Move stalled deals forward

Open your Sales Companion (or designated alternative). One quick thing about Cognism Sales Companion, though, is that it will identify the contacts from your accounts that you should reach out to daily. So instead of spending hours researching your prospects, you can spend your limited time on valuable, timely outreach.

Now, it’s time to look for signals to move this deal forward again. As part of this play, I love identifying new joiners, especially champions/users from a previous company.

Buying signals like this are crucial to moving stalled deals forward, as new buyers spend 70% of their budget within the first 100 days. Plus, if a decision-maker has already used your product, it removes any initial risk-aversion. People like to stick with what they know; they are creatures of habit, eh?

If a deal is stalled, it could just be that you’re not connected to the right decision-maker. Whether that’s because there’s a priority shift, or maybe your champion left. 

In your Sales Companion browser extension, click into the account and scroll down to  ‘Recommended Contacts’. This is an AI-driven list of highly recommended contacts within the account, ready for you to prospect.So, you’ll be the first to know whenever your account has a new joiner. Each contact record includes the correct mobile and email for that individual and can be easily exported into your CRM or sales engagement tool.

You’ll also be able to see other relevant account signals, such as whether the account received funding, is currently hiring for roles in your ICP, or shows intent for a specific technology, so you can personalise your outreach even more.

Negotiations can be lengthy, and the prospect may just struggle to see the value of your solution. Perhaps this is even the reason the deal has stalled. Even if it’s not, a consultative approach to selling is a good way to re-engage the account.

You can use the information from Sales Companion or your existing data provider to draw on what you know already. Here’s what you should mention in your following outreach to get the deal moving again:

• Cold, hard facts that reverse any risk assumptions about your solution.
• Relevant social proof for their specific industry.
• You’re already aware of specific pain points that the current solution isn’t solving.
• If they’re a new champion, you’ve noticed they’ve previously used your solution.
• Again, if they’re a new champion, any other information you’re aware of gained from their predecessor.

A useful tactic to aid with this consultative approach is bottom-up selling. In this approach, you dig for inside information from a user before you go to the decision-maker. You can use your signal data points to help here.

Now it’s time to turn these technographic signals into results. Here are some of the emails I’ve used to engage new contacts in accounts to progress the deal.

The first example is one I use when Sales Companion alerts me that someone from an existing account has joined a company.

I'll use this template when Sales Companion alerts me to recommended contacts based on various signals. In this example, the account is actively hiring for roles within my ICP, allowing me to break through the noise more effectively.

I'll use this template when Sales Companion alerts me to recommended contacts based on various signals. In this example, the account is actively hiring for roles within my ICP, allowing me to break through the noise more effectively.

FAQs about stalled negotiations

Here are some common reasons why your deals might stall.

What is a stalled deal?

Stalled deals typically refer to situations in which a prospect is disengaged or seems reluctant to continue with negotiations or the sales process. They might ghost you, become more challenging to reach or just point-blank refuse to take the next steps.

Why do deals stall?

Deals stall because the issue isn’t urgent for the prospect. It’s nothing personal; deals often lose momentum. Priorities shift, or the champion moves on, making it difficult to know who to contact next. It could also be that the prospect is awaiting internal information.

What else to consider when moving negotiations forward

If the deal hasn’t stalled due to a lack of interest, you should work on building more trust with the prospect. Try to find an internal champion in the account and dig for more information from existing users of the solution they have in place.

Find more GTM Plays for AEs in the hub. 👇