How Factura.ai Uncovered Why Late-Stage Deals Were Stalling—and Recovered $500K in ARR
Independent buyer conversations revealed why qualified prospects weren't closing, uncovered recoverable revenue, and gave Factura.ai a clearer path to higher win rates.
$500K
Reported ARR recovered
From previously lost opportunities
+5 pts
Modeled win-rate improvement
In proposal-to-close conversion
$240K–$480K
Potential additional ARR annually
From improved conversion
50%
Of interviewed lost accounts re-entered the pipeline
The $500K recovered ARR and 50% pipeline re-entry are reported outcomes. The five-percentage-point win-rate improvement and associated ARR are modeled opportunities, assuming eight proposals per month and $50K–$100K annual contract values.
"I honestly thought you might only reach one or two people, but you got through to lost buyers and uncovered information we couldn't get ourselves. Because you weren't trying to sell them anything, buyers were willing to open up and give honest feedback. The insights changed how we approach demos. We're addressing implementation concerns and demonstrating ROI much earlier in the conversation, rather than waiting until the proposal. These were things we needed to hear directly from buyers, and the feedback gave us clear, actionable ways to improve how we sell."
— Ben Roscillo
VP Sales, Factura.ai
Why they reached out
Buyers were reaching the finish line. But too many weren't crossing it.
Factura.ai, an accounts payable automation platform serving the restaurant industry, was successfully generating interest and moving qualified prospects through its sales process.
But more than 80% of its lost opportunities had already reached the proposal stage.
Despite significant buyer engagement, deals were stalling, going silent, or being marked closed-lost for reasons like budget, timing, and competing priorities.
The problem wasn't simply a lack of interest.
Factura couldn't consistently explain why buyers who had made it so far were ultimately choosing not to move forward.
As CEO Bradley Bloch described it: "We got these customers to the one-yard line. It's just odd that they don't cross the one-yard line."
With annual contracts worth $50K–$100K, each late-stage loss represented meaningful revenue left on the table.
Factura needed to understand what was actually stopping these deals from closing—and what could be done differently.
Their biggest unanswered questions
01
Why were late-stage deals stalling?
Were budget and timing the real reasons buyers weren't moving forward, or were other concerns going unaddressed?
02
What was preventing buyers from saying yes?
Was the issue implementation complexity, unclear ROI, missing integrations, or insufficient executive buy-in?
03
Which lost opportunities could still be recovered?
Were these accounts permanently lost, or could a different approach, stronger business case, or change in timing reopen the conversation?
What Decode did
Independent conversations with the buyers Factura couldn't reach.
Decode contacted 20 previously lost buyers and completed 10 in-depth interviews, achieving a 50% interview completion rate.
These weren't existing customers providing routine feedback. They were prospects who had already evaluated Factura, disengaged from the sales process, and stopped moving forward.
Decode approached them independently, without a sales agenda.
That distinction mattered.
Buyers could speak candidly about their concerns, the internal conversations behind their decisions, and what would have needed to change for them to move forward.
Decode translated the conversations into account-level findings, recurring decision drivers, re-engagement opportunities, and prioritized recommendations for sales, marketing, and product.
20
Closed-lost buyers contacted
10
Independent buyer interviews completed
50%
Interview completion rate
Decode's Results & Findings
01
Implementation risk was holding buyers back.
What Decode uncovered
Some buyers weren't questioning Factura's capabilities. They were questioning the effort required to adopt them. Concerns about switching systems, onboarding complexity, operational disruption, and missing integrations were creating hesitation—even among prospects who saw value in the product.
What the customer changed
Factura needed to make implementation feel easier and less risky much earlier in the sales process.
What Factura did
The team began emphasizing implementation simplicity and available onboarding support during initial demos, rather than waiting for objections to surface later.
02
The business case wasn't always strong enough to create urgency.
What Decode uncovered
Buyers understood what Factura did, but some weren't sufficiently convinced why they needed to act now. In other cases, an interested champion struggled to secure approval from a CFO or another economic decision-maker. The result was familiar: positive conversations, encouraging demos, and then stalled decisions.
What the customer changed
Factura needed to establish ROI and the cost of inaction earlier, while giving champions a stronger financial argument to bring to internal stakeholders.
What Factura did
Ben adjusted his sales approach to introduce business impact sooner and focus more directly on the decision-makers required to move a deal forward.
03
Some closed-lost opportunities still had a path forward.
What Decode uncovered
Not every lost deal represented a permanent rejection. Some buyers were waiting for a genuine business trigger. Others needed more evidence that Factura could support their organization at scale. The interviews also surfaced concerns about company maturity and credibility—issues that weren't always visible in the CRM.
What the customer changed
Rather than treating all closed-lost accounts the same way, Factura could prioritize re-engagement based on buyer circumstances, timing triggers, and addressable objections.
What Factura did
The findings also reinforced the value of customer proof, stronger positioning, and clearer communication around integrations.
From Lost Revenue to Recovered Opportunities—and a Clearer Path to Higher Win Rates.
Decode gave Factura direct evidence of what was preventing interested buyers from purchasing—and where the team could make changes to improve future outcomes.
Before
More than 80% of lost deals had reached the proposal stage.
CRM loss reasons offered limited insight into the real buying decision.
Implementation concerns and ROI objections weren't always addressed early enough.
Sales champions weren't consistently equipped to secure internal approval.
Previously disengaged buyers were difficult to reach.
After
$500K in reported ARR recovered from previously lost opportunities.
50% of interviewed accounts reportedly re-entered the sales pipeline.
Actual buying barriers identified through 10 independent interviews.
Sales demos adjusted to emphasize implementation ease and ROI earlier.
Greater focus on economic buyers and decision-maker alignment.
Integration gaps and credibility concerns surfaced for commercial and product prioritization.
$500K in ARR recovered from previously lost opportunities.
Beyond uncovering why buyers had walked away, the engagement helped Factura identify accounts with a potential path back into the sales process.
Half of the interviewed accounts reportedly re-entered the pipeline, contributing to a broader reported outcome of $500K in recovered annual recurring revenue.
The value extended beyond understanding past losses: it created opportunities to revisit revenue that had previously been written off.
With annual contracts valued between $50K and $100K, Factura doesn't need a dramatic change in conversion to create meaningful revenue growth. At an illustrative volume of eight proposals per month:
The opportunity is straightforward: convert more of the qualified buyers already reaching the proposal stage.
Decode's research identified the barriers Factura could address to pursue that improvement—without relying solely on generating more leads.
"The insights did not just help sales. They shaped our product roadmap, refined our positioning, and gave us a clearer story as we scale. It was valuable enough that we are building it into our ongoing process." — Bradley Bloch, CEO, Factura.ai
96
Proposals annually
+5
Percentage points in proposal-to-close conversion
4.8
Additional customers annually, on average
$240K–$480K
Potential incremental ARR
The five-point improvement is an illustrative scenario, not a measured post-engagement win-rate result. Potential incremental ARR should not be added to recovered ARR without accounting for overlap.
How much revenue is getting stuck at the proposal stage?
Your CRM tells you which opportunities were lost. It doesn't always tell you why—or what could have changed the outcome. Decode independently speaks with the buyers who walked away to uncover the real decision drivers, identify recoverable opportunities, and show your team what to fix to win more business.
