It can be confusing when a sales prospect who formerly showed enthusiasm about your company’s offering won’t return your call. However, just because the sales prospect is not returning your call does not mean that he or she is any less interested in what you have to offer. Following are five reasons why your prospect might not be picking up the phone, and what you can do to keep the deal moving forward.

1. Your Prospect Truly Is Too Busy to Call

If your sales prospect is not yet clear on how your offering may save him or her time, he or she may truly be too busy with existing commitments to return your phone call. This is most easily corrected by establishing or reiterating the value of time savings and efficiency that your offering can bring to the sales prospect. If you cannot get a sales prospect in this situation to return your phone call, try sending an e-mail with a request for an appointment that includes data on how your product or service has saved sales prospects in similar situations valuable time.

2. Your Prospect Is Not Sure When to Return Your Phone Call

It sounds simple, but one of the top reasons why a busy sales prospect will not return your phone call is because he or she is not sure of the best time to call back. A sales prospect with a demanding schedule has little time to spend tracking down the many people who want to talk within the confines of his or her own availability. Don’t let the fear of “phone tag” cause your sales prospect not to return your phone call:

• Always leave a range of times when you will be most likely available to pick up a return phone call on a voicemail.
• If you leave a voicemail for a sales prospect, let him or her know the date and time when you will call again if you do not hear back.
• Try sending a meeting request with two or three alternate dates for a phone call to a busy sales prospect over e-mail.

3. Your Prospect is Feeling Pressured to Make a Decision

When some sales prospects are confronted with pressure to make a decision and are not ready yet to take the final step, they may delay by not returning your phone call. This circumstance most often occurs when the sales prospect has decided that he or she will take action but either has not determined which package(s) to buy or whether or not to choose another vendor. Relieve the pressure by letting the sales prospect know that it is fine if a decision has not been reached, but you would like to know when to follow up so that you do not present a distraction.

4. Your Prospect Isn’t Feeling Pressured to Make a Decision

Seeding deadlines and actionable items throughout your sales cycle is the best way to get sales prospects to close timely. If commitment points in the sales cycle are lacking, your prospect might not return your phone call because he or she is not placing the tasks that need to be done on the priority list. Counter this reason for sales prospects not to return your phone call by consistently creating agreements to accomplish certain steps in the sales cycle by set dates.

5. Your Prospect Prefers to Make Decisions through a Different Media

The reason your sales prospect will not return your phone call may be that your sales prospect prefers to make decisions through different media channels. In many cases, a sales prospect will prefer to receive information over e-mail and schedule decision-making tasks for face to face meetings. Listen carefully to your sales prospect to gain valuable insight into how he or she prefers to move forward so that you do not create a sales prospect who will not return your phone call.