This ever happen to you?  You go in and do a new business pitch and you nail it, plain and simple. The participants are with you every slide, every word, every well rehearsed statement designed to evoke a laugh in exactly the right places. You walk out on cloud 9 or well, whatever cloud has your monthly cash flow statement.

You got it; you’re sure.

And then the wait begins. They promise to let you know within a week and by the middle of week two you decide to reach out. No reply. Nada. A few more days pass by and then another call and email.  Still nothing.

They’ve gone silent.

You do all that needs to be done, follow all the tried and true techniques to evoke a response and still nothing.

By now you’ve ripped that cash flow statement into little tiny pieces and have moved on to new prospects and hopefully greener pastures.

But is that the answer?

A few thoughts to ponder:

• You can’t lose what you don’t have. Now I’m not suggesting that you stalk the prospect or become overly aggressive. I am suggesting that they “owe” you a response and so stay attentive and on their grid until you get one. Period.
• Just because this is a very important piece of business for YOU it just might not be that important for THEM. And, as you might recall, it’s all about them. Don’t despair. Sometimes projects that seemed to have died an unnatural death come to life weeks and months after their supposed “start date.”
• Think carefully. Did you truly screen and qualify the opportunity or did you go in and “pitch on a prayer?”  If so, that prospect might not have been that qualified from the very beginning.
• Have you done some due diligence to find out if anything has changed in THEIR world? (One client I know neglected to find out that the company that they pitched had merged with another organization and their proposal was now agenda item number 3264646.)

There are lots of reasons that prospects go silent post presentation. Review the circumstances carefully and take the appropriate steps.  Most important, make certain that your business presentation is being conducted to qualified prospects that are truly interested in your product or service.  That’s not a guarantee that you’ll get a response but it certainly ups the odds.