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I did 57 Sales Calls and Found the #1 Predictor of Closing

By One Chowdhury
I did 57 Sales Calls and Found the #1 Predictor of Closing
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I've been doing founder-led sales for 8 months. Some calls feel great but go nowhere. Others feel mediocre but close in 48 hours.

I couldn't figure out the pattern.

So I did what any obsessive founder would do: I recorded 57 sales calls, transcribed them, and analyzed every single one looking for what actually predicts whether a deal closes.

I tracked everything the sales books tell you matters:

None of it mattered as much as one simple thing.

A single word. Used in the first 10 minutes of the call.

The word "we."

The Data That Changed Everything

Here's what I found after analyzing all 50 calls:

When prospects used "we" in the first 10 minutes:

When prospects used "I" in the first 10 minutes:

When prospects said "I think this could help" (no team language):

The difference between "we need this" and "I need this" was worth 36 percentage points.

That's not a rounding error. That's the difference between hitting quota and missing it by 50%.

And I almost missed it entirely.

How I Discovered This

Two months ago, I had two demo calls on the same day.

Call 1: Founder of a 12-person startup. Enthusiastic throughout. Said he "loved" the product. Asked great questions. Requested pricing immediately after.

I hung up thinking: "That's closed."

Call 2: VP of Sales at a 30-person company. Seemed distracted. Asked basic questions. Said "this is interesting" but didn't seem excited.

I hung up thinking: "That's dead."

Guess what happened?

Call 1 ghosted me. Completely. Never responded to follow-ups.

Call 2 signed up two days later. No negotiation. No further questions. Just: "Let's move forward."

I was baffled.

I went back and re-listened to both calls. Looking for what I missed.

Then I heard it.

Call 1 (the ghost): "Yeah, I think this could really help." "I'm looking for something to organize my deals." "I need to get better at follow-ups."

Call 2 (the close): "We're drowning in manual updates." "We just hired three reps and we need to get them aligned." "Our team is spending hours in Salesforce every week."

Same problem. Same solution. Completely different language.

One was talking about himself. One was talking about a team.

And the team-focused one converted. The individual-focused one didn't.

Why This Matters More Than BANT

Every sales framework tells you to qualify on:

Budget: "Do they have money?" Authority: "Can they make the decision?" Need: "Do they have the problem?" Timeline: "When will they buy?"

These questions are fine. But they miss something crucial:

Organizational buy-in.

When someone says "I need this," they're expressing a personal pain point. That's good. But it doesn't mean their organization agrees it's a priority.

When someone says "we need this," they're expressing a shared pain point. The organization already recognizes the problem. You're not convincing them it exists. You're just showing them how to solve it.

That's the difference between a 31% close rate and a 67% close rate.

The Three Tiers of Language

After analyzing the calls, I found prospects fall into three distinct language patterns:

Tier 1: "We" Language (67% Close Rate)

What it sounds like:

What it means:

Example from a call that closed:

"So we're a team of 8 doing sales right now, and we're all using different systems. Our CEO keeps asking us for pipeline updates and nobody has good data. We've been talking about getting a real CRM for like 3 months now."

This deal closed in 5 days.

Tier 2: "I" Language (31% Close Rate)

What it sounds like:

What it means:

Example from a call that went nowhere:

"Yeah, so I'm the founder and I'm doing all the sales right now. I keep losing track of who I've talked to. I know I need to get more organized but I haven't really had time to set anything up."

This person requested a follow-up call, then cancelled it twice, then ghosted.

Tier 3: "I Think" Language (12% Close Rate)

What it sounds like:

What it means:

Example from a call that died:

"Yeah, I think this could be useful. I imagine at some point we'll need something like this. I'm not really sure what the priority is right now, but I think it's worth exploring. Maybe we can reconnect in a few weeks?"

We reconnected. They still weren't ready. We reconnected again. Same thing.

That deal is still in my pipeline at 10% probability. It will never close.

The First 10 Minutes Rule

Here's the critical insight:

You can predict the outcome in the first 10 minutes.

Not based on their enthusiasm. Not based on their questions. Based on their language.

If they use "we" in the first 10 minutes, start planning your onboarding.

