Secret To Beat Sales Ghosting

Rob  00:00

Rob, welcome back to The Slow Pitch. And today we have an email that came in. It’s about ghosting, and instead of having me read it, it would make more sense for me to have somebody else read it. But you know what? Instead of having somebody else read it, I’m gonna have AI create the voice for me. And so here we go. Let’s listen to see what their problem is.

Alex2  00:22

Hi, Rob, I’ve learned a lot from the show. My question is this. I’m a small business owner that provides consulting services to small and medium sized companies. I recently had a great discovery call with a potential client who expressed a lot of interest in working with me. We talked about timelines, pricing, and even agreed on the next steps, but after the call, they completely went silent. This isn’t the first time this has happened to me, and it’s really frustrating. What can I do differently to prevent clients from ghosting me after showing such strong interest? How can I keep the momentum going? To close the deal, by the way, my name is Alex.

00:58

Alright, so ghosting is an interesting issue. And I know we’ve talked about some of these ghosting components before, but let’s kind of go through them one by one. So first of all, he talks about having a discovery call. So that’s a good thing. That’s usually some sort of a process that you go through to identify whether or not somebody has the ability to be a client or not.

01:16

And so to me, that’s always a good sign. So somebody that’s doing that, particularly anything that’s consultative, that would be the way to go, because you want to make sure that you’re walking them down the street to get to where you want them to go. And at any time, you should be always acknowledging that you could push them out of the sales process at any time, because you only take on certain clients.

01:38

There’s nothing wrong with that. And he also talks about the timeline. So, there’s a lot of moving parts in this thing. Let’s get into a couple of things. The first three things are really important. That I heard was, he talked about a strong interest. And so, Alex, when he says strong interest, I don’t know what that means. It sounds like happy ears to me, but we’ll get into that in a minute. Why do you think they’re ghosting you?

01:57

The other thing I heard was, you know, wanting to close the deal at the end there. And I that always concerns me, because anytime you want to close the deal, that usually comes across as a little needy. And if you’re coming across a little needy, then that doesn’t vibe well with the other side. So they can sense that. They can feel it. And so, there’s a way you need to fix that piece.

02:17

And the other thing you talked about is you talked about the budget, the timeline, the pricing, what you have, and also next steps. And that’s all good. It sounds like you guys talked about it. My question is, did you get a chance to really get into details of that? So, we’re going to hit on that again a little bit too. So, let’s get started into the secrets…

V/O  02:34

This is The Slow Pitch Podcast.

Rob  02:37

So first thing is, you know, the happy ears. I’m going to get into that secret in a minute, because happy ears to me, basically means you’re hearing what you want to hear. Because you think this is going to close, you’re all excited, and the more excited that you are, the less likely it is that you’re going to close the sale.

02:52

So every time you feel like you’re having happy ears, there is something you should be doing, and we’ll get to that towards the end here. I think the first thing I want to talk about is the last kind of comment that he made, which, Alex, if you’re listening, first of all, I appreciate you writing to me and asking the question.

03:08

It’s a good question, and it’s something that a lot of us have faced ourselves before. But at the end, you said something about closing the deal. What do I need to do to close the deal? And anytime you say that phrase, or anytime you have something that says that or comes across that way, you have to be careful, because that comes across as you need the sale, you want the sale, and the other person is going to automatically push away.

03:08

So it’s kind of like having that, Alex, for you, it’s kind of like if you have a needy girlfriend all of a sudden, then they’re just going to be all over you every time you try to walk away from them. And that’s not a good sign. That’s not good, that’s not a good feeling. That’s not where you want to be, right? So what you want to do is you basically need to step off from the from the attitude of, I want to close this deal, and now you need to kind of shift into, what do we need to do to get more information?

03:08

What do they need to do to get more information to make the decisions that they need, because the better that they can make their decision, and the more that I can help them make their decision, the more likely it is that they’re going to make a positive decision for me. So, what does that mean?

