I do some sales into a long cycle (annual and multi-year) with institutional customers. It can be hard to find the right timing to make contact. “Too early” and “too late” often overlap.

If they want to avoid making a change, they use this to put us off. The objections seem so plausible. But I’ve learned to use it to gauge when they have no intention of ever listening to us.

Very similar to your monarchy in many respects.