Studying where sales conversations break down—and why deals are lost.
The Sales Breakdown Institute is a non-commercial research initiative examining the structural, behavioral, and linguistic patterns that cause sales conversations to fail. Our work supports a clearer, evidence-based understanding of revenue loss.
What we study
Most analysis of sales performance focuses on outcomes—win rates, quotas, pipeline coverage. The Institute focuses instead on the moments inside a conversation where outcomes are quietly determined.
Through systematic review of anonymized conversations, structured interviews, and longitudinal pipeline studies, we publish findings intended to advance the understanding of conversational failure as a measurable economic phenomenon.
Lost conversations are an unmeasured cost of doing business.
40–60% of B2B deals are lost to customer indecision — buyers who expressed intent to purchase and then went silent.
Dixon & McKenna, The JOLT Effect — analysis of 2.5 million recorded sales conversations (Harvard Business Review, June 2022)
56% of those lost deals aren't lost to a competitor. They're lost to fear of failure inside the conversation itself.
Same — The JOLT Effect / HBR 2022
Only 28% of sales reps hit their annual quota in 2024–25 — the lowest figure in six years.
Salesforce State of Sales Report, 6th Edition, 2024
Active fields of inquiry
Conversation Breakdowns
Identifying the precise moments in a sales dialogue where engagement, trust, or clarity collapses.
Revenue Loss Patterns
Quantifying the economic impact of failed deals across industries, deal sizes, and conversation types.
Behavioral Signals
Studying linguistic and behavioral cues that precede pipeline stalls, objections, and disengagement.
Post-Pricing Dynamics
Examining how pricing discussions reshape the trajectory of an opportunity—often invisibly.
Recent publications
Published articles will appear here once they are available.