Boosting Sales Through Urgency

“Speed doesn’t just impress buyers. It changes how they think.” I was supporting a deal with a government agency in India. After months of slow movement, one of our AEs decided to change pace. Instead of waiting days to reply to follow-up questions, she started responding within 30 minutes. Instead of booking calls a week out, she offered same-day options. Instead of letting the buyer’s process set the tempo, she respectfully started dictating rhythm. Something shifted. The buyer’s team — previously unhurried — began mirroring that pace. Questions came faster. Decisions followed more quickly. Procurement even escalated approvals internally to stay in sync. ✅ What happened? We triggered urgency. Not by pressuring the buyer — but by resetting their internal tempo. Speed changed the emotional texture of the deal from “eventual project” to “active initiative.” ✅ What we did systematically: – Rebuilt our MAP (mutual action plan) with tighter next steps and weekly internal follow-ups – Used short email recaps post-meeting to clarify alignment – Trained reps to end every call with a same-day or next-day scheduling option – Flagged every unanswered email internally within 12 hours for follow-up 🎯 Behavioral psychology at work: – Temporal Contagion: People mirror perceived urgency – Momentum Bias: Once in motion, inertia helps keep deals alive – Availability Heuristic: Fast responses feel more valuable, more reliable, and more urgent Speed isn’t just about “being helpful.” It influences how buyers prioritize you in their mental stack of decisions. And in complex B2B deals, staying top-of-mind is half the battle. 📌 If you want faster deals, act like it’s already urgent — and watch your buyer catch up. 📥 Follow me for more insights. Repost if this resonated.

I run the "5 Minute Drill" at the end of every sales call: 🟢 Ask: How are you feeling? Should we keep exploring working together? There is zero sense in trying to talk timeline or next steps if the other person isn't bought in to continuing to explore. Pulse check their sentiment FIRST. Consider phrasing it like this: "Gut reactions - how are you feeling?" "What did you think? Worth exploring further?" If they feel good, move to the next question (below) If they don't feel good, you've gotta address their concerns first. ___ 🟢 Ask: Could you talk to me about timelines? Only once they feel good about continuing to explore, then you can talk timelines. You should understand timeline BEFORE you talk specific next steps. It's hard to recommend the proper next step if you don't understand the urgency (or lack thereof) If they need this implemented in a WEEK, you're probably gonna need to move faster than if they want to implement in 6 months. Best if you can tie timeline to something that's happening in THEIR world, but if you don't have that, you might say something like: "Talk to me about how you're feeling about timelines for something like this" ___ 🟢 Recommend: Specific Next Step(s) Once you understand timing - make a recommendation for how to proceed. Can be as simple as saying "What I'd recommend we do next is..." Can be as complex as reviewing a mutual action plan together. You should always make a recommendation for how to proceed- your buyer is not a professional buyer and it's your responsibility to help guide them. It's OK if they disagree with your recommendation, it means they're at least thinking critically about their evaluation process (and gives you a great chance to run some discovery about that process)

I'm advising a founder that brought me in to help transition away from founder-led sales and gave me a masterclass in cyber selling that left me speechless. He's closing 5X more deals than his competitor (I know because I interviewed there last month), has a 90% win rate that made me question everything I know about enterprise security sales. It's so counterintuitive that most cyber sellers would call it crazy - yet it's perfectly suited for how security is bought in 2025. The reason he's winning? He completely ignores ROI. He focuses on COI: Cost of Inaction. It started when I sat in on his calls, expecting the usual founder advantage. But something was different. His approach was unique, and I had to know more. After the third call, I finally spotted it. He wasn't just selling - he was masterfully connecting inaction to personal impact. In one conversation, he helped a prospect see how pushing security decisions to next quarter wasn't just a business choice - it was a missed opportunity to be proactive in front of his entire team and solve an issue that was bothering both his team and IT. In the past I've wrote about helping sellers shape their conversation towards ROI or Return on Risk. But Cost of Inaction is also a massive force that shouldn't be underestimated. For cybersecurity sellers, this means we need to shift the conversation. The real cost of inaction isn't just about business risk - it's about personal opportunity. That Security Director who proactively builds a robust security program? They become the go-to advisor for the C-suite. The best sellers know this: Help your champions see how taking action today positions them as strategic leaders rather than reactive managers. That's the true cost of waiting. But here's the pitfall: Don't use COI as a way to generate FUD (Yes I know I'm over-using acronyms, but it's cyber so y'all are used to it 😆). Connect inaction to something personal, not just go for "if you wait you'll be breached" - That's just lazy. Do better. I'd love to hear how others are using Cost of Inaction to improve their cybersales game. Share 👇

