It’s perplexing, I know. Your prospective client looked you in the eye and told you the signed engagement letter would be in your hands by the end of the week. That was two months ago. Now, after your friendly reminders were ignored, your voicemails unanswered, paranoia begins to set in. Maybe they were just being nice and never intended to work with you in the first place. Perhaps you were too aggressive with your follow-ups and scared them away. Maybe a competitor poached them. Perhaps they changed jobs or died. (But then, their latest LinkedIn posts indicate otherwise.)
So what’s the deal here? Did they suddenly get so busy that they couldn’t find the time to respond to your communiqué? The last time you checked, it only takes five seconds to write an email that says, “We are in a holding pattern—I’ll let you know when things change.” Don’t they care that you were counting on their engagement to put you over the top this quarter? (Insert exasperated Emoji here click this over here now.)
Here’s the problem: you have no idea what they are dealing with until they tell you. You can fret all you like, but ultimately the only appropriate course of action is to extend the benefit of the doubt and proceed with respectful persistence. If they aren’t responding to your status requests, send them relevant articles, introductions, and other value-adds. Let them know that you aren’t just going to forget about them. And whatever you do, don’t take it personally. It’s just business. And even if they don’t do any with you this time, they will remember your professionalism (or lack thereof) when the next opportunity comes along.
Authored by David Ackert