If they use "I" in the first 10 minutes, qualify harder on organizational buy-in.

If they use "I think" in the first 10 minutes, politely end the call and move on.

This saves you weeks of wasted follow-up.

I used to chase every "interested" prospect for 3-4 weeks. Multiple follow-ups. Custom proposals. Check-in calls.

Hit rate: maybe 10%.

Now, if I don't hear "we" in the first 10 minutes, I probe deeper:

"You mentioned you're dealing with this. Is this something your team is experiencing too?"

If they say "oh yeah, everyone feels this," great. Continue.

If they say "well, mostly just me," I say:

"Got it. Sounds like this might be more of a personal workflow thing right now. Probably not the right fit for us since we're built for teams. If that changes and your team starts feeling this pain, definitely reach out."

Then I move on.

My close rate went from 28% to 51% just by focusing on the right prospects.

Real Call Examples (Anonymized)

Let me show you exactly what this looks like:

Example 1: Strong "We" Language → Closed in 3 Days

Me: "Tell me what's happening with your sales process right now."

Prospect: "Yeah, so we're a team of 5 and we just closed a Series A. We're hiring 3 more sales reps next month. Right now we're all using different spreadsheets and it's chaos. Our CEO asked us to get a real system in place before the new people start. We've tried Salesforce but nobody on our team actually uses it."

[In my head: This is closing. They said "we" 8 times in 30 seconds.]

Me: "When you say nobody uses Salesforce, what specifically breaks down?"

Prospect: "We all hate data entry. We'd rather be selling. So we just... don't update it. Then our data is stale and nobody trusts it."

[Translation: Shared pain. Organizational awareness. Clear problem. Active timeline.]

This deal closed before I even sent a proposal. They signed up during our follow-up call.

Example 2: All "I" Language → Ghosted

Me: "What made you want to hop on a call today?"

Prospect: "So I'm a solo founder right now. I'm doing sales myself while I build the product. I keep forgetting to follow up with people. I thought I should probably get some kind of system."

[In my head: Red flag. All "I" statements. No team pain.]

Me: "Makes sense. Are you planning to hire a sales team soon?"

Prospect: "Eventually, yeah. But right now it's just me. I figure I'll get something set up now so when I do hire someone, it's already in place."

[Translation: Personal problem. No urgency. Hypothetical future need.]

Me: "Got it. When are you thinking you'll hire?"

Prospect: "Probably not for like 6 months. But I want to start building good habits now."

I should have ended the call there. Instead, I did a full demo. Sent a follow-up. Then another one.

Total response rate: zero.

I wasted 90 minutes on a deal that was never going to close.

Example 3: "I Think" Language → Still "Evaluating" 4 Months Later

Me: "What are you hoping to solve?"

Prospect: "Well, I think we could probably be more organized with our sales pipeline. I'm not totally sure what the best approach is. I've been looking at a few different tools. I think something like this might help, but I want to make sure we're making the right choice."

[In my head: Multiple hedges. No conviction. Shopping mode.]

Me: "What does 'the right choice' mean for you?"

Prospect: "I guess something that's easy to use, not too expensive, has the features we might need... I'm still figuring out exactly what those are."

[Translation: No clear problem. No evaluation criteria. No timeline.]

This person has been "evaluating options" for 4 months. They've had demos with probably 15 companies. They're never going to buy anything because they don't actually know what problem they're solving.

I should have disqualified them immediately.

Why "We" Predicts Closing

After thinking about this for weeks, I realized why this works:

"We" language signals organizational alignment.

When someone says "we," they're revealing:

1. The problem is shared Not just one person's complaint. Multiple people experience it.

2. There's already been discussion People don't say "we" unless they've talked to others about it.

3. There's implicit buy-in If they're saying "we need this," others have already agreed.

4. Resources likely exist Organizations that acknowledge problems typically budget for solutions.

5. Decision velocity is faster No need to build consensus. It already exists.

When someone says "I," they're revealing the opposite:

The problem might be real, but it's not organizational yet. You're not selling a solution. You're selling them on convincing their organization that the problem exists.

That's a much harder sale.

How to Use This on Your Next Call

Here's your playbook:

In the first 10 minutes, listen for language patterns.

