Why Most Sales Teams Struggle to Stay Aligned with Buyers

Where Sales Gets Stuck

Selling into complex industries isn’t just about pitching the right product. It’s about timing, coordination, and understanding how buyers make decisions, something most sales teams overlook.

In aviation, procurement cycles are long and layered. In healthcare, compliance, clinical review, and purchasing rules drive every step. Tech sales involve massive buying committees that span IT, finance, and operations. Financial services teams must balance business goals with tight regulations.

The takeaway? Each industry has its own buying rhythm, and if your sales process isn’t built to match, things stall.

What the Data Says

Korn Ferry’s Sales Maturity Survey revealed something telling:

55% of top-performing sales teams have mapped out their customers’ buying stages.
Only 28% of the rest have done the same.

Without that visibility, sellers jump ahead, miss key decision points, or talk to the wrong people. The result? Delayed deals and lost opportunities.

A Real-World Win: Medtech

One global healthcare client came to us with a common challenge: too many deals were stalling during the compliance and budgeting phase.

We helped them map the full buying process and coached reps to engage the right internal champions earlier. Nine months later, their average sales cycle was 23% shorter.

Want to Know What’s Slowing You Down?

If you’re hearing “We’re not ready yet” or “Still waiting on approvals” more often than you’d like, your sales process probably isn’t aligned with how your buyers make decisions.

Let’s fix that. Reach out and we’ll help you spot the gaps and turn stalled deals into closed ones.

What We Do Differently

At Millennia Quest, we work with sales teams to realign their process around how their customers buy. That means: