Ask HN: Do B2B deals stall more from "org blindness" than product fit? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: Do B2B deals stall more from "org blindness" than product fit?

6 pointsTanjim6 comments

I’m researching a hypothesis and would love input from folks who’ve worked in B2B sales, RevOps, or founded companies selling to other businesses.

Hypothesis: A lot of deals don’t slow down because the product is weak or the pitch is bad, but because early conversations happen without a clear understanding of who actually holds decision power inside the buyer’s org.

Teams end up spending weeks with people who are interested but not empowered. By the time the real decision-maker shows up, context is lost and momentum resets.

I’m curious:

1. Do SDRs/AEs in your experience consciously map buying groups early? 2. Is org awareness something teams are trained or incentivized to do? 3. Have you seen deals stall for this reason? 4. Is this mostly an SDR issue, an AE issue, or a leadership/process issue? 5. Are there tools or workflows that genuinely help here (not just CRM fields nobody updates)?

Just trying to understand whether this is a real, repeatable pattern across teams or an overthought theory.

Would appreciate any stories, counterpoints, or practices that have worked for you.

I have sold B2B SAAS for 10+ years and I have seen it all. It all depends on the size of your buyer's organization, amount of politics involved (if larger org), red tapes to go through and various other challenges.

Let's break it down a bit.

- For prospects where company size is less than 50 employees or so, the owner/founder(s) are usually involved even if not from Day 1 and it is a lot easier to try and close the deal considering they have a real need/want for what you are selling.

- For prospects where company size starts going into 50-100 or more, now you are dealing with smaller teams with their own needs/politics etc. Not always, but often. This is where a good "champion" who may not be the final decision maker but is mostly sold on your product can be very helpful. Now, the downside is that if you cannot convince the champion, you will never get to the decision makers or will be very hard because they will just tell you to talk to the champions first.

I don't think a tool can solve this problem considering that is the premise of your post. It is a human problem.

I don't have as much experience as some. Just 4 years leading RevOps in B2B Enterprise Sales. But this is an issue that comes up over and over. Methodologies like MEDDPICC can help, but the eagerness to close the deal sometimes takes over. Even when you know you're not talking with the right person, you just keep going.

We've reached a good point where AEs do their best to involve the decision-maker in the sales process ASAP, but it’s still happening.

>Ask HN: Do B2B deals stall more from "org blindness" than product fit?

If anything I'd assume the opposite. A lot of businesses try to sell products to other businesses and lie about how well their fit and then are surprised when the deal falls through because the crap they are selling doesn't actually work as well as they claim.

There are some sales where it is straightforward, you're talking to the person up front who is empowered to buy.

Then there are those sales where, as you say, understanding politics is the most important thing.

There is no trick that makes that complex sale easy but it sure is helpful to recognize that this is normal and know what you're dealing with.

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