When Both Sides Are Protecting Themselves: How Stalled Deals Slowly Stop Moving and What to Do About It

🚨 just dropped a new issue of Sales Beyond Fight or Flight 👉 When Both Sides Are Protecting Themselves some of the most frustrating deals don’t actually fail they just… slowly stop moving 👀 good conversations positive signals “helpful” meetings next steps that somehow never happen from the outside it looks like progress underneath? both sides are protecting themselves customer protects against making a bad decision seller protects against losing the deal and that’s where weird things start happening: • more info gets shared, but clarity doesn’t improve • timelines drift but nobody addresses it directly • seller becomes “more helpful” but avoids hard questions • customer stays engaged… without really committing the dangerous part? it still feels collaborative in this issue I break down: • why stalled deals are often parallel protection loops • how sellers unintentionally mirror buyer hesitation • why pressure usually increases threat (not movement) • a simple framework I use a lot now: → Name → Normalize → Neutralize basically: make the protection visible without making it wrong example: instead of “can we lock the next step?” try “it feels like we might both be approaching this carefully — would it help to talk through what feels uncertain?” that one shift changes conversations fast 🤓 curious where this shows up most for others: discovery? deal progression? forecasting? QBRs? customer success conversations? would genuinely love to hear patterns others are seeing When Both Sides Are Protecting Themselves