You drive two hours or fly out to meet the district manager. Now he has to run it by his superior. She wants just a few small changes in the proposal. You put in more time. Now the vice president has to approve it, and he's on assignment, and you've missed this year's budget cycle, and the prospect is not sure when he's going to be able to get a sign-off.
Months go by.
At this point, you've spent a lot of your company's resources, yet you are no closer to a decision than when the prospect first called. Realistically, you have to be responsive to potential customers. And the bigger the prospect, the more obliging you're likely to be. But if you can find ways to limit the amount of time, money and effort you spend on dead-end deals, you can free up your time for more profitable activities. Even after 15 years in business, I don't always guess right.