The Deafening Sounds of Radio Silence!

As sales professionals, we have all experienced something like this… You conduct a great sales campaign, have multiple appointments, everyone loves what you are offering, and you are getting definite buying signals. Your network is strong in the account! You report this deal as looking awesome in your pipeline reviews with the boss. You may have even gone as far as to let your internal resources know that some work is coming. Everything looks great for the BIG close! Then – NOTHING! The emails go unanswered, and phone messages go unreturned. You slowly realize that “IT” has happened. Your client has gone “radio silent.” This situation conjures up mental images of the captain of the submarine yelling “dive, dive”; klaxon horns blaring as the sub takes a nosedive and then it goes silent. The captain rigs the sub for total silence to avoid being detected…”shhhhh…the salesperson might find us….” NO TALKING! (Maybe I watch too many movies?)

I hope you realize that I don’t think it’s quite as draconian as this, but the frustration as being suddenly in the dark is the bane of our existence. We struggle with it and wonder why clients just go “radio silent.” The reasons are numerous and often have nothing to do with us or our sales campaign. Stuff happens. Clients get busy, projects get reassigned, and budgets get eliminated. Priorities change. They changed their minds or went with a competitor. OK, but could you let us know please?

Good sales professionals are confident that they have conducted credible sales campaigns. We have networked well so that we have developed enough internal support! So, in thinking about this, I think that there is at least one sure way we can protect against this phenomena and deflect the effect it has on the sales community: our motivation and drive. Do you know what it is? You do. Trust me, you do. Honest…would I lie to you?

Here it is…silence please…and the “secret” is…

BUILD and MAINTAIN A ROBUST PIPELINE.

That’s it. Not a secret at all. We all know this. Have enough to work on to insulate yourself against these situations when the client goes “radio silent” and we just can’t get an answer. This does not mean give up. Eventually, we will get an answer and the sales campaign will fire up again. Until then, make sure all of your eggs are not in one basket. Keep moving forward with your other prospects, and keep closing.

Good Selling!

-Todd