does that mean?” or “What am I missing?” make sure you ask a follow-up.

Remember, the “Devil is in the details”

Start inquiring about the details more and you’ll clearly know how strong your opportunities are.

Take the transcript of a recent sales call and run it through your LLM with this prompt below:

I don’t expect you to become world-class overnight but the way you learn skills is by being aware of them and starting to look for them on each and every call.

You’ll start seeing these everywhere once you know what to look for.

The result: You’re going to have more amazing partnership discussions. The calls become less interrogation and more natural conversation. You get looked at as a guide and and less like someone trying to sell something.

If you do the prompt, hit “reply” and let me know what your LLM spit out. What was the most eye-opening to you?

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