You sense a prospect is pulling away.
They stop returning your calls.
They don’t respond to your emails.
They cancel meetings.
They disrespect you.
What do you do?
If you’re like most salespeople, you try even harder.
Why?
You’re tying your self-worth to the outcome.
When you don’t get what you expected, you feel abandoned.
You’ll do anything to make sure you do feel the pain of abandonment.
You’ll chase.
You’ll send more emails.
Make more calls.
Even send a gift.
The problem?
The harder you try, the faster the prospect runs away.
Nobody likes to be chased.
What’s the way out?
Detach from the outcome.
You don’t control when or if people buy.
Focusing on things you don’t control is a recipe for feeling anxious and abandoned all the time.
Your self-worth has absolutely nothing to do with a sale or a meeting.
When you sense a prospect pulling away, retreat.
Send a one-sentence email, like this:
“Ben, have you deferred the cold call workshop?” (Chris Voss)
If you don’t get a response, that’s a gift.
You have time to start more conversations.
Selling is about having conversations with an “s,” not a conversation.
It takes two people to make a sale.