The Segment You Keep Losing 🧭

The Segment You Keep Losing

But Think You’re Closing.

Dan Prudhomme | October 26, 2025

 Read on dcprudhomme.me
 Read time: 3 minutes
 Not subscribed yet? [Join free here]

This week’s truth: the deals you think you’re closing might be the ones quietly slipping through your path.

You don’t lose buyers. You lead them out.

Not because your offer’s weak but because your path is.

Every click, call, and quote connects or cracks the journey.

When each touchpoint lives in its own world (ads here, forms there, follow-ups later), you don’t have a buyer path. You have a patchwork.

And patchwork doesn’t stall buyers. It confuses them.

Confused buyers don’t chase clarity. They move on.

Check the path before you blame the pitch.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

This Week’s: The Segment You Keep Losing

Your buyers aren’t ghosting. They’re getting lost.

They click your ad -> land on your site -> fill your form -> get silence.
Or they talk to sales -> but never hear from support -> and drift.

Each step worked alone. But none worked together.

The fix isn’t another funnel hack. It’s path alignment.

Because consistency beats creativity when clarity’s missing.

Check the sync before you add the spend.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

This Week's Micro-Syncs:

Smooth the path. Strengthen the alignment.

1. Awareness -> Interest
Audit your first click. Does it instantly match your offer?

2. Interest -> Evaluation
Simplify follow-ups. Drop long forms. Add one clear next step.

3. Evaluation -> Decision
Make the yes easy. Reduce friction, not price.

4. Decision -> Retention
Close the gap between sale and service.
The experience after the deal determines your next referral.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

 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.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Real-World Sync: How One Contractor Fixed the Gaps

A home-improvement contractor spent $15K last quarter on ads.
The phone rang. The quotes went out.
Then everything went quiet.

They thought the market had cooled.
It hadn’t — their path had.

• Ad to call (smooth)
• Call to quote (on time)
• Quote to follow-up (missing)

We mapped every buyer step and found 60% of estimates never got a second touch. No reminders. No check-ins. No next step.

We built a simple 3-step path:
1. A same-day text recap after each quote
2. A 48-hour “any questions?” email
3. A one-week call to re-engage

That single follow-through system lifted closed jobs by 42% not because of better ads, but because the path stopped leaking.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

SageStamped: Recap & Plan

 1 Insight: 

You don’t lose buyers. You lead them out.
Growth doesn’t come from more leads. It comes from alignment.
Fixing the path makes every dollar you already spend work harder.

 1 Action:

Walk your own buyer path this week.
Click your ad. Fill your form. Wait for your follow-up.
If the process feels clunky, your buyers feel it too.
Smooth one step and watch your conversions climb..

 1 Resource:

Segment Alignment Worksheet (Segment Sage Template - Download Now) Map your buyer journey and find where good leads quietly fall off. 

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

LinkedIn Sales Navigator Check: The Patchwork Prospecting Trap

A consultant I worked with was convinced her Sales Navigator system was dialed in. She built new lists every week.
New searches. New filters. New outreach sequences.

But her pipeline looked like Swiss cheese. Full of gaps, no flow.

The problem wasn’t her effort. It was the path between steps.

• List building (strong)
  Connection requests (consistent)
  Follow-up cadence (missing)

She’d send the first message, wait a week, then move on.
No reminders. No rhythm. No reason for buyers to re-engage.

We restructured her path:
1. A 2-day “thanks for connecting” message
2. A 4-day value follow-up with one actionable insight
3. A 7-day check-in asking about timing, not interest

Within a month, her positive reply rate jumped 38%.
She didn’t change her filters or her niche. Just the alignment.

Because on LinkedIn, as in sales, the leaks aren’t in your leads.
They’re in your path.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

 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.