Stalled deal
Good demo. Then silence.
What happened: at a global manufacturer, the technical eval went well and then stopped. I asked for a direct talk with the economic buyer. The worry was change inside their company, not the product.
Moved to contract within 3 weeks of naming the real concern.
Their data, not a demo script
Five buying groups, one decision.
What happened: for a large US municipality, I ran discovery across five groups, built an ROI model on their budget lines and demoed with their own data.
Closed at $1.3M TCV, the largest government deal that year.
Cold deal
Ten months cold, then closed.
What happened: the champion had left. I found a new contact, ran discovery from scratch, and rebuilt the business case around what they cared about now.
A cold deal needs a new way in, not another follow-up.
The one I lost
Won the demo. Lost the deal.
What happened: a large transportation deal looked strong. I checked technical fit but never confirmed who owned the budget. It ended in no decision.
I haven't skipped the budget question since. Neither will your team.