The five-touch curve
Most deals take five or more touches to close. Most conversations stop at two. The interesting part is what happens in the gap.
Two numbers explain a remarkable amount of lost business: most deals take five or more touches to close, and most sellers stop at two. The gap isn't laziness — the third follow-up simply feels needy, so it never gets sent. And the business flows, quietly, to whoever was still politely present when the buyer finally became ready.
The sellers who live comfortably in that gap turn it into a schedule instead of a feeling: day 2, day 7, day 14, day 30. Each touch carries something — a relevant example of the work, an answer to a question the buyer didn't ask, a heads-up that the calendar is filling. Never “just checking in,” which asks the buyer to do the selling.
The fifth touch has a special property: it closes the loop on purpose. “I'll assume the timing's wrong and stop here — the door's open.” That message revives a surprising share of stalled deals, for a very human reason: permission to say no makes it safe to say yes.
Filed under Sales & Pipeline