Why I Stopped Blaming Sales for Lost Deals

A few months ago, I was speaking with the CEO of a growing SaaS company. His sales team was missing quota, while qualified lead volume was up, and leadership had reached a familiar conclusion.

“We need better sales execution,” he said. The assumption seemed reasonable. If prospects weren’t buying after a sales-led demo and follow-up, the sales team must be the problem.

We uncovered a different pattern by interviewing 18 prospects who spoke with sales and decided against buying.

The sales team couldn’t close prospects who were expecting a completely different buying experience. By improving the buying experience rather than narrowly focusing on sales execution, the SaaS company more than doubled sales conversion from 14% to 31% of qualified leads. 

The buying decision starts long before sales

Many B2B companies still rely on sales to educate prospects and connect their problems to the right solution. But today’s buyers increasingly educate themselves first.

Gartner found that 61% of B2B buyers prefer a rep-free buying experience, while 6sense reports that buyers typically don’t engage sales until they’re about two-thirds of the way through the buying process. By then, they’ve already made up 85% to 95% of their minds.

Our own research found the same pattern. We interviewed 18 prospects who spent significant time evaluating our solution but never met with sales and ultimately decided not to buy. Eleven chose another vendor, and their feedback pointed to gaps in the buying experience rather than the sales conversation:

• “I spent weeks comparing vendors on my own. By the time I was ready to talk to someone, I already had a favorite because they made it much easier to understand how their solution would work for us.” 
• “I wasn’t looking for another sales call. I was looking for examples, customer stories and practical guidance that would help me decide whether this was the right choice.”
• “The company we chose answered most of our questions before we ever reached out. By the time we talked to sales, we were really just confirming what we’d already learned.”

These findings point to an important shift. Before buyers ever speak with sales, they’re already trying to answer a series of questions that help them build confidence in their decision. I think of this as the invisible part of the buying journey. 

Companies that help buyers answer those questions earn the opportunity to move the buying process forward. Companies that don’t often lose the deal before sales teams are even a factor.

What buyers need before they’re ready to buy

If buyers make most of their decisions before speaking with sales, what are they looking for during that process?

After 15 years of conducting win-loss interviews, messaging studies, website research and customer interviews, I’ve noticed a consistent pattern. Buyers evaluate more than products, features and pricing. They’re also looking for signals that help them decide whether a vendor understands their business, can solve their problem, and is a safe choice.

Those signals consistently fall into five tests. Buyers don’t describe them this way, but the same patterns appear across interview after interview. Companies that help buyers pass these tests make it easier to move the buying decision forward.

1. The problem test: Do you understand my problem?

The first question buyers try to answer is whether the vendor understands their situation. If the messaging feels generic or doesn’t reflect their challenges, buyers begin to question whether the company has experience solving problems like theirs.

One of the best ways to pass this test is to show buyers that you understand their world throughout the buying journey. Create content that makes them think, “They really get what we’re dealing with.”

Focus on their problems that lead to demand for your solution rather than your solution itself. Share research, articles, guides, playbooks and landing pages that help buyers better understand and solve their challenges. The goal isn’t to sell your product yet. It’s to help buyers feel understood before they ever speak with sales.

Passing this test creates relevance. Buyers become more willing to continue learning because they believe the vendor understands the problem they’re trying to solve.

2. The expertise test: Can I count on your expertise?

Once buyers believe you understand their problem, they want evidence that you can help solve it. The strongest evidence isn’t simply telling buyers you’re an expert. It’s demonstrating your expertise before they become a customer.

The best way to demonstrate expertise is to help buyers before they become customers. If your product solves a major problem, your marketing should help them solve a small part of that problem first.

Share practical insights they can apply immediately. Teach them something they can act on tomorrow. Educational articles, playbooks, templates, calculators, webinars and practical guides can all be used to help customers make progress on their own, not just sell your solution.

Buyers develop confidence much faster when they experience your expertise firsthand. Passing this test builds credibility.

3. The fit test: Is this the right solution for me?

Once buyers believe you understand their problem and have the expertise to solve it, they want to determine whether your solution is worth investigating further. They’re looking for quick answers to practical questions: Does it have the capabilities I need? Is it designed for a company like mine? Is the price likely to fit my budget?

Buyers don’t want to invest hours in demos, meetings or trials only to discover that a critical feature is missing or the solution is far outside their budget. They want to qualify or eliminate vendors as efficiently as possible.

Companies perform well on this test by making that information easy to find. Clear pricing, feature comparisons, use cases, implementation requirements, integrations, FAQs and transparent descriptions of who the product is for (and isn’t for) help buyers quickly determine whether the solution is a good fit.

Passing this test helps buyers confidently decide whether it’s worth taking the next step.

4. The solution test: Can I see how this would work here?

One of the most common themes I’ve heard in buyer interviews is that prospects understand what a product does but struggle to picture how they would actually use it in their specific context.

At this stage, buyers are trying to connect the vendor’s capabilities to their own environment. They want to understand what implementation looks like, how their teams will adopt the product and what success might realistically look like for an organization like theirs.

Companies perform well on this test by helping buyers clearly visualize how the product can easily be inserted into existing workflows. Product demonstrations, customer stories, onboarding previews, templates, implementation guides and practical examples all reduce uncertainty by making the solution easier to imagine in the buyer’s own business.

Passing this test builds momentum.

5. The risk test: What are the chances this will work for me?

Even after buyers understand your solution and believe it’s a good fit, one question still remains: Will this actually work for a company like ours? Buyers naturally look for evidence that others with similar challenges have successfully made the same decision.

The most effective way to reduce that uncertainty is through proof. Customer stories, testimonials, reviews, case studies, customer interviews, measurable outcomes and third-party validation help buyers see how others solved similar problems and what results they achieved. The more closely those stories reflect a buyer’s own situation, the easier it becomes to imagine achieving the same outcome.

Passing this test builds confidence by replacing uncertainty with evidence.

These 5 tests are behind every buying decision 

Only after buyers have worked through all five do they typically develop enough conviction to move forward. That helps explain why two companies with similar products can produce very different conversion rates.

Often, the difference isn’t the product itself. It’s how effectively the buying experience helps prospects answer these five tests before they ever become customers.

A few months ago, I was speaking with the CEO of a growing SaaS company. His sales team was missing quota, while qualified lead volume was up, and leadership had reached a familiar conclusion.

“We need better sales execution,” he said. The assumption seemed reasonable. If prospects weren’t buying after a sales-led demo and follow-up, the sales team must be the problem.

We uncovered a different pattern by interviewing 18 prospects who spoke with sales and decided against buying.