In complex B2B sales, we tend to watch competitors closely. Who else is talking to the customer? What are they offering? What price have they quoted? Who have they already managed to reach inside the organization?
But long-cycle deals come with a different risk.
Sometimes you do not lose the project to a competitor.
Nobody wins it at all.
The customer keeps the conversation going, asks for calculations, requests an updated proposal, schedules meetings. In the CRM, the opportunity still looks very much alive.
Yet month after month passes, and there is no real movement toward a contract.
Over the years in industrial B2B sales, I have repeatedly seen situations where the technical decision was already made in our favor, but the actual purchase was still a long way off.
The project had to make it into the capital investment plan, go through engineering and design, secure a budget, and eventually reach procurement or tender.
That process could take a year. Sometimes two.
For a sales manager, this is a dangerous point in the deal.
It feels as if most of the work has already been done. The customer is interested, the technical team supports the solution, and the competitors appear to have been beaten.
But several stages still remain, and the project can stop at any one of them for reasons that have very little to do with the quality of your solution.
I have also seen cases where the technical decision was effectively made, only for part of the sales process to start again a year later because the executive sponsor changed, the contractor changed, the budget changed, or the entire implementation process was redesigned.
So when a customer says, “We’ve chosen you,” it still does not mean the deal will happen.
One Strong Contact Is Not Enough
In a large organization, there is almost never one person who makes the decision alone.
There may be a project initiator, engineering, finance, procurement and senior management. Depending on the deal, operations, security, legal, external engineering firms and contractors may also be involved.
When working with this kind of structure, I use a stakeholder map.
It helps identify who actually influences the project, who supports it, who can slow it down, and who has the power to stop it completely.
But the goal is not simply to find one powerful supporter.
Whenever possible, you need direct relationships with several people involved in the decision and support for the project across different parts of the organization.
The more key stakeholders understand the value of your solution specifically for their area of responsibility, the stronger your position becomes inside the customer’s organization.
Imagine that the Head of Engineering supports your solution. The technical team agrees. You have calculated the economic impact, held several meetings and answered all the technical questions.
Then the project moves to the next level.
The CFO asks why the company needs to spend the money now.
Procurement wants to evaluate alternatives.
Operations is concerned about implementation risks.
Senior management has suddenly found another investment priority.
Nobody is telling the vendor “no.”
But the organization has not reached a common “yes.”
In complex B2B sales, this is one of the most difficult situations to manage.
The sales manager keeps fighting competitors even though competitors are no longer the real problem.
Why the Customer Still Does Not Decide
The first step is to understand the reason.
In one case, the customer may still be unconvinced that anything needs to change at all.
The existing equipment is working. Yes, operating costs may be higher than they should be. Problems occur from time to time. Efficiency could be better.
But the business is still functioning.
A new project requires money, time and resources, and somebody inside the organization will have to take responsibility for it.
In this situation, the conversation needs to focus on the consequences of doing nothing.
How much is the company losing through repairs, downtime, energy consumption or poor productivity?
What risks remain?
What happens a year or two from now if nothing changes?
But there is another scenario.
The customer already understands that change is necessary. The budget is potentially available. Your proposal fits the requirement. The existing problem is acknowledged.
Yet the closer the organization gets to the final decision, the more doubts begin to appear.
What if we choose the wrong supplier?
What if implementation does not go as planned?
What if the promised result is not achieved?
What if, a year from now, senior management asks why this particular decision was made?
At that point, continuing to prove that the problem exists is pointless. The customer already knows that.
The real task is to understand exactly what they are afraid of and what questions need to be resolved before the next internal approval.
Activity Does Not Necessarily Mean the Deal Is Moving
There is a trap that sales leaders know very well.
The sales manager appears extremely active.
Several meetings have taken place. The customer asked for a revised specification, then another calculation, then a new version of the proposal.
On the surface, the deal seems to be progressing.
But I would look less at the volume of communication and more at what has actually changed inside the customer’s organization.
Has the budget been approved?
Has the project made it into the investment plan?
Is the CFO involved?
Is the procurement process clear?
Is the next internal step defined?
Which members of the buying committee is the sales manager already working with directly?
If the presentations, calculations and proposal versions keep changing for months while nothing changes inside the customer’s organization, the deal is not moving.
The sales manager may be very busy.
That does not mean the opportunity is getting any closer to a contract.
There is a simple question I find useful when reviewing deals like this:
If every competitor disappeared from the deal tomorrow, would the customer be ready to make a decision?
If the answer is no, then competitors are no longer the main problem.
Your Internal Champions Must Be Able to Defend the Project Without You
Sales managers often say:
“I have a great relationship with the Head of Engineering. He is completely on our side.”
That matters.
But building the entire deal around one person is risky.
Whenever possible, you need support from other parts of the organization as well, especially from the people who will evaluate the economics of the project, implementation risks, procurement terms and long-term operation.
Each stakeholder has different criteria.
Engineering cares about technical performance, reliability and whether the solution can actually be implemented.
Finance looks at return, cash requirements and investment risk.
Operations wants to know what happens after commissioning.
Procurement will compare commercial terms and alternatives.
So in practice, you often have to sell the same idea several times, but each time in a slightly different way.
Consider a common situation.
You have been working with the Technical Director for several months. He knows the equipment, understands the advantages, sees the economic value and wants the project to move forward.
Then an internal meeting takes place without you.
The CFO asks about payback.
Senior management wants to understand the risks.
Procurement asks why the company cannot buy something cheaper.
Operations is concerned about future maintenance.
And suddenly it becomes clear that your champion knows the technical side extremely well but is not prepared to answer the questions coming from other departments.
This is why I would never rely on one person, no matter how strong the relationship is.
The more key stakeholders you can engage directly and bring onto the side of the project, the less dependent the deal becomes on one individual and the more likely it is to survive internal approvals.
This becomes even more important in long-cycle sales.
Over one or two years, a person can change roles, leave the company or simply lose influence.
If the entire sales process was built around that one contact, part of the work may have to be done all over again.
So when I review a complex opportunity, I do not only look at who influences the decision.
I also look at who we are actually working with.
Who supports the project?
Who is still neutral?
Who can block it?
Who are we speaking with directly, and who do we still reach only through our main contact?
What questions are likely to come up at the next internal approval?
The answers to these questions often tell you more about the real state of the deal than the number of meetings held or proposals sent.
In complex sales, proving that your solution is better than a competitor’s is not always enough.
Sometimes the hardest part begins after the customer has already understood that.
Because the deal can still fail to happen.
Nobody has to win it.
