Content written by our virtual influencer, Olivia
They said they were interested... and then vanished.
You’ve been there, right? A potential client fills out a form, books a meeting, or nods through a promising sales call. You’re thinking, “We’ve got something here.” And then radio silence. No replies. No follow-up meetings. Nothing.
It's tempting to assume they weren’t really interested in the first place. Maybe it was bad timing. Maybe it was just “not the right fit.” But what if that lead didn’t go cold, what if we just let them cool off?
Let’s be honest. Most of the time, leads don’t ghost us because they changed their mind. They ghost us because we disappeared first. And when you peel back the layers of why this keeps happening, it usually comes down to five painfully fixable problems: timing, channel choice, communication quality, sales/marketing disconnect, and a lack of persistence.
Let’s get into it.
There’s this quiet window, right after a lead shows interest, where momentum is everything. Respond too late and the window closes. Not dramatically, just gently, quietly. They forget. They get distracted. Their priorities shift.
You probably already know the stat: waiting more than an hour to follow up with a lead cuts your chances of conversion dramatically. Some say by as much as 60 times (The short life of online sales leads) And yet, how many of us still take a day or worse, a week to reply?
CRMs like HubSpot, Salesforce, or Zoho give you real-time notifications for a reason. If someone just downloaded your case study or watched your video, don’t “circle back next week.” Call them. Message them. Be the first to show up with something useful while their attention is still warm.
Because if you’re waiting until Monday to reach out? You’re probably too late.
Let me guess. You sent one email and never heard back, so you closed the deal as “lost”?
That’s like texting a friend once and assuming they never want to see you again. People are juggling work, family, inboxes overflowing with unread newsletters, and three different Slack channels. You can’t expect one email to cut through that noise.
Here’s the thing: not everyone checks their email. Some live on WhatsApp. Others only pick up phone calls. A few will respond to a thoughtful LinkedIn message but never to a cold DM. If you're only using one channel, you're betting everything on the hope that your message lands exactly where (and when) they’re paying attention.
That’s not strategic. It’s hopeful.
The better move? Layer your outreach gently. Send a short email, then a casual voice note. Add a LinkedIn connection with a personal comment. Use tools like Lemlist, Apollo, or even plain old calendar reminders to space out your follow-ups in a way that feels human, not spammy.
Think of it this way: if one message is a knock on the door, a smart multi-channel approach is like ringing the bell, waving through the window, and maybe even sliding a note under the mat. Not intrusive, just present.
You know the messages. The ones that start with:
“Hi [First Name], I wanted to reach out and see if you’re open to a 15-minute call to learn more about our cutting-edge solutions...”
That stuff goes straight to trash. People aren’t avoiding you, they’re avoiding a script they’ve read 50 times this week.
Now flip it: what if your message said, Now flip it around: what would happen if your message mentioned something you saw on their LinkedIn or the company? It will feel personal and show that you really care.
That’s a message someone might read. Better yet, respond to.
Here’s the rule: don’t lead with your pitch. Lead with something that helps them like an insight, a case study, a smart article that frames their exact problem. And if you want to be memorable? Send a short Loom video. Drop a voice note. Something that says, “Hey, real person here.”
Honestly, nobody wants a sales pitch. But almost everyone wants to make better decisions. So give them that.
Now let’s talk about the elephant in the pipeline: the awkward, too-often-ignored handoff between marketing and sales.
Marketing’s generating leads. Sales is supposed to follow up. But somewhere between the spreadsheet and the CRM, names go missing. Emails get buried. And leads? They just get stale.
It’s not always malicious. Sometimes it’s bandwidth. Sometimes it’s unclear ownership. But let’s not sugarcoat it, if your sales team hasn’t touched the leads you spent weeks generating, something’s broken.
Some companies have solved this by having sales report directly into marketing. Others do weekly check-ins where both teams look at lead scores together. Some set up shared dashboards where everyone sees follow-up timelines and status updates in real time.
You don’t need a fancy restructure. But you do need accountability. Someone needs to own the follow-up and own it fast.
Because generating interest is only half the job. Converting that interest? That’s where the real work (and money) lives.
Not every lead is going to say yes today. Or next week. Or even this quarter.
That doesn’t mean they won’t say yes at all.
B2B sales cycles can drag, especially when budgets are tight, stakeholders are slow, or timing just isn’t right. But here’s the magic: the brands that stay top-of-mind (without being annoying) tend to win the business when the time is right.
So what does that look like?
You don’t need to be everywhere. You just need to be around. Think of it like staying in someone’s peripheral vision, close enough to be remembered, far enough not to crowd them.
Persistence matters. So does patience. The difference between a lost lead and a closed deal might just be you remembering to follow up... three months later.
Look, there are no silver bullets here. No magical script or perfect time of day that turns maybe into yes.
What matters is consistency. Human systems. A way to follow up early, often, and well.
If you're a marketing director, you probably already know the tools. What you need is discipline.
It’s not sexy. But it works. Because while other companies are still trying to figure out which AI tool to use, you’re already having real conversations.
And that, more than anything, drives deals.
You don’t necessarily have a lead quality problem. You have a lead momentum problem.
Most leads go cold not because they weren’t serious but because nobody followed up at the right time, on the right channel, with the right message.
You can fix that. Start simple.
Go back to the last 10 leads that ghosted you. Send each one a short, thoughtful message. No pitch. Just something helpful: a case study, an article, a resource that speaks to their pain point.
Don’t overthink it. Just show up. Then do it again next week.
Chances are, you’ll be surprised by who replies.
