Help Prospects Feel the Cost of Waiting (Not Just the ROI)

Hey hey,

Let’s talk about the real reason so many promising deals stall.

It’s not budget.

It’s not timing.

It’s the absence of urgency.

Your prospect doesn’t feel the pain of doing nothing…so they do exactly that.

Common Problem: Prospects don’t feel the urgency to act

You’ve had a great discovery call. The fit is there. They even said the problem needs solving.

But nothing moves.

No follow-up.
No decision.
Just “let us think about it.”

They don’t see the downside of staying where they are…so they stay.

Simple Solution: Help them feel the cost of inaction

Here’s the psychology:
Humans are loss-averse.

We fear losing something more than we value gaining something new.

If all you’re doing is showing ROI and features, you’re missing half the picture.

Your job is to highlight what they’re losing by waiting.

Revenue. Time. Efficiency. Market position. Morale. You name it.

That’s when urgency kicks in.

Not because you pushed harder, but because you helped them see what staying still is costing them.

This isn’t about manipulation or deploying CIA level fear tactics. You can do this with grounded, relevant questions that reveal the price of inaction.

Take the examlpes below and tailor these to your offer:

• For a Fractional CFO
  “If you don’t get better visibility into cash flow, what decisions might you delay or get wrong?”

• For a UX Consultant
  “If users keep dropping at the same step, how much potential revenue is being left on the table?”

• For a Content Strategist
  “What happens if your competitors keep publishing while your blog stays quiet?”

• For a Product Marketing Consultant
  “If your positioning isn’t clear, how many deals are you losing to better storytellers?”

• For a Sustainability Advisor
  “If you delay reporting improvements, what’s the reputational risk with investors or clients?”

• For a Ghostwriter
  “What’s the cost of your IP and insights staying locked in your head another year?”

• For a CRM Specialist
  “If your team keeps skipping steps in your sales process, how many deals are slipping through the cracks?”

Use questions like these to help them put numbers, time, and emotional weight behind the status quo.

Take Action

Choose one question and ask it in your next discovery call.

Or include it in your follow-up email after a promising chat.

Then build on their answer.

• “What’s that costing you per month?”

• “Who else is affected if this doesn’t get fixed?”

• “What would it mean to solve this in the next 30 days?”

Make the cost of waiting more real than the fear of change.

Event Invite

Sell Better Live: Watch a Pro Build an Outbound List From Scratch

Thursday 29 May
12:00PM ET / 5:00PM UK

If your outbound isn’t landing, it might not be your messaging. It could be your list.

In this live session, I’ll join Will Aitken to build an outbound list in real time and talk through:

• The biggest mistakes people make when list building

• A full walkthrough of how I build mine

• How to use automation tools to speed it all up

If you want to sharpen your targeting and find better-fit leads, this one’s for you.

Register here.

That’s it for this week’s edition.

A prospect who doesn’t feel loss will always choose comfort.

But a smart, empathetic nudge can tip the scale.

Until next time,
Mark