How to Stop Losing Sales at the End of the Call Artwork

Uncomplicating Business with Sara Torpey

Business gets WAY less complicated when you keep it human. In the Uncomplicating Business world, we use a simple, flexible four-part framework—ground, plan, connect, sell—to help you simplify decisions, set (and keep!) effective timelines, and show up consistently without burning out. You’ll hear bite-sized solo episodes and thoughtful interviews that turn messy challenges into actual actions, from pricing with confidence to building trust with yourself, your offers, and your community. Come for the clarity, stay for the momentum. Let's create *functional success* - where successful businesses are one part of our successful lives - together.

All Episodes

Uncomplicating Business with Sara Torpey

How to Stop Losing Sales at the End of the Call

November 10, 2026 • Sara Torpey • Season 4 • Episode 20

0:00 | 9:04

This episode is for you if your sales calls feel like they go well... then the person says “I’ll think about it” and you never hear from them again.

Today’s episode is short, practical, and one single piece of coaching I have been giving over and over lately to clients, colleagues, and new connections. It’s about the last five minutes of a sales call, and changing this one thing has helped close rates every single time someone actually does it.

Three things you’ll walk away with:

**Please - stop sending the email recap into the abyss. An email is not a decision-making tool - it’s a paper airplane you throw into the void. The people you’re working with are often overwhelmed, busy, and juggling too much. An email asking them to make a decision on their own is not making it easier for them.

**The job of a sales call isn’t to get a yes - it’s to help someone make a decision. And closing a loop on a decision often takes more than one conversation. Not fifteen. Just one more - a quick follow-up call where they can ask questions, say yes, or say no. All of those outcomes are fine.

** End the call with a concrete next step on the calendar. Not a “I’ll follow up!” - an actual time to talk again. If someone declines the follow-up or no-shows, that’s an answer too. But most of the time, people show up ready to decide. That’s what you’re building toward.

This is NOT a high-pressure tactic. It’s just a cleaner, kinder (and more effective...) way to close the loop - for you and for them.

Join the Uncomplicating Business Lab: https://www.torpeycoaching.com/thelab

Grab your free masterclass: https://torpeycoaching.kit.com/freemasterclass

Join the Uncomplicating Business Lab Community: https://www.torpeycoaching.com/thelabTorpeycoachingtorpeycoaching.com/thelab

Grab your free masterclass here: https://torpeycoaching.kit.com/freemasterclassKitUNcomplicating Your Business and Make your Whole Life Easier Masterclass
More actions

Hi, friend, and welcome to Uncomplicated Business. I am Sara Torpey, and we are going to talk about sales calls today.

I have been having one-on-one conversations with all kinds of new people in my world lately, and the conversation I have been having over and over and over and over with them and with clients is about sales calls and when they're working for people and when they're not and what's going right and what's going wrong and what people like in their sales calls and what they don't and as I've been having this conversation I have been giving the same one single piece of coaching, over and over and over and over and over and over and over again today, and that is what I want to give you today.

This is about how to end a sales call.

So what I want to talk about today is the last five to eight minutes of any sales call you do, whether they are formal or informal, whether they are super structured or kind of off the cuff, I would love for you to make this one change in your sales calls because it makes every time I have a client or a colleague or a connection make this change, it helps their close rate. It helps them feel better about the process. It helps the people on the other side of the call feel better about the process. Only good comes from this change.

So, this is particularly for you if what you're doing right now is some version of you have your call. You go through all the things you talk about the price, you talk about the offer, and then you say to that person, "Hey, this was great, or they say this was great, and they say something like, "I'm going to think about it, and you say, "Great, I'll follow up on email" and it's done.

That is what we're going to change. We are not sending email recaps anymore, my friends.

We are not sending a ton of extra follow-up unless someone says to you, "I'll tell you that in a minute." Unless there are specific circumstances.

Here's the thing about human beings. I would much rather you set a call with someone. Here's the thing: this is not a high pressure tactic. It has been used on all of us as a high pressure tactic. When somebody says, you know, hey, I need a little time to think, in the high pressure sales tactic world. What we are then taught to say is like, okay, when are we going to talk again? You know, let it be less than 24 hours, less than 36 hours. Make it immediate.

Like all these things, not what I'm talking about. This is really about closing loops. The whole purpose of a sales call at the jump isn't to get someone to say yes; it's to get someone to make a decision, right? And if the job of a sales call is to get someone to make a decision, the job at the end of the sales call is to give them the tools to help them make that decision, and an email is not that tool. An email is like throwing a paper airplane into an abyss.

Especially friends, so many of you work with people who are neurodiverse, who are overwhelmed, who are coming to you because they are neurodiverse, because they're overwhelmed, because they're inundated with stuff, because they don't know where to start, because they have too many things they're trying to juggle at once. Sending them an email into the black hole that is their email is not helping, right?

The job of the sales call is to help them close the loop and come to a decision they want, and oftentimes, at least in my world and in the worlds of my clients, that requires more than one conversation-not 15, not endless conversations. It's a sales call, and then it's a quick follow-up conversation.

And what I almost always say to people myself, what my clients say to people, is, "Hey, here's what you now know. You want to take some time to think. What I would love for us to do is help you close the loop. The best way I've found for people to do that is just for us to have another quick conversation.

In that conversation, if you want to say no, this is not the right fit for you. That's great. We're going to find you the right fit. If you say yes, we'll talk about next steps, and it's also a place you can come ask all your questions. That's it, and then you put it on the calendar.

And if somebody says, "Hey, I don't want to do that, that tells you something. If somebody puts it on the calendar and then. Declines it or no shows it. That tells you something. That's them answering. But the vast majority of the time, people come to that call with their questions. They come to that call ready to have more conversation. They come to that call ready to decide.

And so it is much more effective for both parties for you to have a concrete next step, rather than an email into the bis that requires them to find the email, remember you exist, figure out what to do with it, take the time to make the decision, feel good about their decision, and then communicate with that with you in some way, which can be very hard because it's a lot of steps for people, right?

It doesn't seem like it, but it is, especially when there's money involved, when people are uncertain, when they're feeling vulnerable.

Please, for me, if you're currently ending sales calls with emails to the abyss. Please stop. Please stop. Please stop doing all of that extra work too. Please say to them, "Okay, what's the best way for us to follow up from here? Let them answer you, because sometimes people will say to me, "Hey, can we talk again on Friday? Or, "Hey, I'll have a decision by Friday. If somebody says that, I let them go forth, right? We check in at the end of the week. Everything's great, but if they say anything else, like I'm not sure or I just need some time to think about it, I say okay, let's pop on, let's pop 15 minutes on the calendar, and see what happens, and that's good enough, my friend.

It's not that your sales calls are failing. It's not that people are ghosting you. It's that the process and the structure you have set up for you and for them isn't allowing loops to close in an effective way. This makes all of a difference, and you don't have to be gross about it. It is not you stalking them; it is you bringing them back to you to make a clean decision.

This is about decision making, not talking people into yes.

Okay, I think this was probably a pretty fast episode, and I probably talked really fast. So if you have questions, ask them. That's why I'm here. If you have things you need to know, reach out. I'm on LinkedIn. I'm on Facebook. I don't do Instagram well, so maybe don't use that one. Send an email to Sara at Torpey Coaching.

But please try this. See what happens. If you're like, wait, but if I do it like this, what happens then? Send a note. But let's make sales calls more about the decision and more about closing the end loop, and make it easier on everyone. Okay, all right. I'll see you in two weeks.