By

Simon Hazeldine

Many sales leaders are puzzled by a frustrating pattern.

Their best sellers do everything right. They build strong relationships. They articulate value clearly. They run professional sales processes. And yet, increasingly, they lose deals they fully expected to win.

The explanation is uncomfortable but simple.

They are not losing to competitors.
They are losing to complexity.

Modern deals are not decided by individuals. They are decided by committees or “decision making units”. And committees do not fail loudly. They fail quietly, in the gaps between stakeholders.

If you want to win in complex sales environments, you must understand the Multi-Stakeholder Trap, and you must equip your sellers with a way to manage it deliberately.

Why Buying Committees Break Deals

Buying committees are designed to reduce risk. Ironically, they often create it.

As more stakeholders get involved, decision making slows. Ownership diffuses. Accountability weakens. Misalignment grows. What looks like progress at the surface often masks silent resistance underneath.

Most sellers track activity.
Few track alignment.

That is why great sellers still lose.

The Case: A Deal That Looked Certain, Until It Was Not

Let me give you a real-world example.

A senior enterprise seller was working a seven-figure deal with a technology firm. They had strong access to the project lead, solid engagement with procurement, and positive feedback from operations. The solution clearly addressed the stated business problem.

The forecast confidence was high. The close date was agreed. The proposal was well received.

Then the deal stalled.

Emails slowed. Meetings were postponed. Eventually, the buyer announced they were “going in a different direction.”

When the loss was analysed, the root cause became obvious.

The seller never aligned the economic buyer, the technical buyer, and the risk owner at the same time. Each stakeholder assumed someone else had validated the decision. One silent veto emerged late, and no one challenged it.

The deal did not fail because the seller was weak.
It failed because alignment was assumed, not engineered.

The Multi-Stakeholder Trap Explained

Most sellers fall into the same trap.

They build strong one-to-one relationships and mistake that for organisational alignment. They assume consensus because no one is objecting. They believe silence equals agreement.

It does not.

In complex buying groups, silence often equals uncertainty, fear, or quiet resistance.

Here are the four most common traps sellers fall into.

Trap 1. Mistaking Access for Influence

Just because someone meets with you does not mean they can decide.

Many sellers confuse engagement with influence. They spend months working with stakeholders who are enthusiastic but powerless, while the real decision makers remain distant or disengaged.

Without mapping influence, sellers optimise for activity, not impact.

Trap 2. Treating Stakeholders as a Single Entity

Buying committees are not unified. They are political systems.

Each stakeholder has different priorities, fears, and success metrics. Procurement cares about risk and price. Operations care about disruption. Finance cares about ROI. IT cares about integration and security.

When sellers deliver a single generic value story, it resonates with no one deeply enough to drive commitment.

Trap 3. Ignoring Silent Veto Power

Not all power is visible.

Some stakeholders do not speak up in meetings. They influence decisions behind the scenes. They ask quiet questions. They express concerns privately. And when they are not aligned, they block progress indirectly.

Sellers who only focus on vocal stakeholders often lose to invisible ones.

Trap 4. Letting Alignment Drift Over Time

Even when alignment exists early, it decays.

New stakeholders join. Priorities change. External pressures intervene. What was agreed three months ago may no longer be true.

Without deliberate re-alignment, deals rot quietly.

The Alignment Mapping Framework

To escape the Multi-Stakeholder Trap, sellers need a simple but disciplined way to map influence and alignment.

I recommend leaders coach their teams to use this four-part mapping framework on every complex deal.

1. Stakeholder Role Mapping

For every deal, identify the following roles:

• Economic buyer
• Technical buyer
• User buyer
• Risk owner
• Procurement
• Executive sponsor

If any of these roles are missing or assumed, the deal is already at risk.

2. Influence Versus Authority Assessment

For each stakeholder, assess:

• Decision authority
• Informal influence
• Level of advocacy
• Risk tolerance

Some stakeholders have low authority but high influence. Others have authority but low engagement. Both are dangerous if ignored.

3. Alignment Scoring

Ask sellers to score each stakeholder on three dimensions:

• Problem alignment, do they agree this problem matters
• Solution alignment, do they believe your solution is right
• Outcome alignment, do they agree on what success looks like

Misalignment on any one of these will stall the deal.

4. Friction Identification

Identify where friction exists between stakeholders.

Common friction points include:

• Cost versus value
• Speed versus risk
• Innovation versus stability
• Centralised versus local control

Friction is not a threat. Unacknowledged friction is.

Running Alignment Moments That Prevent Drift

Mapping alone is not enough. Sellers must actively create alignment moments.

An alignment moment is a structured interaction designed to surface assumptions, expose friction, and create shared understanding across the buying group.

Here is how to run them effectively.

Step 1. Name the Complexity

Start by acknowledging the reality.

“This decision affects multiple teams, each with different priorities. Before we move forward, it would be useful to make sure everyone is aligned on what success looks like.”

This reframes alignment as risk management, not selling.

Step 2. Surface Individual Perspectives

Ask each stakeholder to articulate:

• Their biggest concern
• Their success criteria
• Their definition of a good decision

Do not summarise. Let them hear each other.

Misalignment becomes visible very quickly.

Step 3. Facilitate Trade-Off Conversations

Most sellers avoid trade-offs. They should not.

Alignment requires explicit trade-offs to be discussed openly. Speed versus risk. Cost versus capability. Short-term versus long-term value.

When trade-offs are named, resistance reduces.

Step 4. Confirm Shared Commitments

End every alignment moment by confirming:

• What is agreed
• What remains open
• Who owns next steps
• What happens if alignment breaks

This prevents false consensus.

The Leadership Role in Avoiding the Trap

Sales leaders must coach for alignment, not just progress.

Pipeline reviews should include questions like:

Who has veto power here?
Where could alignment break?
Which stakeholder would block this if priorities changed?
When was the last alignment moment run?

If leaders only ask about close dates and deal size, sellers will ignore alignment until it is too late.

Final Thought

Great sellers do not lose because they lack skill.
They lose because complexity outgrows their approach.

Buying committees do not kill deals directly.
They kill them quietly, in the gaps between stakeholders.

If you want to win more complex deals, stop managing relationships individually.

Start managing alignment deliberately.

That is how modern sales leaders protect performance in a world of growing complexity.

Good luck and good selling!

PS You may find this recent episode from my “Sales Chat Show” podcast useful:
“The Hidden Power of Buyer Psychology – Closing Deals Faster”
The “Sales Chat Show” is also available from all the major podcast platforms.

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About the author

Simon Hazeldine works internationally as a revenue growth and sales performance speaker, consultant, and coach. He empowers his clients to get more sales, more often with more margin.

He has spoken in over thirty countries and his client list includes some of the world’s largest and most successful companies.

Simon has a master’s degree in psychology, is the bestselling author of ten books that have been endorsed by a host of business leaders including multi-billionaire business legend Michael Dell and is co-founder of leading sales podcast “The Sales Chat Show”.

He is the creator of the neuroscience based “Brain Friendly Selling”® methodology.

Simon Hazeldine’s books:

• Neuro-Sell: How Neuroscience Can Power Your Sales Success
• Bare Knuckle Selling
• Bare Knuckle Negotiating
• Bare Knuckle Customer Service
• The Inner Winner
• How To Lead Your Sales Team – Virtually and in Person
• Virtual Selling Success
• How To Manage Your People’s Performance
• How To Create Effective Employee Development Plans
• Virtual Negotiation Success