It’s a common trope in marketing and to some degree in sales, that we need to ‘join the conversation going on in the buyer’s mind’.
Because when someone has a problem and it’s important enough, they have an internal dialogue going on with themselves, about how to solve that problem, and when, at what price, and who should be the person to help them.
When you then manage to become part of that conversation, when you get yourself included in this person’s considerations, when they hear your voice in their head when thinking about the problem, it’s more likely that they’ll end up buying from you, instead of somebody else.
And this is why Sales for Nice People hinges on questions, and especially on questions that make the other person think.
Because when you ask the right question, the kind that provokes thought and inquiry and exploration, and the question is relevant to what your buyer is up against, then each time they think about solving their problem, there you are, as part of the mental furniture, part of the conversation that this person is having with themselves.
It’s what I like to call ‘Putting a pebble in their shoe’: leaving them with something that’s impossible to ignore.
And that’s a pretty important thing to achieve, because one of the most annoying things when selling, is when your buyer ignores you.
You have a conversation, they’re interested, you follow up, and then you get ghosted, your proposal gets ignored, you get ignored.
And you can’t get a sale when you get ignored.
That’s why questions are the solution. Sure, maybe a buyer doesn’t respond to your followup, but having asked them questions means that even if they’re not talking to you directly, they’re talking to you in their mind.
Which is something that you’re not likely to achieve when you try to persuade and convince with strong pitches or compelling arguments.
So the answer to a question like "How do I stop getting ghosted" is: "Ask questions that are helpful, that make your buyer think, and that are impossible to ignore".