If you hear lots of "we":

If you hear lots of "I":

If you hear "I think" or "maybe":

The "We Test" Question

If you're unsure, ask this directly:

"You mentioned [problem]. Is this something you're experiencing personally, or is this something your whole team is dealing with?"

Their answer tells you everything:

"Oh, everyone on the team feels this." → Continue, you've got a real opportunity.

"Well, mostly me, but I'm sure others would benefit." → Probe harder or move on.

"Just me right now." → Politely disqualify.

What This Means for Your Pipeline

I went back through my entire pipeline (73 deals) and coded them:

"We" language deals:

"I" language deals:

"I think" language deals:

The pattern was obvious:

"We" deals close faster, at higher rates, for more money.

"I" deals close slower, at lower rates, for less money.

"I think" deals almost never close.

Yet I was spending equal time on all of them.

My New Qualification Process

I completely changed how I qualify after discovering this.

Old process:

New process:

If I can't get them to "we" language within 10 minutes, I end the call:

"Thanks for sharing that. Based on what you've described, it sounds like this is more of a personal workflow challenge right now rather than a team problem. We're really built for teams who have shared pain around [problem]. If that changes and your whole team starts experiencing this, definitely reach out. But right now, probably not the right fit."

This feels aggressive. But it works.

Because I'm not wasting time on deals that won't close.

Instead, I'm focusing all my energy on the 67% close rate deals.

The Counterintuitive Part

Here's what surprised me:

Enthusiasm doesn't predict closing.

I had plenty of "I love this!" calls that went nowhere.

And plenty of lukewarm "this seems useful" calls that closed fast.

The difference? Language.

The enthusiastic "I" language people were excited about solving their personal problem. But they couldn't get buy-in from their team.

The lukewarm "we" language people already had organizational buy-in. They just needed a solution. Any solution that worked was fine.

Organizational buy-in beats individual enthusiasm every single time.

What This Means for Your Product

This insight changed how I think about product-market fit.

You don't have PMF when individuals love your product.

You have PMF when teams need your product.

If your customers are all solo users who say "I love this," you have a nice tool. Maybe a profitable one.

But if your customers are teams who say "we need this," you have a business that scales.

Because:

Individual users just churn quietly.

This is why I'm laser-focused on founders with teams, not solo founders.

Solo founders might love Octolane. But they're "I" language deals.

Founders with sales teams say "we" in the first 2 minutes. And they close in less than a week.

How to Train Your Ear

You might be thinking: "Okay, but how do I actually notice this in real-time?"

Here's how to train yourself:

Week 1: Just Record Record all your calls. Don't change anything. Just collect data.

Week 2: Transcribe and Highlight Use a transcription tool (Otter, Fireflies, Gong). Search for "we" and "I" in the first 10 minutes. Highlight them.

Week 3: Pattern Recognition Look at which calls closed. Count the "we" vs "I" ratio. You'll see it.

Week 4: Real-Time Awareness On your next calls, actively listen for it. When you hear "I" repeatedly, probe for team pain.

Week 5: Active Qualification Start asking direct questions to surface "we" language. If you can't find it, disqualify.

By week 6, this becomes automatic.

You'll hear "I" and instinctively think: "Red flag. Probe harder."

You'll hear "we" and think: "Green light. This is closing."

Common Objections

"But what if it's a solo founder who will hire a team?"

Then they're not ready to buy yet. Come back when they have a team.

Selling to someone's hypothetical future state is a low-probability bet.

"But what if I'm targeting individuals, not teams?"

Then your average deal size will be smaller and your close rate will be lower. That's fine if it's your business model. But know what you're signing up for.

"But what if they're using 'I' because they're the decision-maker?"

Decision authority ≠ organizational buy-in.

A CEO can say "I'll buy this" but if their team doesn't actually need it, it won't get used and they'll churn.

You want: "We need this, and I'm making the decision."

Not: "I think this is cool, so I'll buy it for us."

"Isn't this just BANT's 'Need' criterion?"

Sort of, but more nuanced.

BANT asks: "Do they have a need?"

This asks: "Does the organization recognize the need, or just one person?"

Huge difference.

The Deals I Walked Away From

Since implementing this, I've disqualified 14 deals.

