Interesting, thanks. FWIW, in the actual case I was first thinking of, the potential customer did make contact. It wasn't a lack of up-front price specifically

Interesting, thanks. FWIW, in the actual case I was first thinking of, the potential customer did make contact. It wasn't a lack of up-front price specifically that killed that deal, though as things turned out, maybe it was a bad omen. The ultimate cause of the failed deal was the decision-makers becoming frustrated, because after making contact, the sales people just seemed to want ever more information out of them without giving a straight answer on pricing and other basic contractual details.