What To Do When Prospects Ghosts You

Have you ever made it far along in the sales cycle with a prospect and then, just when you are about to close the deal, all communication stops? When a prospect ghosts you, it can be frustrating, leaving you wondering what you did wrong and what you could’ve done differently. However, just because communication has stopped doesn’t mean that you won’t ever hear from them again – there can be many reasons for the “ghosting,” and if you had a good feeling about an ultimate sale, the ghosting could simply be due to bad timing. Consider these suggestions for what to do when a prospect ghosts you:

Always follow up but no need to overdue it

When you haven’t heard from your prospect in a while, you are going to want to follow up with timed and thoughtful emails and calls. When doing this, it’s important to find the balance between being attentive and being annoying. You don’t want to constantly call or send emails because there may be a good reason that they decided to stop communication in the first place. However, a well thought out check-in will be necessary if you ever want to continue doing business with your prospect.

HubSpot suggests using the “buried email” trick, which essentially asks your prospect if your email accidentally got buried in their inbox. The email may sound something like this:

“Hi Joe, Just wanted to follow up in case my email was buried in your inbox.”

This type of email is short and sweet, but still gets the point across in a non-threatening way. Mainly, it shows that you’re ready to make a deal happen even if they still need some time to think about it. According to the same HubSpot article, “this buried email tactic sees a 90% response rate.” So, if you have been waiting to hear from a prospect, give this trick a try.

Another useful (bold) question– “I haven’t heard from you in a while, and I’m wondering if your position on moving forward has changed? What unaddressed concerns do you have?”

Send personalized messages and ask specific questions

Some prospects may not feel guilty about ghosting you because there is a perception that they are just one of many prospects and that they are not a top priority. Sending personalized messages and asking specific questions are great ways to capture your prospect’s attention and elicit a response. If you leave a voicemail or send an email, remind your prospect that their business is valued and proceed to ask very specific questions. Consistent and well-thought-out follow up will induce feelings of accountability with your prospect, and will hopefully result in a response. According to HubSpot, a sample message you may want to send your prospect may sound like this:

“Hey, Bob, my manager asked me to let her know by the end of the week if this deal is still in the works, as she is leaving on vacation. Please just shoot me a quick email or call back so I can get her an answer as soon as possible. When we talked last, you had planned on making a decision a couple of weeks ago?”

Notice how this message establishes a sense of urgency by requesting a response within a certain timeframe. This can be a good tactic to keep in your back pocket, as well. Think about how you respond to messages in your personal life – you most likely feel the need to answer urgent messages first. Requesting a prompt response will likely result in an increased response rate amongst prospects who ghost you. Ultimately, you want to receive an answer right away – even if it’s a “no” – because you don’t want to spend time working on retaining a prospect you may never hear back from. Instead, you can use this time to attract more promising prospects.

Remind your prospect of their desired outcome

When a prospect ghosts you, it will become important to remind them what interested them in the first place. Let them know that you are still ready to deliver and look forward to hearing back from them. As you move a prospect through the sales cycle, they may lose sight of what they were originally looking for. For this reason, they may stop all communication because they forgot about the value in what you offer. Reminding them of their initial desires may help reignite their interest in your services. According to a recent article on LinkedIn, a sample message may look like this:

“I haven’t heard from you over the last few weeks, which is perfectly OK. But based on our previous conversation, you expressed interest in increasing your demo to win conversion rates by July 1^st. Additionally, you felt your current platform was not able to provide the robust reporting that you found interesting in our platform, and at slightly less cost.”

Reminding your prospects about their desired outcomes can help them realize that they actually are in need of what you offer. If their needs have changed, that’s fine, too. But, asking if the prospect still has the same needs is also beneficial for you because it will help you determine whether or not it’s worth continuing to pursue the prospect.

In sales, there is nothing more discouraging than a prospect ghosting you, but it’s important to remember that even the most promising prospects may never convert into customers. It’s important to remember it’s not personal – it could be a simple as – the prospect is overwhelmed at their own job and had to push the decision down the list. Be patient and never lose hope that the prospect may come back around (but definitely lessen the number of outreaches every month that passes that you have no result). Remember to always follow up by sending personalized and specific messages and always remind your prospect of their initial desired outcomes. These tactics will be helpful in determining whether you should consider pursuing the prospect or whether you should move on.

Perhaps most importantly – continue to fill your pipeline so that you are not dependent on those prospects that never seem to show up or make a decision in the direction you want! If you ever have trouble reaching high quality prospects that can convert to sales, MarketReach offers a number of services, including prospect list management and lead generation, that will provide you with the sales meetings you need to close your next deal.