# Case: a stalled deal, write the next three messages > Cobalt's learning lead went quiet after the first call. Find out why the deal stalled, then write three honest messages: one that helps the champion, one that asks for the process, and one that closes the loop kindly. - Course: [B2B Marketing and Sales: Win Your First Company Customers](https://productovi.com/courses/b2b-marketing-and-sales.md) - Module: Selling conversations - Lesson 20/32, ~31 min - Source: https://productovi.com/courses/b2b-marketing-and-sales/stalled-deal-case ## Silence from Cobalt **Alex Tutor:** It's Wednesday, 9 December. Cobalt, the IT services company, looked like the next deal after Veloria. Now it has gone quiet. **Marta:** Your first call with their learning lead was on 18 November. You sent the proposal two days later, then a "just checking in" on the 27th. Nothing since. > **Notes from the first call with Cobalt, 18 November** > > - About 110 engineers and project managers work with clients in the EU and the US. > - The current school: tutors change often, lessons get cancelled at short notice, HR gets no attendance reports. > - The contract with it ends on 31 March 2027 and renews for a year unless Cobalt gives notice by the end of January. > - She said: "Send me a proposal and I'll take it to my management." > - Not asked: who approves the budget, who else decides, how the current school was chosen. **Sofia:** She was so positive on the call. Maybe she's just busy? **Alex Tutor:** Maybe. But look at the last line of your notes. The proposal went to "management" without us knowing who that is, what they need, or how Cobalt buys. **Alex Tutor:** That's the call that sells too early: a positive champion, a proposal, and no map of who pays. Silence is often what that looks like a month later. > **Exercise:** Why has the Cobalt deal most likely stalled? Choose all that apply. ## The draft that makes it worse **Sofia:** Here's my next email: "Just checking in again! Our offer is only valid until Friday, after that prices go up. Let me know!" **Marta:** Prices don't go up on Friday. We have no such plan. **Alex Tutor:** Then it's a fake deadline, and she'll spot it. "Checking in" adds nothing for her either. Every message should give her something useful or make her next step easier. **Alex Tutor:** There is one real date here: the end of January, when Cobalt must give notice or stay a year longer. It's theirs, not ours. Mention it once, as help, never as a threat. **Alex Tutor:** So which date in the notes is real? > **Exercise:** Cobalt's contract with its current school ends on 31 March 2027 and renews for a year unless Cobalt gives notice by the end of January. How should you use that date in your messages? > **Exercise:** Which parts of the draft "Just checking in again! Our offer is only valid until Friday, after that prices go up. Let me know!" should go? Choose all that apply. ## Three messages, three jobs **Alex Tutor:** Plan three messages, a week or so apart, each with one job. **Alex Tutor:** Start with the first one. What goes in it? > **Exercise:** Which first message to Cobalt's learning lead is most likely to restart the conversation? **Alex Tutor:** Message 1, to her as the champion: something useful and one easy question. For example, a sample lesson for one team, so she has something concrete to show management. **Alex Tutor:** Message 2 asks for the process: who else needs to be involved, how the current school was approved, and what has to happen before the end of January. **Alex Tutor:** Message 3 closes the loop kindly: you'll stop following up, no guilt, and the door stays open. People often reply to that one, because it's easy to answer. **Alex Tutor:** Is that last message really a good idea? True or false. > **Exercise:** **True or false:** a final message saying you'll stop following up, while leaving the door open, often gets a reply, but only works if you really stop. **Sofia:** And if she replies to the first one, I skip the rest. > **Exercise:** Match each message with its job. ## Asking for the process **Sofia:** For message 2, can I just ask "Who is the decision-maker?" **Alex Tutor:** That puts her on the spot, and in writing it's easy to ignore. Ask about something that already happened. **Marta:** Something like: "When Cobalt chose its current school, who was involved, and how long did it take?" **Alex Tutor:** Then make it easy: offer to prepare whatever those people need, such as a page for finance or answers for IT security. > **Exercise:** Message 2 to Cobalt's quiet learning lead must find out who else decides and how Cobalt buys; Cobalt's contract with its current school needs notice by the end of January. Which question is most likely to get an honest, useful answer? ## A note for Marta **Marta:** Before the messages, two lines for me: why did this stall, and what changes in your next discovery call? **Alex Tutor:** Be specific about the gap, not about her. She did nothing wrong by being busy. **Sofia:** The gap is ours: we never asked who pays. **Alex Tutor:** Good. Then the fix is a habit, not a better email. **Alex Tutor:** Before the note, name the habit that would have prevented this. > **Exercise:** What should change in your next discovery call so a deal doesn't stall like Cobalt's? > **Exercise:** Write Marta a **two-sentence** note: why the Cobalt deal stalled, and what you will do differently in the next discovery call. ## Your three messages **Marta:** Now write the three messages. Short ones: she reads them on her phone between meetings. **Alex Tutor:** One job each, no invented urgency, and her end-of-January date only as help. **Sofia:** And the last one really means it: if she says no, we stop. **Alex Tutor:** That's what makes it kind, and what makes it work. > **Exercise:** Write the next three messages to Cobalt's learning lead. > **Key ideas** > > - A deal that goes quiet after one positive call usually has a discovery gap: no budget owner, no process, no dated next step. > - "Just checking in" gives the buyer nothing; invented deadlines and price rises cost the trust you'll need later. > - Three messages, three jobs: help the champion with something useful and one easy question; ask how the company decides, through a past fact; close the loop kindly and mean it. > - A date from the buyer's own process (a contract notice) is real: mention it once, as help. **Alex Tutor:** Whatever she answers, even "not now", you'll know more than you do today. That's a result. - Previous lesson: [Objections and procurement pressure: honest answers](https://productovi.com/courses/b2b-marketing-and-sales/objections-and-procurement.md) - Next lesson: [A quote built from the buyer's economics](https://productovi.com/courses/b2b-marketing-and-sales/a-quote-from-the-buyers-economics.md) --- Productovi Learning. Free, no sign-up needed to read.