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Most reps find out a deal is stuck after it's already dead.

The champion stops responding. The next meeting gets pushed. The "internal review" that was supposed to take a week is now on week four.

By the time you notice, it's too late.

You send the check-in email. The "just bumping this up" message. Maybe a breakup email if you're feeling bold.

None of it works.

Because the deal didn't stall last week. It started dying three calls ago. You just didn't see it.

Today I'm going to show you how to see it. Before it happens.

Here's what most sales training gets wrong about stalled deals.

They teach you to overcome objections. Handle the "no." Push past resistance.

But the research tells a different story.

Matthew Dixon and Ted McKenna studied this in The Jolt Effect. They found that 56% of lost deals aren't lost to competitors or budget. They're lost to indecision.

The buyer liked you. They saw the value. They just couldn't pull the trigger.

Not because of you. Because of fear.

Fear of making the wrong choice. Fear of change. Fear of looking stupid in front of their boss if this doesn't work out.

Keenan's Gap Selling framework adds another layer. Buyers won't move unless the gap between where they are and where they need to be is painful enough. But even when the gap is clear, the decision still stalls.

Why?

Because knowing you need to change and feeling safe enough to actually do it are two different things.

Garin Hess nailed this in Selling Is Hard. Buying Is Harder. The friction isn't in your pitch. It's in their process. Too many stakeholders. No clear next step. No one willing to own the decision internally.

So your deals don't die from a "no." They die from a slow fade.

And you only notice when it's already over.

Good reps react to stalls. Great reps predict them.

The difference is a system.

I built a Deal Risk Score framework that flags problems after every interaction. Not after the deal goes dark. After every single call, email, or meeting.

It scores your deal across four dimensions. Each one maps to a reason deals die quietly.

Dimension 1: Buyer Confidence
Does the buyer believe this will actually work for them? Not "do they like the product." Do they believe it will solve their specific problem in their specific environment? Low confidence = status quo wins.

Dimension 2: Internal Alignment
Do all the stakeholders agree this is worth doing? Or is your champion the only one bought in while everyone else is indifferent or actively blocking? Misalignment = death by committee.

Dimension 3: Process Clarity
Does the buyer know the next three steps? Not your next steps. Their internal steps. Who approves what, by when, and in what order? No clarity = drift.

Dimension 4: Decision Ownership
Is someone inside the account personally accountable for making this decision happen? Not interested. Accountable. No owner = no urgency.

After every meaningful interaction, you score each dimension 1 to 5. Any dimension below a 3 is a red flag. Two dimensions below 3 means your deal is already dying.

And you can catch it right now instead of three weeks from now.

Here's where most "AI for sales" advice falls apart.

They tell you to use AI. But they add steps. More prompts. More tools. More stuff you won't do when you're running between calls.

This system adds one step. After a call or email exchange, paste your notes into one prompt. That's it.

The AI scores your deal, tells you what's weak, and gives you the exact question or action to fix it.

No new tool. No new tab. No new workflow to learn.

Here's the prompt.

That's the whole system. One prompt. Four scores. Clear next moves.

Let me show you a real example. Here are notes from a discovery call. (Details changed, but the signals are real.)

Sample call notes

Now here's what the Deal Risk Scanner returns.

Deal Risk Scorecard

Buyer Confidence: 2/5
Sarah's comment about two failed implementations signals real fear. She's interested but burned. The integration questions suggest she's testing whether this will be different.
Signal: "we've tried two other platforms and both were a nightmare to implement"
Action: Ask Sarah directly: "What specifically went wrong with those implementations? What would need to be different this time for you to feel confident?"

Internal Alignment: 2/5
Tom defers to Sarah on everything. The CEO hasn't been involved. You're selling to one person who hasn't sold internally yet.
Signal: Tom "kept deferring to Sarah" + "let me loop in our CEO"
Action: Ask Sarah: "When you bring this to your CEO, what's the first question they'll ask? Can we prep for that together?"

Process Clarity: 1/5
No defined evaluation process. No timeline. No criteria. "We'll figure out timing" is a red flag for drift.
Signal: "Let me loop in our CEO and we'll figure out timing" + no evaluation process described
Action: Send a decision email (not a recap) that proposes a timeline: "Based on the March board meeting Tom mentioned, here's what the path to a decision could look like. Does this match how you'd approach it?"

Decision Ownership: 3/5
Sarah is acting as champion but hasn't committed to driving the decision. The CEO reference suggests she needs air cover. Tom has no ownership.
Signal: Sarah asking questions and leading, but hedging on next steps
Action: Ask: "Sarah, if this makes sense after the CEO conversation, would you be the one driving the evaluation internally? I want to make sure I'm supporting the right person."

OVERALL RISK: HIGH (8/20)
Two critical flags (Confidence and Process Clarity). This deal will stall within two weeks unless you address the implementation fear and establish a clear path forward.

Look at what just happened.

Without this system, you'd leave that call thinking it went well. Sarah asked good questions. Tom mentioned a board meeting. There's urgency.

But the scorecard shows you the truth. This deal is two weeks from going dark.

And now you know exactly what to do about it.

Don't overcomplicate this.

Step 1: Copy the Deal Risk Scanner prompt above. Save it somewhere you can grab it fast. Pinned note. Text file on your desktop. Saved prompt in ChatGPT or Claude. Wherever you'll actually use it.

Step 2: After your next call, paste your notes in. Takes 30 seconds. Read the scorecard. Takes another 30 seconds.

Step 3: Look for any dimension below 3. That's where your deal is leaking. Use the recommended question or action in your follow-up.

Step 4: Run it again after the next interaction. Watch the scores move. If they don't move, you have a different problem. The buyer isn't progressing. And now you know that in real time instead of finding out in four weeks.

The goal is simple. Never be surprised by a stalled deal again.

Three reasons.

It makes invisible risk visible. Most deal risk lives in subtext. The way someone said "we'll figure out timing" instead of "let's book Tuesday." You hear it but don't register it. The scorer catches what you miss.

It gives you a move, not just a diagnosis. Knowing a deal is at risk is useless without knowing what to do. Every low score comes with a specific next action. Not generic advice. A specific question for this specific deal.

It compounds over time. Run this on five deals. You'll start seeing patterns. Maybe you always score low on Process Clarity. That means you're not establishing next steps well enough in your calls. The scorer doesn't just fix deals. It fixes your selling.

What I shared today is the core system. One prompt, four dimensions, clear actions.

The full Deal Risk Scanner kit includes:

Four dimension-specific prompts that go deep on each risk area. The Buyer Confidence prompt, for example, analyzes language patterns for fear signals and generates a custom "risk reduction" message you can send. The Internal Alignment prompt maps stakeholders from your notes and identifies who's missing from the conversation.

A follow-up generator that takes your scorecard and writes the actual follow-up email. Not a recap. A decision-advancing message tailored to whatever dimension is weakest.

A deal review template for pipeline reviews with your manager. Instead of "the deal feels good," you walk in with scores and specific gaps. Try getting your deal deprioritized when you show up with that.

Every rep has a deal right now that's about to go dark.

You probably already know which one it is.

Run the scorer on it today. See what it tells you.

Then do something about it before the silence starts.

Talk next week.