Latest / Closing the Deal with Fexingo: Sales, Negotiation, and Revenue Conversations for Operators / How to Restart a Dead Deal
Transcript
- Lucas: There is a specific moment in B2B sales that I think is more painful than a flat-out no. It is the moment you realize a deal that felt like it was moving has just gone completely silent. Not rejected — just invisible. Luna: Right. The deal you thought was a ninety-percenter. And now you are staring at an email thread that ends with your last sent message, three weeks ago. Lucas: Exactly. And the instinct is to send a 'just checking in' email. Which we all know does not work. So today I want to talk about what actually works when a deal goes dark. Not the platitudes — a specific tactic that a SaaS company used to restart a $340,000 annual contract that had been sitting untouched for 23 days. Luna: Twenty-three days. That is a long time in a sales cycle. Was the deal truly dead, or just resting? Lucas: That is the first mental shift you have to make. The rep, her name is Sarah, told me later that she assumed the deal was dead. The prospect — a mid-size logistics firm — had gone through three demos, a legal review, and had asked for a specific implementation timeline. Then nothing. She checked LinkedIn — the procurement contact was still active, still posting. So it was not a person leaving. It was a priority shift. Luna: And priority shift is the number-one reason B2B deals die, in my experience. Not budget, not competition — the internal sponsor just got distracted by something louder. Lucas: Yes. And if you treat that as a rejection, you withdraw. But if you treat it as a timing problem, you can re-engage without looking desperate. Sarah did something specific. She did not email the prospect. She found a trigger event — a competitor of the prospect had just announced a new product feature. So she sent a one-line email with a link to the press release and said: 'Saw this. Might change how you think about our implementation timeline.' Luna: Interesting. So she did not ask 'are you still interested?' She gave information that implied the context had changed. That is a very different posture. Lucas: Completely different posture. The prospect replied within four hours. He said: 'Thanks for flagging this. Can we push the kickoff to July instead of June, and do we need to adjust the scope?' The deal was not dead — it was just deferred. But Sarah had to offer a reason to re-engage that did not put the prospect on the spot. Luna: There is a risk though — does this feel manipulative? Like you are manufacturing urgency using a competitor's move? Lucas: I think the distinction is whether the trigger is real. If the competitor's launch actually matters to the prospect's decision, then you are being helpful. If you are grasping at straws, they will smell it. Sarah picked a press release that directly addressed a pain point the prospect had raised — integration speed. The competitor was promising faster integration. That is relevant. Luna: So the rule is: only re-engage with information that genuinely updates the decision context. Not a fake deadline. Not a 'price goes up next week.' Not a 'thought of you' when you clearly did not. Lucas: Exactly. And there is a second tactic that works when you do not have a clean trigger event. It is what I call the 'one-question reset.' You send an email that says: 'If we were starting this conversation fresh today, knowing everything you now know about your priorities, would this still be a project you would pursue?' Luna: That is a gutsy question. Because the answer could be no. Lucas: It could be. But if the answer is no, you want to know that now, not in another three weeks. And if the answer is yes, you have permission to move forward. In Sarah's case, she did not have to use that — the trigger worked. But I have seen reps use the one-question reset to revive deals that were six weeks dark. One guy told me the prospect replied: 'Honestly, we got buried. Let me set up a call for next Tuesday.' That is as good as a signed contract, for now. Luna: So the reset question works because it gives the prospect a dignified exit or a clear path forward. It is not a nag. Lucas: Right. And it respects their autonomy. You are not asking 'did you get my proposal?' You are asking them to re-evaluate from scratch. That is a different cognitive load — it is lower pressure. They can say 'yes, we still want this' without having to re-read your proposal. Luna: I want to go back to the trigger approach for a second. Is there a risk that the prospect feels surveilled? Like, 'how did you know about that press release?' Lucas: That is a fair concern. But in B2B, it is expected that vendors track the industry. If you follow the prospect on LinkedIn or have Google Alerts set for their competitors, that is normal. The key is to be transparent about it. Do not pretend you stumbled on it. You can say 'I follow for market intel, and this crossed my desk.' That is honest. Luna: Okay. So setup matters. Now what about the deal that has been dark for, say, two months? Is it ever worth reviving, or should you just move on? Lucas: I think there is a cutoff. Two months is usually too long unless you have a strong relationship with the champion. At that point, the internal sponsor may have left, or the budget has been reallocated. But the one-question reset can still work if you phrase it as a 'circuits check.' I have seen a rep send: 'I am cleaning up my pipeline. Is this deal still alive, or should I close it out on my end?' That gives the prospect an easy out, and sometimes they say 'no, wait — let me check.' Luna: That is almost the same reset question but framed for your own workflow. I like that. It is less about them and more about your process, which feels less pushy. Lucas: Exactly. And if they say 'close it out,' you have your answer. It hurts, but it is clean. And you can follow up six months later with a totally fresh angle. But the worst thing you can do is send a third 'just checking in' email. That just trains the prospect to ignore you. Luna: Before we wrap, let me ask you this — what about the emotional side? When you have invested weeks into a deal and it goes dark, it is hard not to take it personally. How do you separate your ego from the strategy? Lucas: That is the hardest part. I think the best reps I know actually schedule a 'mourning period' — like, they let themselves be annoyed for one day. Then they treat it as a data problem. 'What information does this prospect need to re-engage? Can I provide it? If not, move on.' Sarah told me she felt a knot in her stomach before she sent that trigger email. But she did it anyway because she knew the alternative was waiting longer. Luna: So the antidote to the emotional weight is having a system. A specific play for what to do on day 7, day 14, day 21. Lucas: Exactly. And that system is what separates professionals from amateurs. Amateurs send 'bumping this up' emails. Professionals have a trigger list, a reset question, and a timeline for when to walk away. Luna: I think that is a really practical takeaway. Let me ask you — do you have a personal rule for when you walk away from a dark deal? Lucas: I do. If I have sent two re-engagement attempts — one trigger-based, one reset question — and the prospect has not responded to either, I move them to a nurture sequence. No further direct outreach for at least three months. I will send them relevant content, but I stop asking for a meeting. That preserves the relationship for when the timing is actually right. Luna: That is disciplined. And I think a lot of listeners struggle with that — they feel like they are giving up. Lucas: I know. But here is the thing — if the prospect is not responding, they are not buying. No amount of 'just checking in' will change that. The only thing that changes it is a change in their world. And you cannot force that change. You can only be ready when it happens. Luna: Speaking of being ready — you know, a handful of listeners have told us that these conversations have helped them rethink their sales approach. And honestly, that is what keeps this show going. We do not run ads here. A small group of listeners chips in monthly through buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo, and that literally covers the production. So if you have gotten something useful out of episodes like this one, that is the reason we can keep making them. Lucas: Yeah. And we mean that. No pressure, no pitch — just the truth. If it has moved your work forward in some small way, that is what we hear, and it matters. Luna: Alright. Back to dead deals — Lucas, if someone is listening right now with a deal that went dark last week, what is the one thing they should do tomorrow morning? Lucas: Do not send an email. Open a news feed or Google Alerts for the prospect's top competitor. Find one piece of news — a product launch, a funding round, a leadership change — and send it with a one-sentence observation about how it might affect their timeline. That is your best shot at a real reply. Luna: I like that. It is proactive, not reactive. And it gives you a reason to reach out that is not about you. Lucas: Exactly. The deal is not dead until the prospect tells you it is dead. Until then, it is just waiting for the right trigger.