7 Signals That a Customer Has Just Made a Decision - Before They Tell You [Interview Summary]

You send a proposal. You wait. And silence falls.

You don't know whether the customer is reviewing it or whether the file got stuck in spam. Marcin Zaborowski, CEO of Sellizer, says it bluntly: "I sell certainty in a world of guesswork. I'll make sure your sales reps stop selling blindfolded." Hundreds of customers use his tool, including InPost, Hyundai, and CallPage. Below, we present seven concrete behavioral signals - data instead of guesses, action instead of waiting!

Signal 1: The proposal hasn't been opened

The customer hasn't opened the file for several days.

What it means: This isn't neutral silence - it's a signal that your proposal lost the fight for attention before it was even read once. It fell into spam, got buried under other emails, or the customer is stuck in internal decision paralysis. 56% of customers don't pick your competition. They pick the "do nothing" option - because they're afraid of making a mistake in front of their boss or team. That's FOMU (Fear of Messing Up), described in The Jolt Effect study.

What to do: Send a short, valuable follow-up - don't ask whether it arrived. Give them a new reason to open the proposal. For example, you can write in the email: "We just finished a similar project in your industry. I wanted to share one specific result our client achieved."

Signal 2: The customer only saw the price and closed the proposal after a few seconds

Time spent on the proposal: a few seconds. Page viewed: pricing. Other pages: untouched.

What it means: The customer got scared by the number before they saw the value you're delivering. This isn't rejection - it's the moment when you need a conversation, not another email.

What to do: Call and explain. Don't ask about the proposal; instead, say: "I know that on projects like this, the price looks different at first than it does after a conversation about return on investment. Do you have 10 minutes to break it down?"

Signal 3: The customer says "you're in the top 3" but hasn't opened the proposal in two weeks

A verbal declaration of interest, but zero activity on the document.

What it means: Remember: "The customer says what's appropriate, but does what they feel." If the proposal isn't being opened, the customer isn't in the buying process - no matter how widely they smiled on the last Zoom call. This isn't intuition - it's data.

What to do: Ask directly, but with value for the customer: "I've noticed we've stalled. Has anything changed on the budget or priorities side? I want to make sure the project is still on the table and we're not wasting time." React to facts, not to pleasantries.

Signal 4: Five different people from the same company opened your proposal

The document is circulating internally. New people have appeared whom you didn't know existed.

What it means: The buying committee has been activated. Your proposal is now under an internal "review" in IT, finance, or with the board. If you do nothing, it'll become a victim of corporate broken telephone.

What to do: Call your main contact and say: "From experience, I know that projects like this raise questions from finance and IT. I've prepared a short summary you can send them. Want us to set up a brief Q&A session for the whole team?" You become their ally - not just another vendor.

Signal 5: The customer just opened your proposal

The customer is reviewing your proposal right now, and you know about it.

What it means: This is the hottest lead you can get. The data is clear: reaching the customer within 5 minutes of them opening the proposal increases their "warmth" 9-fold - and with it, the chance of closing the sale (MIT + InsideSales research).

What to do: Don't call with "I see you're reading it." Call with a pretext: "Hi [Name], I was just going through my notes from our meeting and realized I didn't clarify one point about [the area they're reading]. Got a minute?" You hit the exact moment when they're thinking about you and you give them real value.

Signal 6: The customer opened your old proposal after a year of silence

No call, no email - they just came back to a PDF from a year ago.

What it means: The problem you talked about has come back twice as strong. Either their previous vendor failed them, or the customer has finally matured into buying. In e-commerce, this is the "abandoned cart" phenomenon - in B2B it's still a novelty you can take advantage of.

What to do: Call with a natural pretext: "Hi, we were just doing a review of last year's projects and your name caught my eye. I wanted to check whether the challenges around [problem name] are already behind you, or whether the topic has come back on the table?" You show interest and care, without pressure or pushiness.

Signal 7: The customer spent 4 minutes on the scope of services and scrolled past pricing in 8 seconds

Scope-of-work page viewed for 4 minutes 12 seconds. Pricing page: just 8 seconds.

What it means: The customer isn't evaluating the price - they're evaluating the value you're offering. They know exactly what they want and they're checking whether you can deliver it. This isn't a lead that needs convincing. This is a lead that needs one well-aimed phone call - before they draw conclusions on their own without you.

A sales rep without insight into which pages the customer read and how long they spent on them calls with the generic "how was it?" A sales rep who uses Sellizer has the data and talks specifics: for example, knowing the customer reviewed the implementation slide or stopped reading there, they'll say "Can we talk about implementation?" That's the difference between a conversation that closes and a conversation that just kills time.

What to do: Call and refer directly to the section the customer spent the most time on: "I'd like to talk about the scope of services. I get the feeling this might be key to your decision - want us to break it down in detail?" Don't ask in generalities. You have the data - use it.

The biggest mistake that kills sales

After sending a proposal, nine out of ten sales reps call with the same line: "Have you had a chance to look at the proposal?"

That question does three bad things at once: it forces the customer to lie (they'll usually respond "yes, we're reviewing it"), it adds no value, and it gives away control. If you have data - don't ask "whether." Talk about specific sections. Data instead of guesses, always.

The full interview is available at the link: [LINK]