A sales team can win the argument with the person who wants the product and still wait months for a signature. The delay usually happens in functions that were never part of the sales conversation.
The buyer and the approver are different people
The person with the problem is measured on solving it. Security, legal and procurement are measured on preventing bad outcomes, and an unsigned deal is not a bad outcome for them.
That asymmetry means urgency does not transfer. Pressure applied to the champion produces apologetic updates rather than movement, because the champion has no authority over the queue.
Deals that move quickly through this stage are usually ones where the champion has recruited internal allies rather than simply relaying deadlines from the vendor.
Security review is a queue, not a decision
Most large organisations assess new suppliers against a standard set of controls covering data handling, access and continuity.
The work is real, the reviewers have a backlog, and a questionnaire returned with gaps goes to the back of it rather than triggering a conversation.
Vendors who prepare this material in advance, and who can answer without a fresh internal investigation each time, remove weeks that otherwise sit in correspondence.
Legal terms are argued over allocation of risk
Contract negotiation is largely about who bears the cost when something fails, covering liability limits, indemnities, data obligations and termination rights.
A small supplier is being asked to accept exposure that may exceed the contract value, and a large buyer's standard terms are written to protect a much bigger organisation.
Positions vary by jurisdiction and by sector, and this is territory where both sides rely on their own legal advisers rather than on precedent from a previous deal.
Procurement arrives last and reopens price
In many organisations procurement is engaged once the choice has effectively been made, and their contribution is measured in savings achieved.
They will typically request competitive comparison, propose different terms and test whether the price moves, all of which is their function performed properly.
Sellers who expect this stage and have not already spent their concessions earlier are in a considerably better position than those who discounted to reach the shortlist.
The champion presents in rooms the seller never enters
Approval happens in internal meetings the vendor does not attend, where the case is made by the champion rather than by anyone who sells for a living.
What survives that setting is a short written argument covering the rationale, the cost and the answers to the objection each approving function is known to raise.
Sellers who supply only product material leave the champion to assemble that themselves, which is both the slowest route through an organisation and the one most likely to stop.