When a Doctor Says They’ll Use Your Product… and Then Ghosts You We’ve all been there. You walk out of a sales call thinking you just crushed it. The doctor said, “Yeah, we’ll start using it.” Maybe even threw in a “This looks great!” for good measure. You’re already mentally logging the win. And then… nothing. No orders. No follow-up. Just radio silence. You try to reach out, but they’re suddenly busier than a trauma surgeon on a holiday weekend. You start to wonder—Did they actually mean it? Or was that just a polite way to get me out of their office? Here’s the reality: They did say they’d use it. That wasn’t a hallucination (despite the lack of hard evidence). And your job is to make sure that happens. So what’s the move? 1. Honor your commitment to honor their commitment. They said yes, so act accordingly. Don’t treat this like a weak maybe—treat it like a done deal that just needs execution. 2. Make follow-up a favor, not a favor request. Instead of, “Hey Doc, just checking in…” try, “Doc, I’m here to make sure this rolls out smoothly for you. Let’s lock in the details.” Frame it as supporting their decision, not begging for scraps. 3. Create urgency without being pushy. Remind them why they said yes in the first place. Maybe it improves outcomes, saves them time, or prevents their competition from eating their lunch. Whatever it was, reinforce it. 4. Use internal allies. Sometimes the doc is all talk, but the real decision-makers (or blockers) are staff, procurement, or admin. Find your champions inside the clinic or hospital and work with them. 5. If all else fails, call it out—professionally. If they keep dodging, try something direct: “Doc, last time we spoke, you were excited to get started. Have things changed?” Sometimes a little nudge forces a real answer. Bottom line? They gave you the green light. Don’t act like it’s still a red light. You’re not being pushy—you’re being a professional who ensures things get done. If you back off completely, you weren’t closing a deal—you were just collecting compliments. And last I checked, compliments don’t pay commissions.

12 High-Impact Questions That Ignite Buyer Urgency. I was coaching a salesperson the other day who kept losing deals late in the sales cycle. Something kept slipping through the cracks. I asked, “Walk me through your discovery questions.” He rattled off the usual, generic, yet important, qualifying questions: ➤ How do you typically budget for this kind of project? ➤ What timeline are you working with? ➤ What solution are you using now? ➤ What keeps you up at night? I then asked if he ever used this question. “What happens if nothing changes over the next 6 to 12 months?” He said, “I’ve never asked that.” The next call, he did. The prospect paused. Took a breath. Then said, “Honestly? We’ll fall even further behind. I’m already under pressure to fix this or we risk losing the account.” That deal closed a week later because he asked questions that made it personal, emotional, and uncovered the cost of inaction. That’s why urgency can’t be told. It has to be discovered by the prospect through implication questions. You don’t need better scripts to create a better outcome. You need better questions. #sales #selling #presentations #salescoaching

I used to think B2B deals closed because of great salespeople. I was wrong. Great salespeople help, but most deals close because of timing. Not your timing. Theirs. The moment prospects hit a breaking point and must act now. Examples: → An agency lands a big client who suddenly demands detailed time reports → A founder realizes they’ve lost $50k from inaccurate time tracking → A project manager gets fed up after the 3rd manual system failure These aren’t pain points. They’re trigger moments. The difference? Pain points create consideration. Trigger moments create urgency. When you know your customer’s exact trigger moments, you can: → Target them at the perfect time → Tailor your pitch to their urgent need → Beat competitors to the deal Most B2B teams focus on features and benefits. Top performers focus on timing and triggers. Do you know the # 1 trigger moment for your ideal customer?

I had a brain fart a few weeks back and, in my haste to get a deal closed by the end of October, tried to manufacture some artificial urgency. Some nonsense like "If we do XYZ, will you sign by the end of October?" Kudos to the prospect who called me out on it. This is a cut and paste from their email back to me: "We will move fast with our decisions, but, please, let's not create any time pressure here. The important thing is to agree on something that excites both of us." When you're right, you're right. Manufactured urgency is bullshit, and people see right through it. Genuine urgency is the only variety of urgency that works. So - how do you create it? - Start by uncovering deadlines or events already on the buyer's calendar. Connect your solution to what they need to achieve. - Collaboratively build a timeline working backwards from their goals. Get their input to estimate reasonable timeframes. - Equip your champion to clearly communicate the “why” behind the project. Make sure everyone understands the vision. - Set regular check-ins to review progress and troubleshoot delays. Hold each other accountable to the joint plan. When you focus on understanding the buyer’s real needs, urgency happens naturally. No manufactured pressure tactics required.

