Don't assume the worst when a prospect doesn't call you back

How do you deal with when you've had some positive interaction with a new prospect, but then they go quiet on you?

What do you do when someone ghosts you, and you're trying to contact them, whether it's email or phone calls, and you're not getting anything back?

Do you assume that the other person is not interested?

Do you feel that it's all too hard and that it's not worth continuing to chase?

A lot of people give up easily when this happens.

Or they keep on calling and calling with no real strategy.

What to think and what to do when you find yourself in this situation

Firstly, don’t assume the worst.

If you get concerned every time someone doesn't respond to your outreach, then you're going to have an unhappy, stressful, and anxiety-ridden time in commercial real estate!

Remember, a lot of what we have to do is chase people down to keep processes and projects moving forward.

Give people the benefit of the doubt. Whether they're busy with other things or they're having a bad day, try not to be too paranoid that you've done something wrong, and there's a reason for them ghosting you.

Instead, back yourself. If they haven't told you that they don't ever want to hear from you ever again, then assume that they do want to hear from you again!

It can take some time to get people to get back to you. Keep going until they tell you that they don't want to speak to you ever again.

Try some different approaches.

It might be email - phone call - email, or maybe you send an email, and you follow it up with a phone call, or you call first, then send an email.

There are some things that you can do which complement each other and draw people's attention to the fact that you're trying to contact them that will make them more likely to respond in their own time (or at least more likely to be open to speaking to you when the next time comes up.

Being persistent, without being a pest, is a balancing act.

Finding the right cadence to chase a prospect, without sounding desperate, is the key to keeping sales processes moving toward the next step.

Episode 54 of CRE Success: The Podcast shares a few ideas on how revenue-generating commercial real estate professionals can deal with being ‘ghosted’ by prospects.