Decision

Decision is the stage where the customer gives one of three answers, “yes,” “no” or “I need time,” and names the date of the final answer. The customer decides. Your job is to make the answer and the date clear, so ask for the date directly. If a deal has no date, it has not really reached Decision: it is still sitting after the proposal.

In a CRM this stage usually comes with a decision date field. Put in the date the customer named, in their words, not the date you hope for. If the answer is no, close the deal as lost with a reason. Read those reasons once a month and you will see where you lose: on price, on timing or on the offer. Keep the list short: price, timing, fit, no answer.

For example, “I’ll reply by the 20th.”

In a small team this is the stage where the head of sales most often steps into a deal. Sometimes it is a second call, sometimes a short meeting with the person who signs, or an answer to the last objection. A deal leaves the stage with a yes and moves to Payment, or with a no and closes. Where it usually stalls: the decision date passes, nobody calls, and the deal stays open for months.

In the weekly review, sort the deals in Decision by decision date. A date in the past means a call this week. Do not carry the deal forward untouched. The question is simple: “You planned to decide by the 20th: where are you now?” If the customer moves the date twice, mark the deal as at risk in the forecast.

Three neighboring terms depend on this stage. The forecast runs on decision dates: deals with a near date and a confirmed next step go into the base version. Win rate counts only deals that ended in a yes or a no, so open deals do not distort it. The sales cycle runs up to the sale, and every week a deal sits here makes it longer.

• Typing your own guess into the decision date. The forecast then shows your hopes. Ask the customer and write down their date.
• Keeping deals with a missed date open, which inflates the pipeline. Call in the week after the date passes. Start with two attempts before you close the deal with a reason.
• Not recording why the customer said no. Make the reason a required field when a deal is closed as lost.
• Pushing for a yes on the call. A yes you would have got next week can turn into a no. Ask what the customer still needs before they can decide, and give them that.

By Friday, the head of sales filters the deals in Decision whose decision date has already passed and hands each seller their list. Each seller calls those customers by Thursday and records one of three outcomes: a yes, a no with a reason, or a new date from the customer. On Friday, count how many deals moved and how many dates were pushed for the second time.

Six areas of the job on one map, with a self-assessment and a plan for your first month.