How to prevent prospects from going silent

There’s something in the buyer psyche that’s part feudalistic, part inability to say NO, and part pester avoidance behaviour. These are contributors to a buyer’s act of going silent.

However, this doesn’t need to be the case. The golden rule to foster and sustain lasting relationships is to treat customers the way you want to be treated!

This may sound trite, but you need to earn the right to be a ‘trusted advisor’. Don’t commodify them as a buyer – chased, cajoled and exalted when they emit buying signals and dropped like a ‘hot potato’ if they show no intent on buying. Don’t respect them for the money they bring to your pipeline but respect them as humans – a mom or dad trying to bring up kids, or strugglers like you and me trying to survive in our jobs.

Give something of real value. Find what moves them and give them that – be it talking points at a club, parenting tips, or pointers for their next job. Explore to see if you can make them thought leaders – give them some Social Media love.
Don’t burden them by putting them on your mailing lists or pestering them with ‘I was just checking’ calls/emails.

Every move of yours should add value. And then prospects won’t be silent – before you know it, they will sing like a canary!