A few weeks ago I was on a call with a cold calling agency I was checking out.
Twas a short call, maybe 10-15 minutes max. They asked the right questions, kept it tight, and at the very end, right as we were wrapping up, they did something so simple I almost missed it.
They said, "Hey, do you have your calendar available right now?"
I did. We booked the next meeting on the spot and the whole thing took less than 45 seconds.
I remember sitting there thinking, “why am I not doing this on all my calls?”
One of the biggest heartbreaks in this business is getting ghosted.
It’s a bloody red ocean out there. You work hard for every conversation. So when you finally get a bite at the other end, only for them to wiggle off?
It's demoralizing.
And the worst part is? If you’d just have tweaked 1 or 2 things you could have kept the deal alive.
So here are 7 simple things you can do to keep deals moving and stop letting good leads get away.
But, first…
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Ok, now back to the newsletter.
1. Book the next meeting before you hang up.
This is the one I stole from that discovery call.
When the conversation ends well and they agree to next steps don't let them off the phone without locking down a date on the calendar.
Ask them:
"Hey, do you have your calendar handy? Can we just set something right now?"
9 out of 10 times they’ll say yes, and the deal keeps moving.
2. Ask for their policies before the first meeting.
Before you even sit down together, ask them to send over their current policies.
Keep it low pressure with something like:
"Totally optional, but if you can shoot those over beforehand it'll help me get my head around your account and we'll have a way more productive conversation."
This does two things. It speeds up your info gathering process. But more importantly, it creates a micro-commitment from them before you ever meet.
People who invest even a little bit of effort before a meeting are far less likely to ghost.
3. Set expectations upfront and give them an out.
At the start of your conversations, say something like this:
"Hey, one thing I always like to say upfront is if at any point this doesn't feel like the right fit, just tell me. I'd much rather hear that than you just go silent."
That's it.
It sounds small but it does something powerful. It takes the pressure out of the room.
In insurance especially, prospects ghost because they feel awkward and don't want the confrontation. So they just go quiet.
You're ackowledging the elephant in the room and giving them the exit before they ever think to take it.
Pressure goes down, deal keeps moving.
4. Stop asking open-ended scheduling questions.
"So when works for you?" is no good.
The more open-ended the question, or worse, punting the scheduling to a later date, the more room there is for flaking.
Momentum is fragile. Keep it on your side at all costs.
Give them two options:
"I have Thursday at 10 or Friday at 2 which works better?"
You're still giving them control.
You're just shrinking the decision down to something they can answer in one second.
5. Send a confirmation text the morning of.
These two little lines the morning of cuts no-shows dramatically.
"Hey just confirming we're still on for 2pm today! Looking forward to it."
That's it. It's a reminder for them if it slipped their mind.
Too simple to matter? Start doing it consistently and see what happens.
6. Follow up by text, not just email.
Emails get buried. We all know this.
The average person gets over 100 emails a day and your follow up is somewhere in the middle of that pile.
A text is different. It's personal.
Something as simple as:
"Hey, still thinking about our conversation yesterday. Buzz me if any questions pop up we didn’t cover"
Texting is one of the highest-leverage moves you can make to keep deals moving.
7. When all else fails, send the breakup email.
Followed up a couple times and gotten nothing?
Don't keep knocking, instead, send one final note that essentially closes their file. Something like:
"Hey, I don't want to keep bugging you so I'm going to go ahead and close out your file on my end. If the timing ever changes, I'm always here."
Then stop. No follow up after that.
This works more often than you'd think. Something about hearing "I'm closing your file" snaps people back to attention when they were just busy.
You'll be surprised how many times you get a response within 24 hours.
None of these are complicated or hard to do.
They just require being a little more intentional.
Try even one of these this week. I think you'll be surprised.
-MS
