Why 40% of Your Deals End in 'No Decision' (And How to Fix It)

Good Morning. It's the final Thursday of January, and 2026 is already moving as fast as my last prospect saying "not interested" when they found out I was cold calling them. We're just about 1/12^th the way through the year and a full 1/3^rd through Q1. The good news? You've still got 2 months to close those deals that told you to “check back in the new year” and went ghost. Now, let's get into today’s Follow Up.

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I’ve been on a lot of sales calls where everything sounds great.

The prospect is engaged. They agree their problem is real. I hang up and start calculating my commission check.

Then nothing happens.

A week passes. Then two. My follow ups start feeling awkward when I get no response.

Here's the thing about urgency in sales…. Most reps try to create it at the end of the deal. But urgency is something you build from the first conversation, not just a closing tactic.

A study of 2.5M sales calls found that 40% to 60% of deals end in "no decision." These aren’t situations where the buyer says no, they just never feel enough pain to say yes.

So today, we're breaking down how to create real urgency without sounding pushy.

Buyers don't move until staying the same feels expensive.

Not expensive like "this product costs money." Expensive like "we're bleeding $15K per month in wasted manual work."

The pain of loss is 2X worse than the pleasure of gain… remember that.

The opportunity to point out the cost of waiting starts in discovery.

Try asking: "If we're having this same conversation six months from now and nothing has changed, what does that cost you? In dollars, time, or deals lost?"

This forces the buyer to calculate inaction.

And once they’ve verbally said a number, waiting doesn’t feel as safe.

Urgency builds when buyers see progress before they sign anything.

Patrick Campbell, founder of ProfitWell (acquired by Paddle for $200M), used to offer free pricing audits before selling his software. Prospects would see real insights into their revenue leaks within days. Once buyers saw the leaks, Patrick introduced his product to solve their pricing problems.

You can do this at smaller scale.

Manually run a report or do research for a prospect. Show them what better looks like before asking them to commit.

The psychology here is a part of the Endowment Effect & Reciprocity.

People value things more once they've experienced them. And when you’ve done something valuable for them, they feel the need to return the favor. (aka, buy your thing)

Deals die the moment the next steps get vague.

"Let me think about it" turns into silence and no decision. And once momentum stops, restarting it takes a lot of effort.

The most consistent reps never end a call without locking in the next meeting.

Not "I'll follow up next week." Not "Let me know when you're ready."

Try this: "Based on what we just discussed, it makes sense to bring in your ops team for a technical walkthrough. I have Tuesday at 2pm or Thursday at 10am. Which works better?"

Notice the structure. You're not asking IF they want to meet. You're assuming forward motion and giving them two options.

This is straight from Chris Voss. When you give binary choices, people pick one. When you leave it open-ended, they procrastinate.

Buyers are great at spotting manufactured urgency.

End-of-month discounts. Random timelines. Pressure that only exists because your quota does. That kills trust fast.

Real urgency comes from real constraints.

"We batch onboarding every month, and the next cohort starts March 15th. If you want to go live before Q2, we'd need to finalize this week."

"We can only support two pilot programs at a time. We have one slot open this month."

Tesla did this perfectly with EV tax credits. Buyers could see exactly what delaying would cost them: $7,500 in lost incentives.

That deadline felt real because it was. The best deadlines tie to outcomes the buyer cares about. Not your commission check.