👋 Today, we're getting quiet deals talking again, with three follow-ups that actually dragged a dead thread back to a signed IO.

Ghost-busting nuggets aside, let's dive in! 🚀

The Follow-Up That Un-Ghosts a Deal

Perhaps I'm guilty of this a bit. A deal goes quiet, and the follow-up writes itself: "Just bumping this to the top of your inbox." Send. Nothing. "Just checking in!" Send. Nothing. Around the fourth bump, the thread's a graveyard, and you've already blamed everything but your follow-up.

Often your follow-up stinks, making you look like a desperate salesperson, not a helpful audience consultant. Your follow-up gave them no reason to reply.

🎯 Why do you get ghosted?

The cold hard truth is, you don't know why you got ghosted most of the time. It's in the name "ghosted."

It could be for various reasons, that we've gone through many times before, but unless they've mentioned timeline/budgets/bad audience fit, speculating is almost a waste of time

Tour champion could have had a baby, got fired, or just got behind on their inbox.

Regardless of the mystery ‘why’, the data & personal experience tell me this is how to approach being ghosted:

Prioritise by:

audience fit, interest, budget, and media spend

Then follow up accordingly.

For example:

A great-fit brand that you'd had a positive call with, that sponsors similar channels.

a) this should be top of your priority list, and get more of your focus.

Verus:

b) An OKAAAYY-fit brand that might have the budget but isn't already sponsoring your competitors, and with whom you exchanged two emails.

Sounds simple, but it's easy to deviate from simple principles in the heat of battle.

🔑 Three real examples from our CRM

Here's three real examples for clients that got a quiet deal back on track (and Won).

🔎 Timing

A D2C health brand. Good early chats, then: "Can we revisit at the start of August and plan a Q4 campaign?"

James, on the team, set that follow-up on the 1st of August, with a good value-add email, not just a "give me your money" email.

"Since we last spoke, we’ve partnered with XYZ, here's what that looks like."

Sending marketers recent copy that similar companies are running is genuinely helpful. Plus fresh, relevant proof that sells without selling too hard. Closed a multi-placement package @ $20k, live by October.

Timing and helpful.

🔎 Show them the door

An AI productivity tool, we’re pitching a founder-heavy newsletter and podcast.

Then sixteen days of nothing. Instead of a fifth bump, we sent the negative assumption email:

"Sorry for hammering your inbox 😅 Are you still running sponsorships? If not, just say the word."

This subtly flips the "Please respond. We want you to buy" to "I'm assuming you're not interested anymore. Let me know if you are."

Psychologically, it's setting a very low bar of interest for them to start to re-engage, because the opportunity has been taken away from them.

And the reply was an objection: the expected CPC was too high for them.

We didn't cave and slash the rate immediately; we reframed with a blended package across other placements and titles that fit their economics. Got on a call. Closed around $30k.

Counter-intuitive, but giving someone permission to leave is often what gets them to stay.

🏡 Take homes

• Be ruthlessly and intelligently prioritise follow-ups

• Be super organised and value-additive in your emails

• Avoid ‘Please give me your money’ vibes in your emails