Don’t you just hate it when a prospect, seemingly very interested in you, suddenly goes cold?
It’s possible that you didn’t create a compelling enough reason for them to remain interested and to continue to move forward with you. Or, perhaps something changed on their side and they didn’t feel obliged to let you know.
So, what should you do? Do you give up? Do you persist?
Action #1 – Seek the advice of your referral source. If you were introduced to the prospect your first step should be to check with your referral source to see what you might learn. Your source may be able to fill you in on what’s changed and, sometimes, they’ll come to your rescue and get the process moving again.
Action #2 – Be genuinely transparent. In an email or voice mail, say something like this:
George, I’m wondering if you could help me out with something. Based on our last meeting, you seemed genuinely interested in how we might be able to help you with __________(restate their main problem or opportunity).
Since then, I’ve not heard from you and am uncertain how to keep our conversation going. If your situation has changed or you’ve decided to move in a different direction, that’s certainly okay with me. I’d just like to know how to proceed from here.
Action #3 – Explore the opportunity/cost equation. Briefly go through the opportunity of action and the cost of inaction:
George, let’s explore what I like to call the “opportunity/cost equation.” Based on everything we’ve discussed, here’s my perspective.
If we move forward with my recommendations, here are the benefits you can expect ________. On the other hand, the cost of doing nothing will likely play out like this __________.
If something has changed on your end, then let’s discuss how that might impact this simple equation. Either way, I’d like to schedule a quick phone call to keep the conversation going.
Action #4 – Stay in touch leading with value. If you believe you can bring great value to your prospect and they represent an opportunity worth investing in, then stay in touch with value.
Drip articles, videos, links, reports, checklists, and whatever you can find that’s relevant to their situation. You can also in touch in a more personal way, such as what their favorite sports team did over the weekend or something related to one of their hobbies.
Be mindful not be a pest and make your referral source regret making the introduction.
Action #5 – Go for the “no.” This is often the hardest thing for many professionals. Going for the “no” usually produces one of two results: Either they acknowledge that things have changed (so, you can release them from your psyche) or this will wake them up to re-engage:
George, I’m hoping you can help me out. At our last meeting, I left with the impression that you were very interested in moving forward.
Since I haven’t heard from you, I was wondering if things have changed on your side and that perhaps I should stop reaching out to you. While I sincerely believe we can help you address your challenges and help you reach your goals, I don’t want to keep reaching out if you’ve lost interest.
If I don’t hear from you, I’ll move on. My preference, however, is to always know the full picture. I hope to hear back from you soon to see what the next step should be.
These ideas aren’t mutually exclusive. You may choose to explore a mix of these ideas to get the result you want.
