Is the sale still alive or is the client trying to blow you off?
Have you ever had a great conversation with a potential client and then it seems like they’ve fallen off the face of the earth? You begin to worry that they’ve ghosted you and you have no idea why. Was it something you said? Do they think you’re an idiot? Did you offend them? Was the price point too high and they were too embarrassed to tell you?
Or could it be that they just got incredibly busy and haven’t had a chance to respond yet?
Unfortunately we can’t always know, especially if we’ve done some good follow-up and we still haven’t heard from them.
I once got so confused when a potential client had reached out to me and we’d connected really well over email, but then it was suddenly radio silence. I kept telling myself that if she didn’t want to work with me she should at least write me back and give me a fake excuse if she didn’t want to be honest. I just didn’t want to be left hanging like that!
But instead of being nuts and sending her a rambling email, I just left it alone. I told myself to forget about her. I told myself maybe something had happened or maybe it wasn’t meant to be.
Well I felt really foolish when she emailed me out of the blue, months later, to tell me she’d been traveling a bunch with her family and was now ready to get to work on her business. D’oh! I felt like such a jerk for my assumptions.
I tell you this story because while it’s super embarrassing to give you a peek into my brain, I know with certainty that I’m not the only one who tells herself stories like this. And if I’m being really honest there are plenty of times I’ve gotten busy and have held off on hiring someone until my life had calmed down.
While there are many common sales objections, here’s what you can do to overcome objections and not freak out:
If someone hasn’t responded to your email yet, I highly recommend creating a follow-up schedule for yourself and checking back in with them. If you need ideas on what to say, you can see my follow-up scripts here.
If the person isn’t responding to email but they’re active on social media, check to see if they have something serious going on or appear to be on vacation. This might sound weird or creepy but it isn’t. Think about how your mental energy shifts when you realize their kid is sick or they’re relaxing on the beach. Of course they wouldn’t be getting back to you! Having this knowledge puts you at ease and helps you get on with things instead of constantly refreshing your inbox hoping they’ve approved your proposal.
Conversely, if everything appears fine and it’s still been several days, send them a DM asking them if they received your email. Don’t guilt or pressure them, just ask. You wouldn’t believe how often it happens that they didn’t see my email or it got filtered over to “promotions.”
And if you’ve been doing all of these and still nothing has happened...keep nurturing the relationship but don’t lose sleep over it. Sure it stinks to not get to start working with them now, but building relationships is always paramount to the urgency of closing a sale.
We all work on our own timelines, especially when it comes to investing in things. It’s far better to maintain a positive relationship with someone even if they never hire you, than to ghost on them out of frustration.
Building longevity in your business comes from consistency and strong relationships with others to create a “snowball effect” over time. Even if someone doesn’t hire you, they might refer others to you, or become a fun collaborative partner. Keep showing up and serving, keep nurturing relationships, and trust that what’s meant for you will not pass you.
