Charlotte Lloyd
On The Futur with Chris Do
“Most deals were not being lost to the competition. They were being lost to no decision. The buyer felt safer staying where they are than actually making a change. And the reason was that the rep hadn't articulated what the cost of them staying the same was costing them.”
The Futur with Chris Do · Agency Business · November 2026
Context
Asked what sellers really lose deals to, Lloyd describes research that analyzed recorded sales calls. Her point is that quoting ROI isn't enough to move a buyer off the status quo.
Transcript
Thank you, Chris. I am really stoked to be here and it's a pleasure.
Now, there's something that you refer to as a jolt effect, which is you're not losing business to the competition, you're losing it to something else. What is that thing that we're losing it to?
Yeah, the Jolt Effect is actually a book which came out a couple of years after COVID. And the authors did some research on actual calls where deals were being discussed. And obviously, with revenue intelligence platforms like Gong or Fathom, you know, these kind of call recorders, they could analyze what was happening on calls and where, let's say, they've initially did it with sales reps. Were sales reps, they wanted to identify where they were losing deals. Like what part in the call, was it something they were saying? Was it something they were not saying? And when they analyzed, I think it was over a thousand different calls, they came back with this observation based on their research that most deals were not being lost to the competition. They were being lost to no decision. The buyer or the buyers, if there's a, if there were several decision makers, felt safer staying where they are than actually making a change. And this is something that always surprises people, especially people who are entrepreneurs, solopreneurs, you know, running their…
I can relate to what you're saying because oftentimes when somebody's pitching me something, I'm like, yeah, I'm all right. So let me give you the example. This morning I was driving out from my garage to go to the office to do this podcast with you. I noticed the garage wasn't fully closed. And…
Yeah, 100%. And the thing is, is that, yeah, he sold the repair without selling what the damage would be, essentially, right? So the longer you leave that, the more it's going to cost. But the thing is, is that so many don't know how to articulate that and ask the right questions that would uncover…
Well, now I want to do this because you talk about ROI, and then you said there's something about COI, which is an important phrase we all need to learn, which is the cost of inaction. In the instance of the garage repair person, I would just suggest to people: you can't really sell the cost of…