How long do you let a salesperson chase an order before deciding it probably isn't coming?
The proposal is out.
The customer seems interested.
But they need to “think it over.”
So the opportunity stays alive. The salesperson follows up. Then follows up again.
Weeks can become months.
The obvious problem is that you haven't received the order.
The less obvious problem is what it has cost you while you've been waiting.
And the biggest cost may not appear anywhere on your P&L.
It's time.
A salesperson has a finite number of selling hours available. Every hour spent pursuing an opportunity that isn't going to become an order is an hour that can't be invested in finding one that will.
Years ago, sales coach Dave Tear taught me to think differently about three possible outcomes of a sales opportunity:
Yes.
No.
Think It Over.
Yes is obviously the preferred outcome.
But what's the second-best outcome?
No.
A No allows you to stop investing time in the opportunity and redeploy that time toward finding another Yes.
Think It Over is different.
It preserves hope.
And hope can keep consuming selling time.
That's why getting to No needs to be an intentional part of the sales process.
The objective isn't to lose an order. It's to determine as efficiently as possible whether there is a legitimate path to winning it.
I think of this as part of the Economics of Selling.
Most manufacturers understand the economics of capacity.
If a machine spends hours producing scrap, those hours aren't free simply because the machine was busy.
Selling capacity isn't that different.
Time is the primary investment, but it isn't the only one.
Travel. Samples. Demonstrations. Engineering support. Estimating. Proposal revisions. Management involvement.
They all add to the cost of pursuing an order.
A successful salesperson understands these economics and doesn't measure success simply by keeping opportunities alive.
Sometimes the most valuable outcome, after Yes, is getting to No early enough to invest that time somewhere else.
Because being busy pursuing opportunities and using selling capacity effectively aren't necessarily the same thing.
