A list of contacts and a record of calls show activity. To understand progress, look at what changed for the buyer and whether both sides have agreed a next step.
Locate the stalled stage
Use L-CAPS to look across Leads, Calls, Appointments, Presentations and Sales. Find where people stop progressing. Few appointments may call for different practice from many presentations with no decisions.
Check the quality of the next task
“Follow up” is not enough to guide action. Write the purpose, owner and due date: “Aisha to ask who will review the proposal by Tuesday.” Keep the task connected to the buyer’s decision.
Help a salesperson practise one specific skill
Choose a real call or meeting to review. What question was missed? What information was assumed? What commitment was unclear? Practise one change and review what happens on the next relevant conversation.
What does a clearer opportunity record look like?
Illustrative record: ‘Presentation held; buyer is checking implementation capacity. Evidence: Aisha requested a setup schedule during Tuesday’s meeting. Next seller task: Daniel sends the schedule by Thursday. Next buyer action: Aisha reviews it with the operations manager on Friday, as agreed.’ This separates the sales stage, the evidence, the seller’s task and the buyer’s commitment.
What if the buyer has not agreed to a next step?
Write that explicitly. ‘Proposal emailed; no buyer response; Daniel to ask whether a review is still useful on Tuesday’ is more accurate than ‘decision due Tuesday’ when the buyer never agreed to decide. An internal task is useful for the seller, but it is not evidence that the buyer has advanced.
How can a sales leader review five stalled opportunities?
For each opportunity, ask what the buyer last said, which L-CAPS stage the evidence supports, what prevents the next step, and who owns the next action with a due date. Look for a repeated problem, such as presentations made without knowing the approval process. Practise one question that addresses that problem, then review the next relevant conversations.
Which numbers help explain the slowdown?
Compare activity with progress over the same period: calls attempted, conversations held, appointments agreed, presentations completed and sales confirmed. Keep the definitions consistent and review the reasons buyers pause. A high number of calls alone cannot explain whether the team is reaching the right people or agreeing useful next steps.
Want to practise this skill further? Explore ALPHA ↗
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