3 Invisible Killers Sabotaging Your B2B Sales Deals

Most deals don't die with a “no.” Instead, they vanish into thin air. You thought you had a champion. They helped you understand and navigate the business. The demo went well. Their problem was clear.

But then momentum faded. Emails went unanswered. The deal slipped into silence.

What happened?

Most B2B deals don’t fall through because of price or product. They die because of the sales blockers they missed or never saw. These are the deal killers.

These are the 3 invisible B2B sales deal killers quietly causing sales pipeline mistakes, and what to do about them. This is part of my series on our five sales qualification frameworks.

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False Champions Who Don’t Deliver

Just because they like you, doesn’t mean they’ll go to war for you. The risk of false champions

They’re enthusiastic. They like your product. They say the right things.

But they don’t fight for you. They don’t challenge internally. They don’t own the budget.

They’re not a champion; they’re a false champion. They have become one of your sales blockers, not an asset.

❌ False champions are worse than no champion.

✅ A real champion escalates, influences, and risks political capital.

What To Do Instead

1. Use a framework, like PROBLEM, to validate influence.

2. Ask: “What happens if you don’t solve this?” and “Who signs it off?”

3. Objectively map their level of authority, not just enthusiasm.

4. Validate, validate, validate. Never assume, hope, or trust what you are being told. Look to find validation through other sources.

   
   

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Missing Stakeholders in the DMU

You had a great call with multiple people. One contact actually said "yes." But you never spoke to the people who could say no.

You assumed one person could carry your message across functions. They couldn’t.

Now you're stuck wondering what happened.

“Procurement saw too much risk.”

“The CFO didn’t see the ROI.”

“Ops didn’t want another tool.”

That’s what happens when you pitch to one person in a room full of ghosts. If this has happened to you, its because you failed to complete your stakeholder mapping.

What To Do Instead

1. Map the organisation early. One of your first priorities after validating your champion is to gain consensus on who will be involved in the decision-making process. This stakeholder mapping should include legal, procurement, etc. This will help you avoid sales pipeline mistakes and bloating your pipe.

2. Tailor messaging to each persona: Finance, Ops, IT, Procurement, CEO, etc. Use the Five Whys to get to the root problem that will drive urgency.

3. Role-play and practice how to handle objections before they appear.

   
   

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Pipeline Quality Only After Targets Missed

You were forecasting confidence. But selling chaos

This one’s cultural.

When sellers are ahead and everything is going well, they coast. Sales pipeline mistakes don't really matter. Follow-up gets sloppy. Discovery gets lazy.

But the moment targets are missed, it’s marketing’s fault. Now everyone cares about lead quality again.

Revenue is a lagging indicator. Pipeline quality is a leading one.

You can’t fix Q4 panic with Q3 wishful thinking.

What To Do Instead

1. Review deals based on validation, not vibe. Use a framework, like PROBLEM, to objectively measure the health of your opportunities.

2. Build habits around discovery, multi-threading, and objection surfacing.

3. Don’t celebrate demos. Celebrate truth.

   
   

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Guesswork Is NOT a B2B Sales Strategy, its a One of the Core B2B Sales Deal Killers.

If you’re:

1. Trusting untested champions

2. Skipping decision maps

3. Only tightening the process when you miss target

   
   

Then you’re not selling; you’re gambling.

The PROBLEM framework exists to fix this. It forces hard questions. It surfaces risk. It exposes weak spots before they turn into deal killers.

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Ready to Qualify Deals That Actually Close?

Book a free 30-minute SOLVE session, where we review your pipeline and find the friction.

Let’s stop hoping and start solving.