Last week I was talking to a CRO who told me that the deals were stalled and they couldn’t understand why. Conversions had dropped by 50% in the last six months.
Their hypothesis was that their prospects were just very distracted by all that is going on in the market with AI and are sticking with the status quo.
Another CEO of a $50M ARR SaaS told me last month that their growth suddenly stalled also. Sadly, he fired most of marketing team to fix it.
Both companies are suffering from the same problem: stalled growth. And there’s an inherent reason why SaaS is struggling right now.
The cost of making the wrong decision has increased, while the perceived cost of delaying a decision has decreased.
Why growth is stalling in SaaS
Many SaaS sales teams report healthy pipelines but slower conversions, longer sales cycles, and more deals slipping into future quarters rather than ending in outright losses.
But to get into the specifics, here are some reasons why deals are stalling right now in SaaS.
Why buyers wait
The CFO is back in the room on deals of all sizes.
From roughly 2015–2021, software was often purchased based on growth potential. Instead of asking ‘how much can we grow with this purchase’, now the question is more around ‘what happens if we don’t buy this?’Buying committees have exploded
Research over the past decade has consistently shown enterprise buying involves multiple stakeholders, and in many organizations that number has continued to grow. One skeptical stakeholder can pause everything. Modern selling is more often now about stakeholder management more than persuasion.Procurement has become much stronger
Procurement teams are measured on: savings, discounts, payment terms, and consolidation. Even when everyone wants the product, procurement often intentionally slows negotiations to improve leverage.
Many “stalled” deals are simply negotiating.
Why replacing software feels risky 😬
Buyers already have “good enough”
Five years ago many categories were immature. But today, companies already have AI tools, CRMs, BI, Data warehouses, Sales engagement platforms, project management tools, etc. Replacing software introduces migration costs, training, integrations, and political risk. Now the ROI hurdle becomes much higher.AI has shortened buyers’ planning horizons
Nobody wants to sign a three-year agreement when the product landscape changes every three months. Buyers are worried about vendors becoming obsolete. They’re questioning whether they can build it themselves in six months.
Ironically, AI creates urgency and hesitation simultaneously.Security reviews became a sales stage
Ten years ago, you had: Demo → Pricing → Signature
Today, it looks more like: Demo→ POC → Security questionnaire→ Legal→
Procurement→ Privacy review → Budget approval → Signature.
And each additional step adds weeks to the sales cycle.
Why vendors aren't helping themselves
Every vendor sounds the same (sea of sameness)
Nearly every SaaS homepage says: AI-powered, end-to-end, unified platform, intelligent automation, etc.
In essence, differentiation has collapsed.
If buyers can’t clearly articulate why Vendor A is different from Vendor B, the safest decision is to wait or go with the cheapest, which is also never good when selling on price. It’s also not good for SaaS teams who are measured in 90-day increments.
Why this matters for Marketing
Marketing can’t solve this with more MQLs and Sales can’t solve it with more follow-up emails. Marketing often responds to this problem with generating more demand, but it would be better off if it reduced uncertainty with better ROI proof, faster time to value, customer validation stories, and clear differentiation. This is the biggest impact and shift I see marketing and sales teams making today who are succeeding.
How do you increase win rates?
If you shift away from feature-selling toward decision-making support, then you build an undeniable business case tied to measurable outcomes. The goal is to be helpful, put the customer’s needs first, and show them what they are missing by doing nothing.
By helping prospects quantify the cost of inaction, not just the benefits of action, you can create urgency around business events (renewals, regulatory changes, hiring plans) rather than quarter-end discounts. Often this is achieved with pilots or phased rollouts to reduce implementation risk.
Vendors who removes uncertainty often beat the vendor with the best product. Having the best product just doesn’t matter that much anymore. (sorry product people).