After 7+ years in Enterprise tech, I've learned a way to create urgency that doesn’t feel icky.  We make it Buyer Centric. Not "Q2 ends June 30th" urgency. But urgency that matters to THEM. Easier said than done. So…let’s talk H2. 7 priorities on executives' minds right now - halfway through 2025: 1/ Checking the Score 2/ Fixing What's Not Working 3/ Spotting New Opportunities 4/ Watching the Competition 5/ Preparing for Problems 6/ Tracking Customer Happiness 7/ Managing Money Flow Here are 7 ideas on how to tie your solution to these mid-year priorities: 1/ Checking the Score - Executives are like coaches at halftime, reviewing if they're winning or losing against goals. -> Are they on track or behind on their key metrics? What specific numbers do they need to hit by December to consider 2025 a success? How can your solution help them close gaps? 2/ Fixing What's Not Working - They're making adjustments to underperforming initiatives. -> What Q1 initiatives have stalled or underdelivered? What did your Champion mention was struggling in your last discovery call? What stories can you share about how similar customers course-corrected using your solution? 3/ Spotting New Opportunities - They're scanning for chances they didn't see in January. -> What unexpected market shifts have happened since Q1? (This is where I love using Aomni. Saves hours of research on most recent 10-K, company initiatives, etc.) How are your most innovative customers using your solution to capitalize on these changes? Could your buyer get similar results before year-end? 4/ Watching the Competition - They're obsessed with what rivals are doing. -> Who are they afraid of? Who do they compare themselves to?  Are those competitors already using your solution? If they're not, what advantage could your buyer gain by moving first? If they are, what's the cost of falling further behind? 5/ Preparing for Problems - Smart leaders are building contingency plans. -> What's your buyer most worried about for H2? How could your solution help them create flexibility or reduce risk? What would it mean if they could navigate those challenges more effectively than peers? 6/ Tracking Customer Happiness - They're analyzing customer feedback at the halfway mark. -> How satisfied are their customers right now? What feedback trends are they seeing? Have they considered how your solution might directly impact their customer experience metrics before year-end? 7/ Managing Money Flow - Cash is king, especially mid-year. -> How are they thinking about cash flow? More focused on accelerating revenue or reducing costs? What would it mean if your solution could impact their cash position before the December board meeting? The key difference between Q4 and mid-year urgency? In Q4, executives are planning for next year. At mid-year, they're trying to save THIS year. That's your opening. What mid-year priority are you focusing on with your enterprise buyers right now?

As a Sales Director running mid-market, here's the hard truth on our Q2 deals: We didn't lose most of our deals to competitors. We lost them to "no decision." It was the silent killer that crushed some of our surest opportunities. Here is how it happened: Our champion loved the solution. Legal approved the contract. Budget exists. Then... crickets. Deals sat in our pipeline for months until they finally died a slow death. But here's how we've learned to fight back: 1. Create Urgency Through Cost of Inaction Instead of pushing our timeline, we help prospects understand what staying put actually costs them. "If you stick with your current process for another 6 months, you're looking at roughly $200K in lost productivity. Is that acceptable?" 2. Make Doing Nothing Harder Than Moving Forward We don't just present solutions, we make the status quo uncomfortable. "Your team is spending 15 hours a week on manual processes. Here is what speeding up that process could look like for other workflows..." 3. Multi-Thread Like Your Life Depends On It One champion isn't enough. We identify everyone impacted by the status quo and arm them with specific pain points. The CFO cares about cost savings. The VP of Ops cares about efficiency. The CEO cares about competitive advantage. If there are not 3-5 people involved from BOTH sides, that deal is in trouble. 4. Build Consensus Through Shared Documentation We create business case documents that stakeholders can share internally. When people have something concrete to reference, momentum builds. 5. Set Micro-Commitments Instead of asking for a final decision, we ask for small next steps: "Can we schedule 30 minutes with your security team next week?" "Can you deliver us these metrics by tomorrow?" The key insight: People aren't afraid of your solution. They're afraid of change. Your job isn't just to sell, it's to make change feel safer than staying put. What's your best strategy for fighting "no decision"? Let's help each other win more deals.