03:08

I think the first thing that you need to think about is pain, if you have not thought about, understood, listened, had a good understanding of what their pain was or is, and can equate that to why they should be buying then, then you’re probably you don’t have enough pain. And so I think I would, I would push back and say that you probably didn’t ask this question of your potential buyer. Tell me why you should be doing this right now. Why are you trying to make this happen right now?

03:08

So if you ask your buyer why they’re doing this. They’re going to come back and tell you all the reasons why. If you’ve talked about all their pains, what they’re going to say back to you in terms of their pain is going to be related to the dollars that are associated, to what’s costing them, what they should be getting that they’re not getting those types of things.

Rob  03:08

If you’re having those conversations and you’re asking that question, why do you think you should be doing this right now? Or why do you even need me right now? That’s a whole different question and answer, right? That’s a whole different avenue that you maybe you haven’t gone down. What if you did nothing? That would be another question I might ask. What if you didn’t do anything? What if you just stayed the same, kept doing the things that you’re doing? What will happen then if you ask that question, and they come back with, well, everything’s going to be fine. Nothing’s going to change. It’s okay. I’m fine with what if we just didn’t do anything. That’s okay. You don’t have the sale.

03:08

I don’t care what they say about the next steps and timelines. You don’t have the sale because they haven’t equated. This is a big enough problem, and if they don’t do anything, nothing changes. They’re fine. They’re happy. What you have to do is get them to verbalize to you why they need you and why they should be paying you to help them lose their problem.

V/O  03:33

Do you have a question about sales? Call or text your question at (608) 708-SLOW. That’s (608) 708-7569. Or you can email them to Questions@TheSlowPitch.com. Now back to the show.

06:10

One of the reasons they might have come across as if they’re given their silent treatment, there might be other people involved. So do you have another person behind the scenes that you don’t even know is there who’s going to be making the decision, or making the decision with them, or they’re waiting on other people.

06:24

My guess is they may have that as well. Now I would back up and say, you know what, if they’re if they don’t have enough pain, it doesn’t really matter, because they’re not going to make that decision until they have that pain or understand what that pain is. But if you, if you have not asked the question about who else is involved with this, that would be another question to come back to.

06:42

So now the situation is, you’re waiting on them. What’s your timeline? So, if you said your timeline, that you guys agreed on was two weeks, then what happens in two weeks? And what happens if they don’t call you? One of the fun questions I always like to ask when they tell me, hey, you know, I just need two weeks, and I’m going to… we’ll make some decisions in two weeks.

07:01

Okay, the first question is, why two weeks? Like, tell me, why is it in two weeks that’s going to be better than today or tomorrow or whatever? And then the other question that’s going to come back with is, is, if I don’t hear from you in two weeks, what do you want me to do? I don’t want to pester you. I don’t want to be the one that’s calling you when you’re not ready or don’t even want to talk to me. What happens then, how do you want me to handle that?

 07:23

And then if they say, you know what I’ll call you, don’t worry about it. You got to dive into that a little bit, right? You’ve got to continue to push back and say, yeah. But what if you just get busy and things happen? I get that. Would it be okay if I just gave you a shout or an email or a call just to see how things are going? Even if it’s just a status update. It gives me the idea that you, at least you’re working towards this, and if there’s any other questions that come up, I can help you with and a lot of times, what they’ll do is say, yeah, actually, that would be helpful.

07:49

The other thing you can always do is set a calendar invite for somebody that would show up on their calendar, and when it shows up on their calendar, they’re more likely to answer the phone when you call at that particular time it happens, and it’s worked really well for me, but I want to go back to the happy years part.

08:04

That’s a problem that a lot of people have…when people start ghosting you here’s the thing to know, if you feel like everything’s going, like it’s supposed to and you know, oh, this is going to happen. This is going to happen, and what you need to think about is, is if this has happened to you before, you need to think about what it is that you’re missing earlier, but also, like, how do you make sure that you are asking all the right questions that are related to pain and asking about the next steps and why they’re why they’re doing that, why they’re moving forward.

