Overcoming the JOLT Effect: Turning Buyer Indecision into Closed Revenue

If you’ve ever watched a promising opportunity go from high energy to silent hesitation, you’ve experienced the JOLT Effect in action. Everything seemed to be lining up: the discovery call was electric, the demo got nods from every stakeholder, and your proposal addressed every requirement. Then… nothing. The buyer didn’t ghost you entirely; they just slowed down. Emails went unanswered, decision meetings were postponed, and soon the quarter closed with the deal still “in pipeline.”

For most B2B GTM leaders, this story is painfully familiar. And the research backs it up. In The JOLT Effect by Matthew Dixon and Ted McKenna, studies revealed that in 40–60% of pipeline opportunities, the loss isn’t to a competitor; it’s to no decision at all. In other words, indecision is more dangerous than your fiercest rival.

‍

The Psychology of Buyer Indecision

The first thing to understand is that buyers don’t stall because they think you’re bad at your job. They stall because they doubt themselves. Modern B2B buyers face:

• Overchoice: Too many options create anxiety rather than clarity.
• Fear of negative consequences: Choosing the wrong vendor could mean wasted budget, career risk, or loss of credibility.
• Information overload: The more they learn, the more they realize they don’t know.
• Internal politics: Decision-making committees rarely agree on timing or risk tolerance.

This indecision is magnified in today’s buying environment, where the stakes are high, deals involve multiple stakeholders, and economic uncertainty makes everyone cautious. Staying put, even if “put” is a subpar solution, feels safer than making a bold move.

‍

The JOLT Framework

The JOLT Effect offers a four-part approach to overcome this indecision: Judge the indecision type, Offer a recommendation, Limit the exploration, and Take risk off the table.

It’s a sales framework, yes, but the smartest GTM leaders know that buyer confidence doesn’t begin and end in the sales conversation. It’s built across the entire go-to-market motion, from the first marketing touch to the signed contract.

‍

1. Judge the Indecision Type: Diagnosing the Stall

The first step is understanding why the buyer is hesitating. Not all indecision is created equal. Some buyers freeze because they feel they lack information. Others are overwhelmed by choices. Others believe the risk is too high. Without diagnosing the cause, you risk treating the symptom rather than the disease.

This is where RevSure’s full-funnel buyer intelligence changes the game. By integrating data from your CRM, marketing automation platform, ABM tools, website analytics, and intent sources, RevSure gives you a 360° view of engagement. You can see when activity drops off after a demo, when certain stakeholders disengage, or when conversations stall between specific funnel stages.

For example, suppose a buying committee’s engagement is concentrated on a single champion, and no other decision-makers have interacted with your content. In that case, that’s a signal the stall might be due to a lack of internal alignment, not competitive loss. Knowing this lets you address the true barrier instead of wasting cycles chasing non-issues.

‍

2. Offer a Recommendation: Guiding, Not Overwhelming

Buyers often fall into paralysis when presented with too many equally compelling options. While discovery and tailoring are critical, there comes a point where the most helpful thing you can do is say, “Based on your needs, here’s the path I recommend.”

Marketing’s role here is to equip sellers with the confidence to make that recommendation. RevSure contributes by identifying which past opportunities most closely resemble the current one, and showing which solution approach, messaging, or campaign touch pattern led to a win.

This data-backed guidance gives sales teams the confidence to stop offering an overwhelming menu of choices and instead guide buyers toward the single option most likely to succeed. The result? Instead of your buyer thinking, “I need to keep evaluating,” they think, “They’ve done this before, and they know what works for companies like mine.”

‍

3. Limit the Exploration: Controlling the Narrative

In theory, more research should help a buyer feel confident. In practice, endless exploration fuels indecision. Every additional webinar, vendor meeting, or whitepaper can add new doubts or raise “what ifs” that prolong the decision.

GTM leaders can help here by tightening the scope of what buyers focus on. Instead of letting them wander into every possible feature or integration, guide them toward the few elements that truly matter to achieving their business outcome.

This is especially powerful in complex B2B environments where a single deal might involve 8–10 stakeholders, each with different priorities. A focused narrative means everyone evaluates the same core value drivers.

‍

4. Take Risk Off the Table: Building Confidence in the Outcome

The most important step in the JOLT framework is reducing perceived risk. Buyers fear the unknown. Will this solution really work? Will the promised ROI materialize? Will the implementation be smooth, or will it spiral into a costly headache?

The key is to prove, not just claim, that the risk is minimal. When a buyer sees that your recommendations are rooted in data, experience, and expertise, and that you’ve already thought through potential challenges, their perception of risk drops dramatically.

‍

Why the JOLT Effect Is a GTM Issue, Not Just a Sales Issue

While the JOLT steps are executed in conversation, their success depends heavily on the intelligence, enablement, and proof points created upstream. Marketing generates the assets and case studies that help “take risk off the table.” RevOps ensures the right engagement signals reach the sales team in time to “judge indecision.” Campaign managers design the nurture flows that “limit exploration” to relevant themes.

Suppose any one of these elements is missing. In that case, sellers are left trying to overcome indecision with charm and persistence alone—two things that are no longer enough in a cautious buying climate.

‍

How RevSure Bridges the Gap

The reason RevSure is so effective in helping GTM teams overcome the JOLT Effect is simple: indecision thrives in uncertainty, and RevSure eliminates uncertainty by connecting the dots across the entire funnel.

When a deal is stuck, RevSure can show you:

• Which campaigns or touchpoints have been most influential so far.
• Whether engagement is deepening or stalling.
• How similar deals have historically moved forward, or failed.
• What will the projected revenue impact be if the deal closes this quarter versus slipping?

Armed with this insight, sales and marketing can collaborate on the exact plays needed to get the deal moving again. Maybe that’s a targeted ROI case study, an executive-to-executive meeting, or a simplified proposal that trims non-essential features.

‍

The Competitive Edge

Organizations that master the JOLT framework don’t just close more deals; they shorten sales cycles, improve forecast accuracy, and increase trust between marketing, sales, and RevOps. The ability to handle buyer indecision proactively becomes a differentiator in itself.

In markets where competitors are all offering roughly similar features and price points, your ability to build decision confidence becomes the deciding factor. That’s what turns “maybe later” into “let’s move forward.”

‍

Final Word

The JOLT Effect is a reminder that in B2B sales, the biggest deal-killer isn’t always your competition; it’s hesitation. Modern GTM teams can’t treat indecision as a purely sales problem. It’s a go-to-market challenge that demands coordinated intelligence, tailored messaging, and proactive de-risking.

RevSure equips teams to do exactly that. By providing full-funnel visibility, predictive analytics, and actionable buyer insights, it gives GTM leaders the tools to apply the JOLT framework with precision. The result is fewer deals lost to no decision, more predictable revenue, and a pipeline you can actually count on.