Segment Sage #144: The Segment Where Sales Slip Away 🧭

 The Segment Where Sales Slip Away

It's not the audience. It's the gap. 

Dan Prudhomme | December 28, 2025

 Read on dcprudhomme.me
 Read time: 3 minutes
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Most teams think sales slip because the audience isn’t ready. That’s rarely true. Sales usually slip in the gap. The space between interest and the next clear step.

Nothing changed about the buyer. Nothing changed about demand. One step became unclear, delayed, or optional. So momentum paused.

When buyers have to guess what happens next, they don’t say no. They wait.
And waiting quietly turns into lost sales.

Fix the gap, and the segment moves again.

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This Week’s: The Segment Where Sales Slip Away

Teams obsess over volume: more ads, more clicks, more calls, more attention.

But volume doesn’t fix direction. Confusing paths create silent churn:

• Too many choices
• Too many links
• Too many tabs
• Too many ways to quit

The market isn’t choosing your competitor. They’re choosing clarity.

Businesses rarely stall because the offer is weak. They stall because the path forces buyers to think too hard.

Clarity isn’t hype. Clarity is friction removal.

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This Week's Micro-Syncs:

Self - If you feel stalled, there’s likely a gap you haven’t noticed yet..
Audience - Buyers don’t disappear. They pause when the next step isn’t clear
Message - Strong words can’t overcome an unclear next move.
Path - Sales slip in the space between interest and action.
Growth - Fixing the gap restores momentum faster than chasing new demand.

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 Cheat Sheet PDFs:

• Aligning Your Message for Maximum Impact

• Timing Your Follow-Ups for Optimal Engagement

Access these and previous issues at the bottom of this email.

Stay tuned for more Segment Sage insights next week.

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Real-World Sync: The Quiet Gap

A local service firm told me,
“We’re booking calls, but deals keep stalling.” Their flow looked like this:

Interest
-> Discovery call
-> “We’ll follow up”
-> Waiting

No timeline. No next step. No decision frame. Nothing was wrong with the segment. They were ready. We changed one thing. The call ended with:
“I’ll send this in 15 minutes. We’ll review it together tomorrow at 9.”

Same offer. Same pricing. Same buyers.

Decisions started happening again. Sales weren’t lost to the audience. They slipped in the gap.

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SageStamped: Recap & Plan

 1 Insight:
Confusion kills more conversions than competition.
Your buyers don’t need more convincing. Just one obvious next step.

 1 Action:
Audit your main path. Ask:
“Can a 10-year-old figure out what to do next?”
If not, simplify.

 1 Resource:
Segment Alignment Worksheet: A simple way to see which step is misaligned - Audience, Message, Path, or Growth.

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LinkedIn Sales Navigator Action:

Review the last 10 prospects who viewed your profile or accepted a connection but didn’t book a call. Check one thing only: Was the next step clear and time-bound?

If not, send a simple follow-up that removes the gap:
“Based on what you shared, the next step is a 15-minute call to review options. Would tomorrow or Thursday work?”

This keeps it aligned with the path: clarity creates movement, not pressure.

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 Segment Sage Resources: 

Audience Positioning Worksheet! Download Now

Fix Your Funnel: 5-Step Guide To Converting Traffic Into Sales! Download Now

Become The Creator You'd Target Action Plan! Download Now

AI Targeting Cheat Sheet: The Best AI Tools for Smarter Segmentation!  Download Now

Smart Segmentation Matrix! Download Now

Leadership Niche Segmentation Playbook! Download Now

Ready Buyer Targeting Framework! Download Now

Segment Alignment Worksheet! Download Now

Read past issues of Segment Sage.