when the customer closes before they close
sometimes your customer closes before they close. You're just the one still negotiating the paperwork.
two separate prospects said yes on the same call this week. neither one was a hard close. both were conversations where, midway through, they just said: "yeah, we'll start using this."
the founder's instinct is to treat that as soft. they haven't signed. they haven't paid. it's not real.
wrong.
once someone says "we'll use this," they've already closed themselves. the signing and the payment are just paperwork. your job isn't to convince them anymore. your job is to make the onboarding so smooth they don't regret it.
the problem: most founders treat post-close like pre-close. they're still in convince mode. they're still offering discounts, customizations, delays.
stop.
they've decided. move them from contemplation to action as fast as possible. every day between "yes, we'll use it" and "yes, we've paid for it" is a day they can change their mind.
a verbal yes from a serious buyer isn't a soft commitment. it's a decision that still needs to be made legible — to their finance team, to their calendar, to their own sense of closure.
your job at that point is administrative, not persuasive. act like it.