Ghosted

Being ghosted is one of the common phenomenons that salespeople experience day in and day out. After so much perceived “rejection”, it can be easy for anyone to fall into the trap of believing their prospect is no longer interested.

According to face theory, the most common way that we deal with face threats to ourselves and others is avoiding. This means that instead of meeting potential conflict or an uncomfortable interaction head on, we are much more likely to simply avoid the interaction entirely. 

For this reason, it’s important for us in sales to constantly question our belief that the prospect is no longer interested. First of all, the world doesn’t usually work in such black and white terms. Just because a prospect does not respond does not mean they are not interested at all. What ghosting more likely means is that I’m not as interested as I was, and that’s a highly complicated and potentially awkward conversation that certainty threatens face for those involved.

The unfortunate sting of being ghosted deals with our awareness of the fact that responding actually takes very little time, even for the busiest of people. However, we should also remain aware that we can easily all feel too busy for a not so urgent conversation about how we’re not as much in love with a person (or a product) as we once were.