Answers · Selling, from our call data
What should sales coaching focus on?
Three things: ask what the problem costs, stop talking so the buyer names the problem in their own words, and schedule the next call before you hang up. Won deals had each one far more often than lost ones.
Won deals against lost deals
Every deal in our call data that ended won or lost, checked for the same moves.
Scheduled the next call before hanging up
Asked what the problem was costing
The buyer shifted: said the problem in their own words
60 deals · 16 sellers · to Jun 2026
How sellers responded did not separate them
When a buyer shifted, sellers picked it up almost every time, in won deals and lost ones alike. The gap is whether the buyer gets there at all.
Responded to the buyer's shift No real difference
40 deals where the buyer shifted · Jun 2026
What gets a buyer there
How often the buyer shifted on a call, with and without each move.
The seller asked what the problem costs
613 discovery calls · Jun 2026
Who did the talking
914 first calls · Jun 2026
Do this
If you manage sellers, score each recorded call on three questions, yes or no. Coach the first no.
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Was the problem costed before any price?
When the buyer asks your price, answer with theirs first: "Before I put a number on it, what is this costing you in a quarter?"
Signal to watchThe buyer says a number.
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Did the buyer say the problem in their own words?
After the cost question, stop. Let them do the maths out loud.
Signal to watch"Yes, that's accurate."
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Is the next call named, dated and a different kind of call?
Offer two days out loud before you hang up, for a strategy call, not another catch-up.
Signal to watchA day and a time in the diary before the call ends.
Coach the move, not the call's overall score. A score says how a call went. The three questions say what to do on the next one.
How we measured it
- A model read each recorded call and marked each move. The labels give the sample and the window.
- A deal counts a move if any of its calls had it.
- We left each seller out in turn. The won and lost gaps held every time.
- We checked again on calls analysed since. Scheduling the next call and talking less still went with the buyer shifting. Too few deals have ended since to re-test won against lost.
- These moves go with winning. That does not prove they cause it.
- The same model marked both the moves and the shift.