What's the best way to follow up with prospects who disappear?

Getting ghosted is never fun, and early in my career my reaction was to get mad about it and aggressively reach out to the prospect. Now though I approach with empathy and realize they may have things going on, both at work and their personal lives, that may have lead to them ghosting me. So when I reach out I come from an approach that I understand they may have a lot going on and, perhaps now is not the best time to reconnect. I give them the power to confirm this or they sometimes just apologize and say they got caught up but want to meet again.

Salespeople tend to go negative when given the silent treatment. Protective instincts may be totally misplaced, or spot on. Stay positive and try a different approach. Send an email with 3 choices, 2 with the answer needed, and one that is funny and will get a reaction. 1) You are interested and need to re-engage in a couple of weeks. Please select a time or suggest another and we'll get that on the calendar. 2) Our product/service isn't right for you - thanks though. 3) You've been abducted by aliens and need me to send help! LMK!! Close by letting the prospect know that whatever their answer, it's ok, providing an easy out if that's what they need. Be sure to make your subject engaging "Abducted by Aliens?? LMK!" Good luck!

The best way to avoid getting ghosted is to always schedule (on calendar) your next interaction before concluding your current meeting or discussion whether it is in person or virtual. For example, as you are wrapping up a video call, and there are a few follow up items to complete, say, "While we are here together now, let's take a look at our calendars to see when it would be most convenient to review those items and determine next steps. How does Tuesday at 10 AM look for you?" Then, we you gain their agreement, send them a new calendar invite immediately. Do this every time until throughout the sale journey to ensure continued communication without the hassle of tracking the prospect down.

Always remember that your prospects can go silent for reasons that are not related to you or your outreach. When this happens, be consistent with your follow-ups, personalize them properly and provide value in them. Make a plan to reach out in 2 to 3 months after a prospect ghosts you and send a form of ‘reactivation’ message. If you were chasing an appointment, you can include a screenshot of their previous positive reply and remind them that they wanted to book a call for (offer). Include a brief social proof and a call to action.

First of all, there's no silver bullet. We will all get prospects who ghost us. But we can minimise the chances of that happening by agreeing 'next steps' (including when to contact them) before ending a conversation with a prospect. If they say they'll contact you next week, respond with something like, "That's great but I know you're busy so if I don't hear from you next week, I'll give you a ring. Is that fair enough?"

It's important to understand that there is a real person on the other side of the follow up and people do forget. So my approach to follow up is to make sure I have a nurture system for a 30, 60 and 90 day contact. The magic happens in the email I send once a month. I generally have a short question asking them if they are still in the market. If I get a respond then I follow up with insights, if I don't get a respond then I follow up with insights. Did you see that? Insights will help your personal image as the go-to expert in the industry. Another thing I do is make sure I follow them on their active social media channel. When I comment on their posts, it helps them remember who I am... another real person.

Whenever you're in contact, before picking up the phone, before writing and sending an email, ask yourself, how can I give some value when doing this? (And I'm not talking about discounting or throwing in something extra to sweeten the deal.) What else might your prospect value? E.g. How about some new data from research or an article or a video, relative to their industry?