Keeping It Simple
The fastest, simplest ways to grow your business - no jargon, no fluff. Practical strategies that actually work for SME owners in the USA, New Zealand, and worldwide.
"I need to think about it" is the polite way almost every stalled deal ends. Most salespeople hear it as a soft no and either chase the prospect into annoyance or quietly let the deal die. Gartner's research into B2B purchasing found that roughly four out of ten business purchase attempts end in no decision at all, not a loss to a competitor, just a decision that never gets made. That is not a closing problem. It is a value-perception problem, and it has a formula behind it. Alex Hormozi's Value Equation, built from years of scaling and advising dozens of companies, explains precisely why a prospect hesitates even when your price is fair and your product works. Kevin D'Ambros-Smith has used versions of this thinking since his agency days pitching to global brands, and it's now one of the first things he fixes in a client's sales process.
The Pitch That Sounds Fine and Still Doesn't Close
The named enemy is the assumption that hesitation means price. It usually doesn't. A prospect who says "let me think about it" is running an unconscious calculation about whether the outcome you're promising is believable, how fast they'll see it, and how much hassle it will cost them to get there. Most SME pitches spend all their energy on the first half of that calculation, the dream outcome, and almost none on the second half, the credibility, speed and effort. That imbalance is what leaves deals stuck in limbo instead of closed or lost outright.
The Value Equation
Alex Hormozi's Value Equation, explained in plain English rather than quoted from the book, says perceived value rises with the size and believability of the outcome, and falls with the time and effort it takes to get there. Four levers, worked in order:
- 1. Dream Outcome — get specific about the result, not the feature. "Twelve more qualified leads a month" beats "better marketing."
- 2. Likelihood of Achievement — stack proof. Case studies, guarantees and a clear process all raise believability more than a harder sell does.
- 3. Time Delay — shorten the gap between buying and the first visible win. A fast first result does more for a close than any discount.
- 4. Effort and Sacrifice — strip out everything the customer has to do, learn or change to get the outcome. Every extra step is a reason to say "I'll think about it."
"Kevin is an absolute powerhouse! He doubled our business's profits in the first month alone with lots more of his recommendations still to be rolled out."
— Curtis Hacon, Give A Sh!T
Why Salespeople Know This and Still Pitch the Old Way
Most SME owners and their sales teams know their pitch is outcome-heavy and proof-light. They keep pitching that way because building real proof, a documented process, a guarantee, a faster onboarding path, takes structural work, not just better words on a call. It's genuinely easier to talk faster about the dream than to rebuild the first thirty days of the customer's experience. This is where an outside operator who has actually rebuilt sales processes for seven-figure and nine-figure businesses earns their fee: shortening the time-to-first-win and stacking the proof is slower to build but far faster to sell.
Quick Wins
- Rewrite your core pitch line to name a specific, measurable outcome instead of a vague benefit.
- List every piece of proof you have, case studies, testimonials, results, and add the one you're missing to your next pitch.
- Find the single step in your onboarding that delays the customer's first win, and cut it.
Key Takeaways
- Roughly four in ten B2B purchase attempts end in no decision, not a loss to a competitor.
- Hesitation is usually a value-perception problem, not a price problem.
- Hormozi's Value Equation: value rises with outcome and believability, falls with time and effort.
- Shortening time-to-first-win closes more deals than any discount will.
If your pipeline is full of "still thinking about it," the fix isn't a harder close. It's the offer behind it.
Kevin D’Ambros-Smith
Kevin is the founder of Simple-Growth and a business growth coach with experience at DDB, Ogilvy, and Saatchi & Saatchi. He has co-founded 9 companies, coached 200+ business owners one-on-one, and holds a 9.5/10 NPS. Every article on this blog reflects real-world experience - no theory, no fluff.
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