One person loved the demo. The company never decided.

You ran a strong demo. One person on their side loved it. They asked sharp questions and said their team would use it.

Three weeks later the thread is quiet and the deal sits in the same stage.

This is one of the most common ways a good deal dies. Nobody said no. Nobody on their side said anything at all, except the one person who liked it.

One person liking the product is a start. The company still has to decide, and so far you have met one person in it.

When I inspect a live deal, I start with who cares:

Who is the economic buyer? The person who can move money to make this happen.

Who is the champion? The person who will argue for you in the room you are not in.

Who is hurt if this slips? The person whose week gets worse if nothing changes.

Those can be three different people. Often they are. If you can only name one of them, you know where the deal really stands.

Then one more check. If the buyer did not say it, it is not real. Moving the deal to the next stage in your CRM does not count as the buyer saying yes. A forwarded deck does not count either.

If every answer points back to the person who liked the demo, the deal lives in one inbox. Multi-thread or it is a story.

Finding the second name is not a trick. Ask your champion plainly: who else has to be comfortable with this before it moves? Who would be upset if they heard about it last? Then ask for fifteen minutes with that person, with your champion in the room.

This week, pick your warmest deal. Write down every name on their side who has said out loud that they want this. If the list has one name, your next conversation is about finding the second.

The full checklist I use is on one page: how I inspect a live deal.