This spring we asked sales leaders one hard question a week. Every revenue leader has a theory about why deals die early. When you actually ask, the answers are remarkably consistent.
Most first meetings never convert
For about six in ten respondents, no more than one first meeting in five turns into an opportunity. That matches what we kept hearing from sales leaders before, during and after we built EQALL: roughly 80% of sales meetings never reach a second conversation.
Preparation is why deals die early
Most prep happens in under an hour
Prep time is one of the most overlooked performance indicators in sales. It is a signal of process maturity, tool gaps, and where deals quietly die before the conversation even starts. Sellers who prepare intentionally win more second meetings.
What leaders would fix first
The takeaway
Leaders name preparation as the top reason deals die early, yet when asked to fix one thing, they choose follow-up. Both point to the same gap: what happens before and after the meeting decides the outcome, and it is exactly the work that gets squeezed when sellers are short on time.
Results from four weekly polls of sales leaders run April 14 to May 12, 2026 (244 votes in total). Respondents chose to take part, so treat the figures as directional rather than a scientific sample. Percentages are rounded and may not add to exactly 100.