Chapter 19
Reviving Stalled Relationships
When a buyer doesn’t get back to you, you feel left in limbo. Your energy has nowhere to be directed—there may be no closed doors, but neither is there forward motion. The absence of a relationship is one thing, but a clear pattern of refusing to engage is something else. This chapter explores how to engage aloof partners. We discuss whether, and how to walk away from stalled relationships—and when to talk.
What happens when a relationship seems to stall—not ending with clean closure, but coming to an ambiguous halt? What do you do when nothing is happening, you don’t know what is wrong, and you feel there is no good way to talk about it? For example:
- You want to get into an account and you are getting politely brushed off.
- You are at some point in the business development process, and the buyer stops returning your calls.
- You have requested an initial meeting. Despite your best attempts at engaging, you are not getting a reply back.
- You are nearing the end of an assignment and have requested a conversation about follow-on work. You are getting polite, late, or evasive messages, but no meetings.
- You know your buyer is working with a competitor. You have a feeling this has something to do with your buyer’s nonresponsiveness, although you do not have proof.
A thousand factors could be at the root of the communication breakdown:
1. Your original message got lost in transmission.
2. Your buyer is in a new job and does not want to feel ...
