--- title: "The Fourth Sale: Where Good Deals Get Stuck" description: * image: https://moicpartners.com/hubfs/ChatGPT%20Image%20Sep%2025%2c%202026%2c%2002_48_27%20PM.png --- [![](https://moicpartners.com/hs-fs/hubfs/MOIC_navy_transparent.png?width=400&height=148&name=MOIC_navy_transparent.png)](https://moicpartners.com/) --- # The Fourth Sale: Where Good Deals Get Stuck - [Why enterprise software has to win four times—and why ROI ultimately decides what gets funded.](https://moicpartners.com/ahead-of-the-curve/the-fourth-sale-where-good-deals-get-stuck#item-1) ### Why enterprise software has to win four times—and why ROI ultimately decides what gets funded. As Q3 concludes and Q4 is here, it presents an opportune time to review all the forecasted Q3 deals that got "stuck" and, ultimately, stalled.  So, why do deals get stuck in the first place and how do we "unstick" them? To better understand this issue, let's first review the fact that all enterprise software deals have to be sold four times: - Deal 1 - the customer acknowledges their challenge and that it is a challenge worth addressing now - Deal 2 - competition is invited to pursue the opportunity - Deal 3 - build vs buy decision, because IT is "free" and will commit to any timeframe and scope - Deal 4 - the war for money that includes projects that may not have anything to do with your opportunity (or even IT) In spite of the sales rep's insistence that he/she did everything right over the course of a six-month sales cycle, the deal still got stuck.  But why? Obviously, the sales rep didn't do everything right, or else the deal would have closed in the predicted timeframe.  In large enterprise deals, the ultimate decision may be made by people we never met (board members, executive committee, etc.) and our sponsor lobbied for our deal with these governing bodies. So how do we ensure that people that we have never met and will likely never be users of our system prioritize our deal?  What these committees don't understand or care about is system capability.  What they *do* care about is money — specifically, the ROI of each project: how much revenue it will generate, or how much expense it will reduce. The driver of the ROI is the business case.  While superior functionality only helps win deals 1-3 and even then, it's the business case that is the deciding factor for all four deals.  This is particularly true for deal four (war for money), as, again, the people in the room don't care about the system capabilities and ONLY care about the business impact (ROI). Certainly, the customer has determined the business impact of each project to be decided by the senior leadership, but do we want to trust the customer to defend our deal and be strong enough to get it approved in a timely manner?  Outsourcing the business case to the customer is a surefire way for our deal to get cut or delayed. The deals that proceed according to plan are those that focused on the software's unique capabilities from the first call that are driving the business case and that business case, after being validated by the customer using their data and is reinforced every step along the sales cycle.   Upon evaluating every stuck deal in the pipeline, my prediction is that the business was either introduced too late (or not at all), was not negotiated with the customer using their data or was not impactful enough to warrant support at the senior executive level.  It's not enough for us to think our ROI is strong, it must be corroborated by the customer and prove as compelling evidence when presented to people, who only care about money. This forensic inspection will also likely show that some of the stuck deals should not have been forecasted to close and were never positioned to win.  If the business case is the foundation of the sales process, we can determine at any step along the way which deals are most likely to close in the expected timeframe so that we can withdraw from unlikely deals and focus on the deals where our differentiation is able to provide a superior ROI for the customer. If your sales team struggles to incorporate the business case method in their sales cycles, I suggest you log into **COMPASS** at [www.moicpartners.com](https://www.moicpartners.com) and learn how to eliminate "stuck" deals by either withdrawing from them or accelerating the closing of them. #### Share: ### Dave Levitt Dave Levitt brings a wealth of experience with more than 40 years in the enterprise software space. Having served as Sr. Vice President, Worldwide Sales, at LiquidFrameworks, Dave played a crucial role in scaling their "quote to cash" platform, leading to its acquisition first by Luminate and then by ServiceMax. His strategic prowess was further proven as he created and spearheaded the Energy Business Unit at Salesforce, growing it from inception to $100 million in total contract value. His extensive background also includes sales roles at SAP, Siebel Systems, Oracle | Datalogix, and as a board member for several tech innovators. ### Related News [![](https://moicpartners.com/hs-fs/hubfs/AdobeStock_1901321668.jpeg?width=352&name=AdobeStock_1901321668.jpeg)](https://moicpartners.com/ahead-of-the-curve/closing-the-gap-between-software-value-and-revenue) [SaaS, B2B, Exit Planning, Sales Engine](https://moicpartners.com/ahead-of-the-curve/tag/saas-b2b-exit-planning-sales-engine) ### [Closing the Gap Between Software Value and Revenue](https://moicpartners.com/ahead-of-the-curve/closing-the-gap-between-software-value-and-revenue) [+ Read more](https://moicpartners.com/ahead-of-the-curve/closing-the-gap-between-software-value-and-revenue) [![](https://moicpartners.com/hs-fs/hubfs/AdobeStock_1449668506.jpeg?width=352&name=AdobeStock_1449668506.jpeg)](https://moicpartners.com/ahead-of-the-curve/why-great-products-dont-always-win-the-missing-75-of-enterprise-saas-marketing) [SaaS, B2B, Exit Planning, Sales Engine](https://moicpartners.com/ahead-of-the-curve/tag/saas-b2b-exit-planning-sales-engine) ### [Why Great Products Don’t Always Win: The Missing 75% of Enterprise SaaS Marketing](https://moicpartners.com/ahead-of-the-curve/why-great-products-dont-always-win-the-missing-75-of-enterprise-saas-marketing) [+ Read more](https://moicpartners.com/ahead-of-the-curve/why-great-products-dont-always-win-the-missing-75-of-enterprise-saas-marketing) [![](https://moicpartners.com/hs-fs/hubfs/AdobeStock_1823900696.jpeg?width=352&name=AdobeStock_1823900696.jpeg)](https://moicpartners.com/ahead-of-the-curve/getting-from-youve-been-selected-to-close-why-the-last-mile-is-the-hardest-mile) [SaaS, B2B, Exit Planning, Sales Engine](https://moicpartners.com/ahead-of-the-curve/tag/saas-b2b-exit-planning-sales-engine) ### [Getting from "You've Been Selected" to Close: Why the Last Mile is the Hardest Mile](https://moicpartners.com/ahead-of-the-curve/getting-from-youve-been-selected-to-close-why-the-last-mile-is-the-hardest-mile) [+ Read more](https://moicpartners.com/ahead-of-the-curve/getting-from-youve-been-selected-to-close-why-the-last-mile-is-the-hardest-mile) ```json { "@context" : "https://schema.org", "@type" : "BlogPosting", "author" : { "@type" : "Person", "name" : "Dave Levitt", "url" : "https://moicpartners.com/ahead-of-the-curve/author/dave-levitt" }, "dateModified" : "2026-09-25T19:54:55.356Z", "datePublished" : "2026-09-25T19:52:30.000Z", "headline" : "The Fourth Sale: Where Good Deals Get Stuck", "image" : [ "https://moicpartners.com/hubfs/ChatGPT%20Image%20Sep%2025%2c%202026%2c%2002_48_27%20PM.png" ], "mainEntityOfPage" : { "@id" : "https://moicpartners.com/ahead-of-the-curve/the-fourth-sale-where-good-deals-get-stuck", "@type" : "WebPage" }, "publisher" : { "@type" : "Organization", "logo" : { "@type" : "ImageObject", "url" : "https://moicpartners.com/hubfs/MOIC_navy_transparent.png" }, "name" : "MOIC" } } ```