In this piece, expert strategic negotiator Sam Trattles explains how you can stop getting ghosted by clients in the negotiation phase.
There’s nothing like walking away from a potential new client meeting, feeling excited about the opportunity, sending off a proposal, and then you wait…
Then your follow-ups go unanswered.
Your excitement turns into disappointment, then frustration, and then worst of all, self-doubt creeps in – what did I do wrong? I should have said that, I wish I’d done this instead, and so on.
First things first, people don’t usually ghost because they want to waste your time. There are many reasons people ghost, but here are some of the most common:
- Because they don’t want to disappoint you by saying no.
- They shy away from all negotiations because they think it’ll cause conflict.
- They were interested but other priorities took their attention.
- They might have budget constraints that they’re embarrassed to admit.
Ghosting is costing you more than money – it’s costing you in lost productivity and confidence as well. So, it’s time to do something about it.
1. Ask yourself if it feels right.
We have an Ideal Client who will usually behave in predictable ways. If you find yourself in a conversation where this potential client isn’t a little bit predictable at least, ask yourself, ‘Do they seem like our sort of client?’
Look for the signs that they’re ‘not that into you’. If they’re asking you to ‘send something through for review’ or avoiding specific questions about timings or budget, yuou might need to walk away to make room for a better opportunity down the road.
2. Ask about their process
Get a clear picture of their approvals process early – you want to know who needs to be ‘in the room’ to make the key decisions.
Knowing this empowers you to create a strategy that aligns with the layers of negotiations you’re likely to experience so you can look for ways to fast-track discussions.
3. Ask for the sale
Once you’ve discussed all the key elements of the deal, move to close the sale. Always give them an easy way to say: yes, no, or maybe. Something like ‘What are the chances this will get signed off this [month/quarter/half]’.
Asking a direct question like this should bring their internal realities to the surface. Don’t skip over this, you want to sit in it and get clarity together. Collaboratively step through what needs to happen between where we are, and when they’ll be ready to press GO.
4. Ask at the right time
Set an intention around your follow-up. Consider ways to use it as an opportunity to build your relationship, rather than leaving another message like: ‘I’m Just checking in to see where things are at.’
Identify if there’s any urgency you can hook off to positively impact their decision or elicit any form of response – focusing on ways to make it easy for them to say yes, no, or maybe to you. This can change the follow-up conversation, demonstrating your empathy for the challenges they’re facing, which will enhance your chances of a response.
5. Ask if it’s time to ‘call it’
Put in place rules around your follow-up efforts. Get clear on when you’ll ‘call it’ – rather than to keep this client’s follow-up on your Actions List, set them free.
Ghosting is rarely personal, but that doesn’t mean it’s not upsetting. So set yourself up for less and less of it by building structure into your negotiations. Putting effort into asking, despite it feeling a little bit uncomfortable to do so, will save you time, effort and frustration.
The more you invite your clients into open and honest conversations early, the clearer you are about respecting each other’s time and expertise, the stronger the relationship foundations will be.
If you struggle with asking for what you want, take action to reduce ghosting stats today!