08:31

I had one time when I had somebody tell me, I want to, I want to sign the agreement. Okay, great. Why? I didn’t feel like they were ready, like I didn’t feel like they had all the things that they needed in line. Now I’m a little more analytical, so I thought we needed more. So, I would just ask the simple question, why? Why? Why do you feel like you’re ready to go with that? And they gave me all the reasons. Okay, off we go. If they said I need a couple weeks.

08:53

But I’m pretty sure we’re going to make a decision in two weeks that’s going to equate for me to sound like it’s going to be happy ears. Those are those ears that you put on that you say, hey, this is going to happen. This is going to go and it’s not, it’s never going to happen. Because what’s happening is, you don’t have a clear commitment to buying in two weeks. What you have is, let’s push it off. Let’s push it off, right?

09:15

So if you don’t have the check in hand and you don’t have a signed document, you don’t have a credit card, whatever it is that you do to sign off and make sure that you’re ready to rock and roll and go forward. You actually don’t have the sale, and you need to behave accordingly. What you need to do is keep going back to the gathering and say, okay, let’s talk about the pain some more. That kind of thing. In your follow-up calls.

09:37

You need to have more of those kinds of conversations to make sure that they understand what those are, and ask and ask those questions to help them talk about that. If they refuse to do that, give it up. Say, hey, listen, it sounds to me like you’re not really interested at this point, and maybe never. That’s okay, and you have to tell them. Remember when we talked in the beginning, it was one of those situations where if it didn’t make sense, you’d tell me, and that’s okay, and it sounds like that’s where we’re at and sometimes then they’ll say, yeah, that’s it.

10:03

And sometimes they’ll say, no, that’s not it. We’re moving forward. We just need a couple more things here. Okay, what are those? Number one, number two, the other thing you can always come back with is and say, it sounds to me like you’re just kind of being a little nice to me here. I know you probably think it’s better to do that and just to let me off easily.

10:22

But the reality is, is I, you know, I’m a big boy. I’ve got my big boy pants on. I can handle it. If you told me, No, that’s okay, right now. And sometimes they just laugh, and they’ll tell you, you know what, you’re right. It’s, I was just being nice. It is not going to fit. We’re not going to work on it. The budget’s too high. Blah, blah, blah, okay, now we’ve got, now we’re back into the sales game, right? They’re talking about why things aren’t going to work.

10:45

Then you can start to ask those supporting questions that will find out whether they have enough pain to offset that, because if they say the budget’s too high, you can start asking some more questions. But if you feel like, hey, this is truly over, they have somebody already in mind that they want to work with. Give it up. Move on. Find the next person that you need to talk to, because there are plenty and plenty of people out there to talk to.

11:06

Alex, I really appreciate your writing in the question. It helps other people. And so when people do that, I try to give it a little bit more time and kind of get into some of the multiple facets of this question, because there’s several things going on here, but I think you’re on the right trail with doing the discovery call and working through those questions and answers to make sure that they feel like they’re a good fit.

11:26

I think you’re just missing some of the pain stuff and making sure that whatever they are looking for you fix that the pain and the dollars and the time and all of that overwhelm the obvious thing of the budget, right? So, they need to feel like not only is it going to save me $10,000 but what I’m paying you is going to be less than that over time, right? So that’s what they need to feel.

Rob  11:51

And know if they don’t feel that way, they’re probably not going to buy so I hope that helps you, and I hope it helps somebody else. And if you find this to be helpful, it’s time to pay it forward. Share this episode with somebody who might have run into the same situation, or if you’ve heard them talk about the same situation, share this episode and tell them there’s other episodes that also hit on individual pieces of this problem that they can get into some deeper dives into. Until next time, don’t forget. Slow down and close more.