These were people who wanted demos, had budget, and seemed interested.

But they had "I" language.

Old me would have chased these for weeks. Done multiple demos. Custom proposals. Check-in calls.

New me says: "This isn't the right fit right now. Here's why. Let's reconnect when your situation changes."

What happened?

3 of them came back 2-4 weeks later with "we" language. ("I talked to my team and we all agree we need this.")

Those 3 closed.

The other 11? Haven't heard from them. Which means I saved myself probably 30 hours of wasted time.

30 hours I spent on higher-probability deals instead.

Your Action Plan

Here's what to do after reading this:

Today:

  1. Go record your next 5 sales calls
  2. Transcribe them (use Otter.ai or similar)
  3. Count "we" vs "I" in the first 10 minutes of each call

This Week:

  1. Look at your last 10 closed deals - what language did they use?
  2. Look at your last 10 lost deals - what language did they use?
  3. I bet you'll see the pattern

Next Week:

  1. On your next call, actively listen for "we" language
  2. If you don't hear it in 10 minutes, ask: "Is this something your team experiences too?"
  3. If the answer is no, politely disqualify

Next Month:

  1. Compare your close rate before and after using this framework
  2. I predict it goes up by 15-25 percentage points
  3. Send me the results (seriously, I want to know)

The Real Insight

After analyzing 50 calls, here's what I learned:

Sales isn't about convincing someone they have a problem.

Sales is about finding people who already know they have a problem.

And you can tell who "already knows" by listening to their language.

"We" means: We've discussed this. We recognize this. We're looking for solutions.

"I" means: I think this is a problem. But I haven't validated that with others yet.

"I think" means: I'm not even sure this is a problem. I'm just exploring.

Your job isn't to convince the "I" and "I think" people.

Your job is to find more "we" people.

Because that's where the 67% close rate lives.

The Uncomfortable Truth

Most founders won't do this.

They'll read this article, nod along, and then keep doing demos for every "interested" prospect.

Because disqualifying feels like giving up.

Because what if that "I" language person becomes a "we" language person?

Because what if you're wrong and you miss a deal?

Here's what I'd say to that:

You're already missing deals. The deals you're missing are the high-probability "we" language deals you don't have time for because you're chasing low-probability "I" language deals.

Opportunity cost is real.

Every hour you spend on a 31% close rate deal is an hour you're not spending finding 67% close rate deals.

Do the math:

Old approach:

New approach:

Same number of closed deals. Half the time.

That's the power of qualification.

What I'm Doing Differently Now

Since discovering this, I've completely changed my sales process:

1. I listen for "we" in the first 10 minutes If I don't hear it, I probe. If I still don't hear it, I end the call politely.

2. I disqualify aggressively About 40% of "interested" prospects get disqualified within 15 minutes.

3. I spend more time with qualified prospects The "we" language deals get longer demos, custom walkthroughs, whatever they need.

4. I follow up relentlessly with qualified deals If they said "we" in the first 10 minutes, I'm not letting them go. Daily follow-ups until they close or explicitly say no.

5. I ignore everything else The "I think" deals? They're dead to me. I send them one follow-up email and move on.

Results:

All from one simple insight: Listen for "we."

The Challenge

Here's my challenge to you:

Record your next 10 sales calls.

Don't change anything. Just record them.

Then count:

Then come back and tell me I'm wrong.

I'm serious. If you do this and find that "we" language doesn't predict closing, I want to know.

Because either:

  1. I found a pattern that works across sales (and you should use it), or
  2. I found a pattern that's specific to my business (and you should find your own pattern)

Either way, you win.

Because you'll know what actually predicts closing for YOUR product.

Not what a sales framework says should matter.

What actually matters.

Final Thoughts

I spent years reading sales books.

SPIN Selling. The Challenger Sale. Gap Selling. Predictable Revenue.

All of them have frameworks. All of them have acronyms.

None of them told me to listen for "we" in the first 10 minutes.

I had to discover that by recording my own calls and looking at the data.

And it changed everything.

Because the best insights aren't in books.

They're in your calls.

You just have to be willing to look.

Now go record your next 10 calls. And listen for "we."

I promise you'll hear it differently.

One Chowdhury

One Chowdhury

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