The most expensive word in sales isn't "no", it's "maybe".

Potential deals that sit in your pipeline for months because of endless maybes and follow-ups are a drain on your business. And, painful as it seems, sometimes the fix is to get your answer faster in sales – even if it’s no.

Don’t take our word for it, though. We brought in a pro…

Heinrich Swanepoel has spent his career in sales across 24 African countries, most recently as Head of Business Development for Africa at Deel Local Payroll, and is now Chief Commercial Officer at Matrix Software. His take on the maybe problem is direct: the goal isn't to stay warm.

 It's to find out the truth, fast and then act on it either way.

There's a difference between persistence and avoidance. Following up with "just checking in" for the fourth time isn't persistence; it's avoidance of the conversation you actually need to have.

When a deal has gone quiet, the move Heinrich recommends is to stop soft-pedalling and instead name the situation directly, with a light timeline, a genuine easy out and zero emotional pressure. The goal is to make it easier for the prospect to say no than to keep stringing you along.

"Push them in a direction so it stops wasting everyone's time. A no now is way better than an 'I don't know.' And a no now doesn't mean no forever. It just means stop wasting everyone's time."

The practical version of this comes from a story Renier Kriel shared in the masterclass. Malan Joubert, the founder of what became Root Insurance, went to a potential corporate partner at Momentum and said, "I've got a great opportunity. We can build this out and we want to do it with a partner, potentially someone like you. But we need two million rand, and I need it by next Friday. If you can't do it, I get it. I've got a few other people I'm speaking to, but I'd prefer to work with you."

The person on the receiving end, Jonathan, who had spending authority, knew exactly what Malan was doing. He found it funny. He also found the two million rand.

That's the structure: Name the opportunity, give a concrete deadline, offer the out and make it clear you're not desperate. It's not aggressive, it's honest. And it works because it removes the social awkwardness that may linger indefinitely.

When a deal has gone quiet, stop sending low-stakes follow-ups. They don't create urgency; they train the prospect to ignore you.

Instead, send one clear message that names where things stand and gives them an explicit out. The structure:

The tone is calm and non-emotive. You're not chasing, you're clarifying. There's a big difference in how that lands.

The reason most SA founders avoid forcing the issue is that a no feels final. Heinrich's reframe: it isn't.

Renier shared a direct example from his own pipeline. A bank said no to him about a year before the masterclass. He accepted it cleanly, without pushback or pressure and moved on. When he re-engaged twelve months later, the same person was warm, because the no had been handled well. There was no awkwardness, no lingering bad feeling from a founder who'd pushed too hard.

"The no I got actually helped me to get a yes a year later."

A “no” handled badly poisons the relationship. A “no” handled well keeps the door open and, more importantly, frees you to spend the next twelve months on deals that are actually moving.

This is especially relevant in South Africa, where business relationships are long and the professional network is small. How you handle a “no” is part of your reputation. Founders who push too hard or take rejection personally make future conversations harder. Founders who respond to a “no” with grace and move on find that those same contacts come back around.

First, SA's relationship culture makes “maybe” the path of least resistance. A prospect who isn't interested, but doesn't want to be rude, will keep the conversation going indefinitely rather than close it. Founders who understand this don't wait for natural closure; they create it. The forcing-function move gives the prospect a socially acceptable way to say no without it feeling like a rejection.

Second, SA's professional networks are small and long. The person who says no today is a future client, a referral source or a co-investor in three years. How you leave a conversation matters as much as the conversation itself. Getting to “no” cleanly, without chasing, without pressure, without drama, is what keeps those future doors open.

When you stop protecting your pipeline from bad news, your pipeline starts telling you the truth.

The deals that fell away were never going to close. The ones that remain are real. And the energy and calendar space you recover from chasing “maybes” goes into prospects who are actually moving, which is where it should have been all along.

One forcing-function conversation a week. That's the habit. It takes two minutes to write and saves you months of drift. 

This post draws from Founder-Led Sales: How to Close Without Feeling Pushy, a full masterclass inside the Founder Collab. The post covers the forcing-function move. The masterclass goes deeper into the full sales system:

It's one of 40+ masterclasses available when you join the Founder Collab.

This workflow first appeared in our 29 April ‘26 edition, featuring the Locstat bank fraud detection.

Also, learn how to answer what’s-the-price questions in sales and how to break the ice before your first client meeting.

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