Let's start with a definition.
An indecisive customer is a buyer who shows genuine interest in your product or service but delays, stalls, or avoids committing to a purchase decision. In B2B sales, this is a massive problem — research suggests that 40–60% of qualified pipeline deals end not in a competitor win, but in no decision at all. This article breaks down why buyer indecision happens, why traditional sales pressure makes it worse, and what actually works to move hesitant buyers forward.
According to research by Matthew Dixon and Ted McKenna in their book "The Jolt Effect", a staggering 40-60% of B2B technology sales processes end in indecision—not with a competitor winning, but with no decision being made at all.
This makes indecision your largest, most dangerous competitor—bigger than any direct rival in your space.
Once purchase intent is established, customers shift their focus from "Will this help me succeed?" to "What if this causes me to fail?"
This psychological shift means that despite genuine interest in your product, external risk factors overshadow the decision to proceed.
When I was producing a competitive analysis for a client recently, I realized I had left our largest, most dangerous competitor out of my analysis entirely: indecision.
In the companies I've worked for, I've gotten to work alongside some truly remarkable sales professionals. These folks talked constantly about our competitors—how we differentiate from them, how we can do what they cannot, and so on. I also heard them speak frequently about losing deals to the status quo, where buyers stick with spreadsheets or imperfect existing solutions.
But I witnessed far fewer conversations about indecision and how to address it. There's a logical reason: an indecisive customer feels like a relationship you just need to keep working on. The deal isn't dead—it's just asleep.
Traditional sales practices tell you to push harder: deliver more features, more comparisons, more proof points. But this approach backfires with indecisive customers.
Why? Because your customers have already been convinced you're the best solution for them. They're not asking for more information to make a decision—they're asking for it hoping something will magically eliminate their fear of negative outcomes.
©2022 Matthew Dixon, Ted McKenna (P)2022 Penguin
If we want to truly address indecisive customers, we need to do three things much better:
Have a plan to address indecision proactively
Identify the signs of a deal slipping away before it does
Focus on the right customers and let go of the wrong ones
Easier said than done, right? Here are some proven strategies to get you started.
Indecisive customers can consume enormous amounts of your time. Before investing heavily, ensure you're dealing with someone who:
Action Step:
Qualify hard early. Ask direct questions about budget authority, decision-making process, and timeline consequences. If you get vague answers, consider whether this prospect deserves continued investment.
While highlighting your solution's benefits is essential, you must pivot to emphasizing the risks of doing nothing when prospects become indecisive.
Most people fear making a choice that leads to negative outcomes MORE than they fear allowing bad things to happen through inaction. This seems counterintuitive, but it's human psychology.
What To Stress:
Key Phrase To Use: "What's the cost of waiting another quarter to address this?"
To overcome indecision, your product must be seen as indispensable. Help your champion within the prospective company understand how to present your service as a must-have rather than a nice-to-have.
This involves showcasing the critical role your product plays in mitigating risks—not just achieving goals. Remember: you've already convinced them of your utility. Now you must show them how your product protects them against external forces outside anyone's control.
Reframe the conversation from:
❌ "This will help you grow 20% faster"
✅ "Without this, you're exposed to [specific risk] that could cost you [specific outcome]"
All of the above tactics can be tested, scaled and added to strategic planning. Here Here's how to build a repeatable process for handling indecision:
Start by identifying metrics that indicate indecision in your CRM.
Create a distinct lifecycle stage or lead score adjustment for "Indecisive - Risk Assessment Needed" that triggers specific workflows.
Closing indecisive customers requires custom work from sales reps to outline the **risks of inaction** specific to each client. To drive this point home, arm your sales team with:
This is where your marketing team becomes essential—they need to be prepared to fulfill these custom requests quickly, using pre-built frameworks that can be personalized.
Whether it's filming testimonials, collecting quotes, or arranging networking meetings, connecting indecisive prospects with happy customers who have faced similar challenges is powerful.
The key is customization—understand your indecisive prospect's specific fears and make sure your customer references have prepared stories that directly address those concerns.
Do NOT use generic testimonials like:** "Great product, highly recommend!"
DO use specific narratives like:** "I was terrified our CFO would kill this project if it didn't show ROI in Q1. Here's how we proved value in 6 weeks..."
Once you've identified indecisive customers as a segment worth targeting, create a messaging strategy and content library around overcoming indecision:
As long as you are decisive in your planning, strategy, and execution, you can overcome customer indecision and get to action more quickly and efficiently than ever before.
Remember: Indecision isn't a sales problem—it's a marketing strategy opportunity. By systematizing how you identify, address, and close indecisive customers, you transform your largest competitor into a competitive advantage.
An indecisive customer is a qualified buyer who shows genuine interest in your product or service but cannot commit to a purchase decision. Unlike prospects who choose a competitor or decide to stick with the status quo, indecisive customers remain stuck — often paralyzed by the fear of making the wrong choice rather than by any real objection to your solution.
The most effective approach is to stop selling harder and start reducing risk. Qualify early to make sure you're working with a real decision-maker, then shift your messaging from the benefits of buying to the cost of doing nothing. Position your product as essential rather than optional, use social proof from customers who faced similar fears, and build a repeatable process inside your CRM to identify and address indecision signals before deals stall out.
Buyer indecision is usually driven by fear of negative outcomes, not by a lack of information. Once a prospect believes your solution can help them succeed, their thinking shifts to "what if this causes me to fail?" Common triggers include uncertain budgets, unclear leadership, shifting priorities, and personal career risk. According to research in "The Jolt Effect" by Dixon and McKenna, 40–60% of B2B sales processes end in no decision at all — making indecision a bigger threat than any direct competitor.
No — and confusing the two is a common mistake. An uninterested customer hasn't been convinced your solution is right for them. An indecisive customer already believes in the value you offer but can't pull the trigger on a decision. The strategies for each are completely different: uninterested buyers need more persuasion, while indecisive buyers need less risk and more confidence that choosing you won't backfire.
Marketing plays a critical role by building a content library focused on risk mitigation rather than feature promotion. This includes ROI calculators showing the cost of delay, industry-specific risk assessments, case studies that emphasize what changed after implementation, and custom sales enablement reports your reps can personalize for each deal. The goal is to give your sales team ready-made tools that address the fear of failure head-on.
Book: "The Jolt Effect: How High Performers Overcome Customer Indecision" by Matthew Dixon and Ted McKenna (https://www.amazon.com/s?k=the+jolt+effect) - The foundational research behind this post's statistics and strategies
Image Source: Strategic Discipline Positioning Systems - The Jolt Effect Behaviors (https://strategicdiscipline.positioningsystems.com/hs-fs/hubfs/The%20Jolt%20Effect%20-%20Behaviors.png).