and what to do about it!
If your pipeline is full but your wins are not, it’s not because you’re bad at sales. It’s because your sales process isn’t converting and probably not for the reasons you think.
You’ve followed the playbook. The CRM is colour-coded. You’re doing the follow-ups.
So why are your deals ghosting you like a dodgy Hinge match?
Let’s break down why customers don’t buy, and what you can actually do to fix your sales funnel, without becoming the human equivalent of a pitch deck.
1. You’re following your process, not theirs
Sales processes often look great in the boardroom.
Step 1: Qualify. Step 2: Demo. Step 3: Proposal.
Except buyers don’t live in your pipeline.
They’re in research mode at 11pm, scanning LinkedIn threads and G2 reviews, not waiting for your perfectly timed follow-up email.
Gartner says buyers only spend 17% of their decision time speaking to suppliers.
Yeah, the whole supplier gang shares that 17%.
What to do instead:
Stop forcing them through your funnel. Start mapping your outreach to their actual buying journey.
If they’re still figuring out what they need, help them do that. If they’ve got decision fatigue, simplify. If they’re stuck, unstick them, not with a pitch, but with clarity.
Real-world move:
Make a simple “Buyer’s Guide”, a PDF, a Notion doc, whatever. Something that says “Here’s what you need to know, even if you don’t buy from us.”
2. You’re talking too much. Sorry.
It happens. You get excited. You know your stuff. But if you’re talking more than listening, you’re probably missing the real reason they won’t buy.
📊 Gong found that top reps only speak 43% of the time on discovery calls.
The rest? Silence. Questions. Awkward pauses that turn into useful insights.
Try this instead:
Shut up (politely). Ask open-ended questions. Then actually listen.
- “What’s shifted lately?”
- “What’s costing you time, money or sleep?”
Real-world move:
Use call tools like Fathom or Fireflies.ai. Not just for transcripts, for patterns. Who’s talking too much? What’s being said before people go cold?
3. You end the call like a vague therapist
You had chemistry. There was nodding. Maybe even a “great convo!” email afterwards.
And then… nothing but ghosting.
Because no next step = no deal. It’s not a pipeline, it’s a paddling pool of polite maybes.
➡️ Fix this fast:
Always, always close with a clear, agreed next action, and a date in the calendar.
“Loop in the Ops lead by Friday” beats “I’ll send something over” every day of the week.
Real-world move:
Use Calendly or Chili Piper. Make it easy for them to commit while the call energy is still high.
4. You’re pitching too early (we all do it)
You found the problem, so you had to show them your solution, right?
Not quite. Most buyers aren’t ready to hear your fix until they’ve fully felt the pain of the problem. If they don’t care enough yet, your solution’s just noise.
Slow down:
Go deeper into the pain. What happens if they do nothing? What’s the hidden cost?
Only then, when they want the help, introduce the solution.
Real-world move:
Use this flow: Problem → Impact → Vision → Solution
It helps them imagine the future first. Not just your offer.
You don’t need a new CRM. Or another sales guru on YouTube telling you to “crush your Q4.”
You need a process that actually matches how people buy today.
Refine it. Humanise it. Make it less about ‘closing’ and more about helping people buy well.
That’s how you’ll actually improve sales conversions, especially in the UK, where buyers smell BS a mile off.
And if it still feels off? Let’s talk. I’ve seen enough sales strategy mistakes to spot what’s really going on. Find out more here
