The Maybe Is the Most Expensive AnswerMost Expensive Answer 21 October 2026 · 3 min read · 266 reads
266readsSales · Decisions
The Maybe Is the Most Expensive Answer
A clean no frees your week. A long maybe quietly eats it. Here is how to price your pipeline honestly and ask for a real answer.
Open your pipeline sheet. Count the deals marked "in discussion" for more than 45 days. Now ask yourself: how many of those will truly close?
If you hesitate, you are holding maybes. And maybes are the most expensive answer a buyer can
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What a maybe really costs
Say your average deal is ₹8 lakh and your margin is 25 percent, so each win brings ₹2 lakh. This is an example, not a benchmark.
Suppose twelve deals sit in "maybe". You spend an hour a week on each, calling, rewriting proposals, waiting. That is twelve hours a week, close to fifty hours a month.
If only two of those twelve ever close, you have spent fifty hours for ₹4 lakh. If you had known the other ten were dead, those fifty hours could have gone to new conversations.
Why buyers say maybe
A maybe is rarely a lie. It is usually kindness or avoidance. The buyer does not want to disappoint you, so they say "let me think". Or they do not yet know, and nobody has helped them find out.
Whatever the reason, they will not leave the maybe unless you make a clean answer easy and safe.
Make a no safe
This sounds backwards, but it works. When you say, "If this is not right for you, a no is completely fine. I would rather know," the pressure drops. The buyer can finally tell the truth.
Chris Voss, in Never Split the Difference, makes a related point: a "no" often makes people feel safe and in control, and so can open the way to honest talk. Treat a no as the start of information, not the end of a relationship.
Try the line in your own words: "Would it be a bad idea to decide by Friday, even if the answer is no?"
Give the maybe a shape
If the buyer does need time, give the time a shape. A vague "I will think" becomes a plan:
- What exactly will you think about?
- Who else will you speak to?
- When shall we talk again, and what will we decide then?
Write that date in the diary while you are still on the call. Send a short note afterwards, with the date and the open question.
Flow: Maybe > Name the open question > Agree a date > Get a clear answer | Turn a vague wait into a dated step
Use the 21-day rule
Here is a simple house rule you can set for your team. If a deal has no dated next step, it is not in the pipeline. After three weeks without movement, send one honest message:
"I have not heard back, so I am guessing the timing is not right. I will close this file for now. If that is wrong, tell me and I will reopen it at once."
Many buyers reply to this one. They feel the file is about to vanish and they say what is really going on. Some say no, which is a gift. Some say yes, I am sorry, I was busy.
Forecast with honesty
Once you stop counting maybes as pipeline, your forecast shrinks. This is a good thing. A forecast you can trust lets you plan hiring, stock and cash with open eyes.
Report two numbers every Monday: deals with a dated next step, and deals without. Only the first group counts toward the month.
Do not confuse asking with pushing
Asking for a decision is not pressure. Pressure is inventing a deadline, hiding information or making someone feel foolish. Asking is saying, "I would like to know where we stand, and I can take either answer."
Grant Cardone's The Closer's Survival Guide argues that you must ask for the sale. You can follow that advice and stay respectful. The two live together.
Try this
This week, open your pipeline and do this.
- List every deal older than 45 days with no dated next step.
- Send each the 21-day message in your own words.
- Move non-responders out of the pipeline into a "review in 90 days" list.
- Note how many hours you freed and what you spent them on.
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