It’s horrible when people don’t get back to you:
- Do you chase them – and feel like you’re pestering?
- Do you leave them – and worry you’ll never speak with them again?
Here are some techniques to reduce ghosting:
- Agree the date of Meeting #2 during Meeting #1 – before you finish meeting #1, say “Let’s schedule our next meeting now – while we’re both together with our calendars. When’s good for you?” After all, once it’s in their calendar, they’re less likely to ghost you
- Immediate invite to Meeting #2 – send the Meeting #2 invite immediately – if possible, do it during Meeting #1 just after agreeing the date
- Immediate follow-up email – send a short email detailing your agreed actions from Meeting #1, and re-confirming Meeting #2 date
- Pre-Meeting #2 email – 1-2 days before Meeting #2, email them – saying (1) you’re looking forward to your meeting (2) you’ve done your actions from Meeting #1, and (3) have some new insights to share with them in #2. This reminds them of the meeting, and tells them they’ll get new value from it
- If they cancel a meeting – bust guts to reschedule it – as fast as possible. Delay is never good. So, quickly reply with “that’s fine to postpone it. How about X am or Y pm tomorrow instead?”
- Chase them by text – if you haven’t pre-booked Meeting #2, or you have but they cancelled it, you can chase them by text – “Hi there, I’m looking forward to our next chat. To avoid us playing telephone tennis, I’ll call you at 4pm today. Please text me a different time if 4pm doesn’t work…”
- Chase them using the word “new” – if your previous discussions weren’t enough to motivate them to speak with you again, some new information might! So, use the word “new”. For example, “since last week’s meeting, I’ve done some research, and found three new things that will help us. When’s the best time for you, for us to have a quick chat about them?”
- Escalate to both your bosses – sometimes, we need a third-party to help us. So, maybe ask your boss to speak to their boss, to re-prioritise the call. Or if you have a mutual friend, ask them to step-in
All of which means…
…Action Point
From now on, always agree Meeting #2’s date during Meeting #1.
And for all your current situations where people are ghosting you, use some of the techniques above to get back in their calendars!