Client not responding?

You have sent an email to your client and naturally, you expect a response, right?! For sure you don’t expect it to be prompt but within a few days would be nice. And then, you wait. After a while you start rethinking your steps, you start checking if the mail was actually sent and wonder whether you said something wrong in it.

After you realize it’s been several days, and you haven’t heard a word (not even a peep) back from your client, you start to wonder what went wrong. This is also the moment when the confusion, doubts and questions turn quickly into an annoyance, even into a panic.

Well keep calm, this thing happens! And we’ve all been there before and …are likely to be there again sooner than we would like it. It’s just the way things are. :(

But if you are asking yourself “why am I enjoying the silence” (read: the reason clients don’t respond to you), here are few reasons:

• They have other stuff going on. It can be as simple as that! Place yourself in your client's shoes and keep in mind that they are as well facing deadlines and targets that need to be met. And if your client is a person who receives daily between 70 and 100 emails and spends 4 to 5 hours on meetings – Nothing personal but you may be in for a wait.
• Your Email was unclear or simply too long. From time to time, I receive an email that after reading it requires the self-explanatory part. Some people are just terrible in emails and the majority of recipients A) perceive this as a waste of their time and ignore it or B) don’t know what to do with it. So, keep it simple – and by simple, I mean simple and short. If you look back at your initial email and see six or seven paragraphs when you could have written the same number of sentences instead – warmly consider downsizing.
• It’s Them! Sometimes, even the best-written emails end up in junk mail or more likely they get ignored.

What to do? When a client doesn’t respond, you need to do a follow-up in order to figure out what’s happened and get communication them back on track. Now, you can write a follow-up mail or better yet make a call (don’t be afraid to pick up the phone) but without sounding desperate or angry. That’s a big no-no in the follow-up part. When calling please keep in mind that you’re not always your clients’ top priority. Therefore, gently remind them to get back in touch whenever they’re ready to proceed.