Customer Ghosted You After the Quote? What to Do Next

The appointment went well. You'd have put money on it. They liked the product, they liked you, they said they'd let you know by the weekend.

That was three weeks ago.

Every salesperson I've ever coached has had this, and so have I, plenty of times, over 40-odd years. It doesn't mean you're bad at the job. But what you do now decides whether you get some of those back. And what you do in your next appointment decides whether it keeps happening.

Why they go quiet

It's rarely rudeness. Most people hate awkward conversations, and silence is easier.

Some haven't decided and feel daft saying so. Some have gone with someone else and can't face telling you. Some are just busy, and your quote is one email in a hundred. And some have a worry they never said out loud: the money, the timing, a partner who isn't sold.

Notice it's almost always about their discomfort. Not about you.

What to do now

Keep it short. A long email that ends "do let me know if you have any questions" is the easiest thing in the world to ignore. Something that needs a one-word answer is much harder to ignore.

Change how you're getting in touch. If emails aren't working, ring. If they don't pick up, send a short text. Some people never check email. Some never answer a number they don't know.

Then give them permission to say no. Something along the lines of: "No problem at all if you've decided against it or gone with someone else, I'd just rather know so I'm not pestering you." You'll be amazed how many people reply to that. And every now and then the reply is "actually, we were just worried about…" and you're back in.

And know when to stop. A few polite contacts is professional. Ringing every other day isn't, and in a trade that lives on word of mouth, people talk.

Please don't do these

Don't panic and drop the price. If you knock 10% off for someone who hasn't even replied, you've told them your first price was made up. You'll never get that margin back, and you've taught them to wait.

Don't guilt-trip them. "I put a lot of work into that quote" might be true. It still won't win you the job.

And don't invent a deadline. "Price only valid till Friday" when it isn't. People can smell it, and it chips away at the trust you built in the room.

The real fix is before you leave the house

You can get better at chasing. But the best salespeople I know hardly chase at all.

That's because they never leave with "we'll let you know". Before they get up from the table, there's either a decision, or there's an agreed next step. "So you're speaking to your son at the weekend. Shall I give you a ring Monday evening, about six? Is that all right?" Written in the diary while the customer watches.

People very rarely ghost a call they've agreed to. They ghost the ones that come out of nowhere.

I also tell my clients to say this early on: "I'm not going to ask you for a decision today, unless you want to give me one." It takes the pressure off. And because they're relaxed, they're much more likely to be honest with you about what's really stopping them. That honesty is worth more than any follow-up sequence.

The last steps of my 7 Steps to Sales Mastery, Pre-close, Close and Consolidation, are all about this. Leaving with a commitment, not a hope.

If ghosting is costing you more jobs than it should, take the free 2-minute Sales Leak Assessment and book a free 30-minute discovery call with me.