Deal Inspection

Kathleen’s chapter in McMahon’s book is a goldmine for deal inspection.

It exposes three foundational truths that most pipeline reviews miss.

Deals don’t close in the middle of the quarter after one call.

If a customer says they'll buy this week after hearing about your product for the first time last week, the probability of closing is near zero.

Why?

• No champion alignment
• No consensus
• No internal justification
• No procurement path
• No real pain established
• No urgency
• No reason to buy now

These are 5-risk signals, especially for new vendors.

Obsessing over one feature is not the same as wanting the product.

This is a subtle but powerful signal.

Customers will say things like:

• “We love that one capability…”
• “We’re excited about this one thing…”

But if they never say:

“We need your platform for X reason,”

the feature is a distraction, not a deal.

Sales leaders must detect:

• Feature praise vs actual need
• Whether the feature exists in competitor products
• If the customer is shopping the category (Gartner, Magic Quadrants, G2, analysts)
• Whether the category suggests competing evaluation motions

This is an external + internal coalesced signal.

Customer POC criteria is NOT validation.

Customers often propose POC requirements that:

• Your product can only partially satisfy
• Require configuration you don’t have
• Test capabilities outside your roadmap
• Stretch your platform into unrealistic territory

Sales leaders should identify:

• Which POC criteria map to real features
• Which don’t
• Which require workarounds
• Whether your product can actually win under that evaluation

Otherwise, your reps are forecasting a POC you’re destined to lose.