Why are people ghosting me in sales?
Have you ever been working a sale when things have been going really well – and suddenly they won’t return your calls? Radio silence? Being ghosted in B2B sales can be devastating. So how does it happen and what can we do about it?
When does ghosting in sales happen?
Often, ghosting happens late in the sales cycle. Which is why it can be so frustrating. But it can happen any time.
It usually happens when someone we have been working with, often our champion, realises that they can’t give us the answer we want, so rather than speak to us directly and let us know, they just stop returning our calls and emails.
Why does ghosting in B2B sales happen?
There are lots of reasons why sales can get derailed, and hence lots of reasons why we may get ghosted during the B2B sales process.
Late entry competition
Sometimes our champion has been so keen on what we are offering, and we have done such a great job of engaging them, that they haven’t looked at the competition. If something happens to enable our competition to get a foot in the door late in the process, it may be that our customer sees something they prefer in the other offering.
This might happen if an influencer in the process has requested an additional quote from another supplier, or if their process dictates that.
Weak or missing relationships
This is the most common reason why we get ghosted. For whatever reason, we have not managed to build a relationship with a key player in the decision-making process, and that key player has a strong relationship with the competition.
This is common if:
The competitor is an incumbent supplier
The key player is further up the chain than our champion
It can also be that a key decision maker is not familiar enough with us and our solution, so they do not feel confident in the relationship with us as a new supplier. This is about trust – they do not yet trust you as they don’t know you well enough.
No Access to the Financial Decision Maker
A really common scenario is that you are working with your champion and possibly other stakeholders, but you cannot directly connect with the financial decision maker – that is the person who can sign off the budget and give the final go-ahead.
This is always risky, because you are relying on your champion and others in the business to sell your solution for you. If the financial decision maker has something come across their desk that they are not familiar with, there is a good chance they will not approve it.
This is also often when competitor relationships come into play. If the financial decision maker has a strong relationship with your competition, it will be very hard to overcome that without connecting with the financial decision maker directly.
But even then, it may not be the financial decision maker that has derailed your deal. Don’t forget to engage the influencers along the way – and keep in touch with them. If there is a technical guy who is constantly in your decision maker’s ear about something he is unhappy about – at some point the decision maker is going to listen to that.
It is easy to discount people we may consider to be minor players. This is dangerous – as appearances can be deceiving. You may not have full visibility of what relationships are important behind the scenes.
Hidden Objections
It can sometimes just be as simple as our customer not telling us about misgivings they have. If we don’t know they are there – we have no chance to address them. This often happens with influencers – those who may not be the main decision makers but who still hold sway.
Think a systems administrator who has to implement the software you are selling, but won’t be using it themselves on a daily basis. They may have a serious objection about how long it will take to configure and roll out the solution, that hasn’t come up previously. They could raise this with the CEO who decides the resource can’t be spared for the rollout.
No Urgency
This comes back to qualification. We always need to be reinforcing not only why they need what we are selling, and why they need it now.
Managing timing is a crucial part of B2B sales. If what we are selling is only a nice to have, with no compelling event to ensure urgency – we are always at risk of something else becoming a higher priority.
The customer may really like our solution, but just decide to leave it for a while, as they focus on other things – and so our deal is lost.
What can I do about it?
It’s all about the work we do at the beginning of the sales cycle.
Qualify and continue to check and qualify throughout the B2B sales process – especially as we connect with new contacts and get more information.
Qualify, Qualify, Qualify
We all know it is important to qualify early in the sales process. However, when we are working long sales cycles, we need to keep rechecking and requalifying as we go along.
In particular, we need to keep reinforcing:
Decision Makers: we know who all the key players are, and be connected with them
The Need: we have fully understood the customer’s challenge, and thatour customer agrees the importance of solving this with our joint plan to solve it
Timing: we consistently talk to when things will happen, and why that timeframe is important for the customer
Draw out Objections
Really drawing out those objections is key. Very often this is what gets us – there is an underlying objection – that is reason they are not sure about going ahead – that they have not told us about.
If we don’t know about it, we can’t address it. Although it can feel counter intuitive, especially if the conversation has been really positive, drawing out objections is really important.
A good question to draw out objections is:
“Based on what we have discussed so far, is there any reason why you are not ready to go ahead?”
Stay across all the players
Map out who all the players are that you need to be connected with. Be organised and ensure you have at least some contact with all of them, and build relationships with those that you can.
The more relationships you have, the stronger your position. If one person is not calling you back – you then have multiple other people you can reach out to find out what is going on.
Getting back on track
Reach out to all your contacts
If one person is ghosting you, think about who else you can reach out to. This will obviously be easier, the more contacts you have made along the way.
This is the main thing you need to do – make direct personal contact with as many players as possible.
Simply reaching out and connecting might be all it takes, so you can start a conversation to find out why things are not moving forward.
Remember, ask lots of questions. Don’t get defensive. Make it easy for them, and remember what impact this sales process may be having on them and their workload.
Meet in person if you can, or at least on a video call. You want to be asking questions in a conversation, not via email or text.
Don’t just leave it at one person – if you have multiple contacts, stay in touch with all of them.
As you start getting information, address it as quickly and directly as possible. If you learn there is a new influencer in the mix – try and get a meeting with them. If the competition is in play – find out who it is and surface their weaknesses and your strengths. Requalify and reinforce timing and budget – confirm who signs off on what and if you have gotten any of that wrong.
Most importantly – keep up contact, and keep providing great service.
No sale is ever guaranteed, but you get points for showing up – and showing up often. If you are seen as the one providing the better service, the one who listens and really cares about your customer’s challenges – that matters.
At the end of the day, remember you are selling to people. When in doubt, try and connect with a person, and have a human conversation. At the very least you will find out what is going on. More likely, you’ll get things back on track, and soon be celebrating a with a new customer.
Want to keep learning?
Check out our on demand B2B Sales Courses
and our 10 Week B2B Sales Accelerator cohort course
