What to Do When a Hot Prospect Suddenly Goes Radio Silent

Stop me if this sounds familiar. You have a great conversation with a potential new client. They’re excited. You’re excited. They ask you to send over a proposal summarizing the key details you discussed. You agree and send it over.

Then suddenly… nothing.

Despite numerous follow-up emails and voicemails, all you hear is the sound of crickets. Did you do something wrong? Did they decide to go with someone else? Are they trapped under a file cabinet in their office? Who knows.

But more importantly, what should you do now?

Here’s the answer, once and for all.

 1. The Best Defense is a Good Offense. 

What's the most important thing you can do to deal with this frustrating and demoralizing situation? Minimize the chances it will happen in the first place.

It's absolutely essential that while you're in the initial meeting with the prospect that you're proactively probing and scanning for any reasons why the client will not move forward. For example, you can ask them questions like, "What would stop you from moving forward with this initiative?" and "Are they any reasons you feel you won't be able to meet the timeline you've set out for this?" 

Just as importantly, before you leave the meeting, check that you and the prospect are on the same page. It's not enough to define a clear next step. You also need to get specific with the prospect about when that next step is going to happen. Then go a step further. Let the prospect know that if you don't hear back from them by the agreed upon time, you'll be following up with them at a particular time yourself. This extra step is key.

2. Don't "Send Over" Proposals.

Never. Ever. N.E.V.E.R. 

(never) 

Instead, calendar another face-to-face meeting or conference call during which you will personally walk the potential client through the proposal or the details of the engagement. 

Be forewarned, however. When you initially suggest this, most prospects will respond with statements like, "Oh, that's not necessary, you can just send it over." This is the critical moment when you decide in your business whether prospects dictate to you what your process is for intaking new clients, or if you decide what that process is. (Hint: There's a right and wrong answer to this!) 

If they balk at the idea, you can respond by simply stating, "I certainly appreciate that. However, we don't do that. Would Wednesday afternoon work for you?" The more concise and matter of fact you are about it, the better.

This is a also a great litmus test, by the way, because prospects who are really ready to work with you won't be overly resistant. 

3. Don't Succumb to Crazy-Making in Your Head.

It's not your fault. Our reptilian brains are literally wired to scan for and identify threats. So the moment we don't hear back from a prospect, our natural instinct is to make it all about us. "What did we do wrong?" "Why don't they like us?" "What about our proposal or programs isn't good enough?" "Did we charge too much after all?" 

In reality, 90% of the time, it really isn't about us. No, the two biggest culprits that cause radio silence from otherwise hot prospects are (a.) shifting priorities; and (b.) dependencies. 

Intellectually it's easy to get the concept of shifting priorities. But we have to continue to remind ourselves that unless something is number one, two or three on a crazy-busy decision maker's burning hot priority list, it's not getting addressed that day. Plain and simple. (Heck, sometimes even items two and three on that list don't get addressed.) And of course what's at the top of that list can change -- and often does change -- from moment to moment.  

Dependencies are another major issue -- an issue that is easy to forget about or underestimate when you're the one on the outside looking in. The fact is that no decision is made is isolation. Every decision being made inside of companies, even smaller ones, are all a part of a complex web of interrelated tasks and initiatives happening at the same time. And many times decision makers don't anticipate those dependences until after your conversation.

To get a feel for what I mean, simply think for a moment about projects that are sitting on your own desk right now. Are there projects that you haven't moved forward because you're waiting to make a decision about something else first? 

Exactly! And that same scenario plays out hundreds of times daily inside larger organizations. 

What makes this worse of course is that many decision makers will keep you in the dark as opposed to simply shooting you a quick email letting you know what's happening. You may even be guilty of this yourself. 

4. Be More Creative in Your Follow-Up. 

If you followed my advice from item #1 above, then your first follow-up outreach is easy. Why? Because you and the prospect agreed on a specific next step, as well as specifically when that step was happening. And you also let them know ahead of time that if you didn't hear from them by that date that you would be reaching out. 

This is great news! Because now you don't have to worry about coming across as needy, pushy or desperate. Rather, you're simply honoring your commitment with the prospect and, in the process, helping them keep their project on track. 

If they ignore you at this point, you want to continue to follow-up, spacing out your outreach every few days initially, and then once per week thereafter. After a few weeks you can then move to bi-weekly follow-up.

Here are some tips for doing that:

• Don't rely solely on email. It's easier for people to ignore you. 
• Call at different times of the day. Super early. Late. Lunch. Etc. 
• Talk to their assistant. 
• Check Google. Something big may have happened for the company. If so, acknowledge that in your follow-up. 
• Use humor. For example, let them know if you don't hear back, you're sending in emergency response team in case they got stuck in the stairwell.
• Intrigue them. Let them know you have an additional idea or more insight you want to share with them. (Sound excited about it, too.)
• If it's been way too long, send a gift -- like cookies -- to their office. They'll feel inclined to reach out to at least say thank you.  

5. Don't Wait By the Phone. Go Get More Business!

At the end of the day, you can't make prospects have a greater sense of urgency than what they do. Nor can you clear the decks of their other priorities. Clients buy for their reasons, not your reasons. And they buy on their timeline, not your timeline. 

The opportunity cost of being mentally and energetically chained down to the hope that a deal is going to shake lose is enormous. Instead, let those warm opportunities bake in the oven a bit longer. And then in the meantime, go out there and find 10 more opportunities even better than that one.

Those other ready-now opportunities are waiting for you. 

If you'd like help mapping out your plan for winning more clients in 2016, we should talk. Be sure to check out the details of our latest program here.  

Or, for more strategies right away on landing corporate clients, go here.