Who’s been ghosted?
We’ve all heard about being ghosted on social media. You know when you are going back and forth and suddenly, they leave the conversation. It’s like you are in the middle of a face-to-face conversation and they just turn and walk out of the room without a word of explanation. It’s very rude but it happens all the time.
But who’s been ghosted in business? Who has been having a business conversation with someone, maybe a prospect, the conversation is going well and suddenly they just stop communicating? It’s equal parts rude and frustrating. You know they can see your messages but there is just empty air. Sometimes they reconnect days, weeks, or months later as if the conversation had never stopped, expecting you to be there waiting for them. Has anybody experienced that? What do we think of people who do that to us? Do they seem rude and inauthentic? Anybody here done it to others?
Why do we get ghosted?
This is a good question for the chapter.
Are people busy, lack good manners, or just never want to have to give you the bad news that you didn’t get the sale? Can anybody think of other reasons?
How hard is it?
It’s not hard to leave a conversation politely. It’s just a note saying, sorry you didn’t get the business, we need more time, get back in contact in a month or don’t call us, we will call you!
Make a stand!
If you don’t like being ghosted, make a stand, let’s not ghost others, especially in BNI! It’s a core value of BNI to build Relationships and this definitely is part of that. If we practice good etiquette and treat others the way, we want to be treated then maybe we can start turning back the tide.
