If your prospect is vague on every answer, do this

Some prospects are not hard because they object. They're hard because they never say anything real. You ask a question, you get fog. You ask again, you get more fog. If you've ever hung up a call and thought "what the hell did we even talk about," this one is for you.

I'm Christian Polk. I've closed $9M+ in sales myself, and this past month alone I had three students in my mastermind hit over $50k a month in straight commissions. The fastest way to level up is breaking down real calls, not theory. So let's get into this one.

The setup: a prospect with plan A, B, C, D and F

This call review is with EJ, a 20k a month closer who sells a buy a business program. He helps people acquire businesses instead of starting from scratch. His buyer here was a guy who used to run a STEM education company, was getting pushed out by his business partner, was interviewing for corporate jobs, and was "also kind of maybe" interested in buying a business.

Every answer this guy gave was mush. Industry agnostic. Open to anything. Not sure. Depends. He had five different plans running at once and zero commitment to any of them.

"Help me understand, like, what even has you looking to buy a business in the first place? Like, how can we actually help?"

That's EJ trying to get a start. And the prospect gave him nothing concrete back. This is the exact moment most closers lose the call. They accept the vague answer and keep moving the agenda forward like they got something real.

Stop accepting vague answers, push for examples

When a prospect says something foggy like "it's just the politics" or "I'm not industry specific," you do not nod and move on. You push.

"I would probably start to push and ask for examples. Is it just you don't like your partner and everything else is great, or is the politics actually affecting the business and the vision?"

That's the move. Give them two options that are both specific. Not "tell me more," because vague prospects will just give you more vague. Force a fork in the road where both paths require a real answer.

Same thing happened when the prospect said transitioning out of his hectic company was "just because it's hectic." That's not an answer, that's a word. The lesson here, and I said this straight on the call:

"You just need to get them to commit to some type of concrete something, because if not, the likelihood he's going to be able to make a decision at the end of this call is next to nothing."

If you let five "it's complicated" answers stack up in a row, you will not close that call. Period.

Don't ask what it does for them before you know the what

EJ made a move midcall that I see a lot of good closers make. He tried to jump straight to the emotional payoff question, "what does this do for you personally," before he had any specifics to hang that question on.

Here is the problem with that:

• The prospect has given you nothing concrete yet
• You ask a deep question off of nothing
• You get an even vaguer answer, because there's nothing to anchor it to

I called this out directly:

"We're diving into what it does for him without understanding the specifics of it... it's so broad. We haven't really drilled down into any of the specifics, so it's going to be very difficult for him to answer that with any specificity."

Get the facts first. Small team, impactful industry, based in Scottsdale, wants product or service based. Those are concrete data points. Only once you have three or four of those do you earn the right to ask what it means to him. Specifics first, meaning second.

Use extreme examples to stress test what they actually want

This is one of my favorite tools for a vague prospect, and it's the part of this call I'd replay for any closer stuck in the fog.

The prospect kept saying he wanted something "impactful," something that helps kids or helps people. Sounds nice. But is it real, or is it just a story he's telling himself? Here's how you find out:

"If he was in Scottsdale, Arizona, running a billion dollar waste management company... are they making an impact? They're collecting trash kind of, but the guys are rich as hell. If he could switch, live that life, own that business, make a billion a year doing waste management with a giant team, and not make an impact in the school district... would he say yes? Dude, a hundred percent he'd say yes."

That's the move. Take their stated value and put it up against a stack of cash in a boring, unglamorous business. If they'd take the money every time, you now know "impact" was never the real driver. It was outcome. Lifestyle. Money. Use extreme, almost ridiculous comparisons to cut through the noise they've built up in their own head.

Reframe want into need

Later in the call, the prospect kept treating buying a business like a backup plan. Plan B behind corporate jobs. I gave EJ the frame he should have used earlier:

"If you and somebody else are gunning for the same job, one guy says I need to get this job, the other says if I get the job it would be nice. Who do you think wins?"

Obvious answer. The guy who needs it. That's the frame to put on any prospect who's treating your offer like a "maybe, we'll see." You are not trying to convince them the opportunity is good. You're trying to get them to admit, out loud, that they need it, not just want it. Once they say that, you have something to build the whole close on.

Isolate the fear, don't argue the logic

By the end of the call it was clear this guy wasn't confused, he was scared. He kept saying he needed to "cover his bases" with a corporate job in case the business thing didn't work out. That's not a logistics problem. That's fear talking.

"Where are you making that decision from? Is it a place of you feel like things are going to work out, or is it more of a fear of failure type of thing?"

He said it straight. Fear of failure. Once a prospect admits that out loud, you don't need ten more questions. You name it and move forward:

"The fact that you are a bit fearful and unsure about what to invest in... most people are unsure, and it's the people who act anyway that make all their money."

Don't argue with a vague prospect's logic. Their logic was never the real block. Find the fear underneath the fog and speak to that directly.

The bottom line

A vague prospect will burn your whole call if you let them. Every soft answer you accept costs you the close later. Push for examples instead of nodding along. Get concrete facts before you dig for meaning. Use extreme comparisons to find out what they actually want versus what sounds good to say out loud. Reframe their want into a need. And when the vagueness is really just fear wearing a disguise, call it what it is. EJ didn't close this one because he ran out of time to finish the job, but every move he made in the second half of that call is the blueprint for turning fog into a decision.