You don’t need another sequence. You need to qualify at the moment of intent.

“Our demo no-show rate is killing us.”

I hear this every week. Demo calendars fill up, the pipeline looks strong, and then up to 50% of those demos never actually happen (Landbot).

No-shows aren’t just frustrating. They’re a disaster. Pipelines get bloated with meetings that will never convert. SDRs waste hours chasing ghosts instead of buyers.

Even when meetings do happen, B2B SaaS demo-to-close conversion rates average just 10–20% (SmartCue). That means every missed demo is pipeline leaking in real time.

One report found it can take thousands of SDR activities to generate just three meetings, and two of them will still be no shows (Commsor). No wonder reps feel burned out.

When I talk to sales teams about no-shows, the first thing I hear is: “We’re adding more sequences.”

• “Just following up on our missed meeting…”
• “Are you still interested in learning more?”
• “Can we reschedule?”

But this is a dead-end. You’re not re-igniting intent. You’re trying to recover something that expired days ago.

Intent Doesn’t Last

When someone books a demo, they’re already in motion, but only for a moment.

Here’s why you can’t afford to wait:

• The average person spends 6 hours and 38 minutes a day staring at a screen (DataReportal), nearly 5 hours of it on smartphones (Genius).
• Each extra hour of screen time slows reaction by 8 milliseconds and reduces attention accuracy (The Times of India).
• When a buyer lands on a booking confirmation, they may give it just 47 seconds of focused attention before jumping to the next distraction (AP News).

This isn’t forgetfulness. It’s digital overload. If you wait for people to show up on your schedule, they’ve already checked out.

A Better Playbook

The fix isn’t chasing harder. It’s acting while intent is still alive.

One of our customers, a security SaaS company, used to run a standard playbook. Fill out a form, wait for an SDR to follow up, and book a 15-minute discovery call. Then, if it went well, set up a full demo with an AE.

The problem was, 32% of those booked meetings never happened.

SDRs would spend up to four hours chasing each lead with calls and emails, only to have them disappear.

When they switched to a chat-first approach, everything changed. Instead of waiting, buyers could start the discovery call right in chat. SDRs could qualify them on the spot, book a meeting during the conversation, and hand off to the AE without losing momentum.

The result? No-shows dropped to less than 3%. Buyers didn’t have to jump through hoops. SDRs stopped wasting hours chasing ghosts. The pipeline moved faster because the conversation happened while intent was alive.

Catch buyers when they’re ready, or you’ll be chasing them forever.

Don’t Block the Moment. Accelerate It.

Most teams try to fix no-shows with endless reminders — nudges, emails, even texts — hoping to verify the buyer will show.

The problem isn’t the reminders. It’s the wait. By the time next Tuesday at 2 PM rolls around, the spark that made them book is gone.

Buyers don’t care about your funnel stages or handoffs. They care about getting help the moment they raise their hand.

That means stripping away anything that slows them down:

• Let automation handle low-fit traffic.
• Let real humans handle high-intent conversations.
• Remove every barrier between “I’m curious” and “I’m talking to someone who can help.”

Once intent slips away, it’s gone. Miss that moment and you miss the deal.