Does this sound familiar…

You have a meeting with a client. They seem very enthusiastic about working with you. You send them a proposal and…

…nothing. No feedback, no call, no email.

So you email them to chase up and ask about progress.

No response.

You email again. Again no response.

You call and get voicemail.

And so the chase has begun.

You can't win the chase. Even if you do get through eventually you now seem so desperate that you lose all that expert positioning you worked so hard to build.

There are some things you can do to avoid the chase.

Firstly, at that initial meeting, always agree a specific follow-up date and time when you'll discuss next steps with them. That way you have an agreed meeting or call. It's downright rude if they don't show up. So you're not chasing when you follow up.

Secondly, follow-up with a full stop. Don't call and leave a message to say you'll call back. Then call back to leave a message to say you'll email them. Then email to say if you don't hear from them you'll call.

You're conditioning them to expect you're going to keep calling. So they don't need to take any action themselves.

Instead, call once, and if you get their voicemail leave a polite message saying you haven't heard from them, but if they want to discuss they can call you on such and such a number. If you don't hear from them you'll assume priorities have changed and you'll close the file on this one.

Then the ball's in their court. They can't rely on you keeping calling back.

But the biggest, most important way of avoiding the chase is to have enough quality leads that you don't have to worry if this one drops through.

If you don't need this client to sign up, you won't be so worried and keen to chase them.

And rather amazingly, they often pick up on that subconsciously and become rather more keen to chase you.