3 Expert Insights About Sales Process Pitfalls & How to Fix Them (September 2025)

Why do some sales messages spark immediate responses while others get deleted or ignored without a second thought? It’s because of how the human brain processes information.

Many touchpoints in your sales process create unnecessary mental friction. From first outreach to demo follow-up, poorly structured messages force prospects to work harder mentally than they want to.

Human attention operates on cognitive economy. In other words, when faced with complexity, our brains default to the easiest option: ignore, delete, or circle back later (which never happens).

Here are 3 expert insights that make your sales messages easier to process and drive more responses and faster decisions.

Focus on one decision per message

According to Jason Bay, the “1-10-100 rule” isn’t just good email advice. It’s based on how human attention actually works.

Cognitive research shows our working memory can hold about 7 pieces of information simultaneously. But when it comes to decision-making, our brains strongly prefer clear, straightforward choices rather than complex decisions that require more than a yes or no.

This explains why cold emails with multiple asks (“Would you be interested in a demo? Or maybe I could send over our case study? Also, check out our additional info on pricing…”) create decision paralysis. The prospect’s brain literally cannot process multiple different requests efficiently.

The “1-10-100 rule” removes this friction:

• 1 call to action (eliminates choice overload)
• 10 words that matter (matches attention span to email previews)
• 100 words as the limit (forces you to cut clutter)

Effective cold emails focus on one clear ask. Everything else in the message supports that single decision path.

How you can apply this

Here’s how you can apply this insight to your sales outreach:

• Write your CTA first, then build everything to support it
• Test if you can explain your value in the first 10 words
• Use the 100-word constraint to force clarity over cleverness
• Stop and cut when you catch yourself adding “Also…” or “Additionally…”
• Track which single-ask emails get responses vs multi-ask emails

When prospects face one clear ask with obvious relevance, they respond. When they face multiple decisions, they defer.

Ask questions that create mental frameworks

Chris Orlob‘s demo questions work because they match how our brains naturally process new information: through comparison and contrast.

Neuroscience research shows we don’t evaluate things in isolation. We automatically compare new information against existing mental models. This is why “Does that make sense?” falls flat. It asks for abstract judgment without giving the brain comparison points.

Orlob’s questions create cognitive anchors:

1. “How are you doing [X workflow] today?” establishes the current state baseline before showing anything new.
2. “How does that compare to how you’re doing it now?” forces the brain to run active comparison, which strengthens memory formation and preference development.
3. “To what extent do you envision this being useful?” gets them mentally rehearsing usage, which triggers ownership bias.
4. “How do you see your team using that?” targets decision makers who buy but don’t personally use the product, helping them visualize organizational adoption.
   
5. “To what degree is this resonating so far?” provides a mid-point pulse check that maintains engagement without the dead-end nature of “any questions?”

These questions don’t just fill the silence. They guide the prospect’s cognitive processing in a direction that makes your solution easier to evaluate and harder to forget.

How you can apply this

Here’s how you can apply this insight to your sales outreach:

• Always establish the current state before showing the future state
• Replace “Does this make sense?” with “How does this compare to your current process?”
• Use “To what extent…” questions to get prospects to mentally rehearse usage
• End demos with contrast questions that reinforce the gap between where they are and where they could be

Demo questions should guide prospects through simple comparisons that make your solution easier to evaluate.

Start with action items in follow-ups

Nick Cegelski‘s “BLUF” (Bottom Line Up Front) approach works because busy brains have predictable scanning patterns.

Eye-tracking studies show that people reading business emails follow an F-pattern. They scan the first few lines, then look for bullet points, bold text, or other visual cues that signal important information.

Most recap emails fight this natural pattern. They start with meeting summaries (which the prospect lived through) and bury action items at the end. By the time busy executives reach the actual next steps, their attention is already depleted.

Cegelski’s approach aligns with how peoples’ brains actually process information:

1. Action items first (matches scanning priority)
2. Problem-focused language (easier to remember and repeat to colleagues)
3. Mobile-optimized formatting (keeping emails to one screen length reduces cognitive load)

When action items live at the top and everything fits on one phone screen, prospects can process information and respond more efficiently.

Here’s how you can apply this

Here’s how you can apply this insight to your follow-up communications:

• Start every follow-up with “Next steps:” followed by specific actions
• Use formatting that works with natural scanning patterns (bold headers, bullet points)
• Mirror the prospect’s language when describing their situation
• Keep the total email length to one phone screen so prospects don’t have to scroll
• Test whether your action items are clear enough for someone to forward to their team without explanation

The goal isn’t just to remind prospects what happened. It’s to make their next decision as effortless as possible.

Why prospects really avoid your outreach

These three insights reveal a deeper truth about sales communication. Every message either reduces or increases the mental effort required from your prospect.

• Cold emails succeed when they eliminate choice overload
• Demos convert when they provide clear comparison frameworks
• Follow-ups drive action when they minimize the cognitive work needed to move forward

Your prospects aren’t avoiding your outreach because they don’t have problems to solve. They’re avoiding it because solving those problems with you feels harder than maintaining the status quo.

The fix isn’t better features or lower prices. It’s communication that works with human psychology instead of against it.

And the best part – you can do all of this directly in AiSDR.