This page is for the independent executive staring at a proposal that went quiet. Use it to figure out which of three reasons is holding it up, and send the one email that gets you a real answer by Friday.
A proposal that goes quiet after a good call usually means one of three things: someone else has to say yes, you priced the symptom instead of the problem, or the problem is not urgent. Another "just checking in" fixes none of them. Send one four-sentence email that asks for a yes or a no, name a Friday, and close it on your side if they do not answer.
Dear Emily Post,
I sent a proposal ten days ago. The call went great, they nodded at the price, and they said they would get back to me. Since then I have sent "just checking in" twice and "bumping this to the top of your inbox" once. Nobody has said no, so should I check in again, or is that just rude by now?
Signed, Still Refreshing in Entrepreneur, Texas
Dear Still Refreshing,
Emily handed this one to me, because she thinks every letter deserves a reply and she has never waited on a purchase order. Emily believed good manners come down to consideration for the other person, and nothing is more considerate than a clear answer, even when that answer is no. A proposal that has gone quiet for ten days means one of three things, and "just checking in" fixes none of them.
1. Someone else has to say yes
You talked to the CEO, so it felt like the decision was in the room. It rarely is. A partner, a board member, or a spouse can still stop it. Ask: "Who else needs to be part of this decision, and can we get them on a call together?" If they will not set up that call, that tells you something too. Even the decision maker often does not want to fight the CFO, and many times that is exactly where the proposal stalls, because the CEO would rather go quiet than explain it. If you know who that person is, you can get in front of them and do the convincing yourself. Regardless of my title, whether I am the fractional CMO, CFO, or COO, I often find that I am really going in as the CEO's number two, and I need to be able to speak to the rest of the team for the CEO. Properly qualifying and asking these questions sets the stage for a much better relationship with my client, once I close the deal.
2. The money
They may not have the cash right now, but more often a money stall means you priced the symptom instead of the problem. I have a client who helps private equity funds and their companies hit cost savings after an acquisition. The symptom always sounds the same: the company they bought does not have the team nor the resources to hit the savings target promised to the board. So when a CEO opens with cost savings, ask, "Why is that a problem?" and get curious. Then follow up with, "Why is having the wrong team, or not enough resources, an issue?" Let them tell you, because they are unpacking the real issue, and most of the time they are unpacking it for themselves. It usually takes several questions. Then ask, "What happens if you do not hit the cost target by the end of the year?" That is when the real pain shows up: the fund, the CEO, or both promised that number, and missing it hits the CEO's bonus, or how long the CEO keeps the job. Price the cost target and you are a vendor with a spreadsheet. Fix the promise and you can charge far more, because now you are protecting a bonus and a career.
3. It is not urgent
A problem they have lived with for three years can wait three more months. Ask: "How long have you had this problem?" Then ask: "What have you tried in the past to fix this?" Think of the CEO who swears they want the customer database cleaned up and every process finally written down. They mean it, every word. But if it is not a top three priority, it does not touch their bonus or their standing with the board, so nobody puts real time or effort behind it. Be warned: this is where proposals go to die.
Those questions work best on the first call, before the proposal ever goes out. Once it has gone quiet, one email does the work.
A note that will not resolve
In 1980 Olivia Newton-John sang "Suspended in Time" in Xanadu, a song John Farrar wrote for her. (Yes, I just admitted in writing that I know the Xanadu soundtrack, roller skates and all.) Her whole plea is that the moment never ends, because "goodbye is a crime." That is your buyer. They are holding the almost yes up in the air, and you are standing under it with your arms out.
Musicians call that a suspended chord, a note that hangs in the room while your ear begs for the next one. A close is the resolution, and nobody is going to play that note for you.
Four sentences and a Friday
Your inbox cannot tell the three situations apart, and every extra nudge teaches them that waiting is cheap. So send one email, in these exact words.
"I do not want to keep this hanging. Is this a no, or is there someone else who has to say yes before you can? If I do not hear back by Friday, I will close it on my side. You can reopen it whenever you are ready."
No second paragraph, no attachment, and no re-pitch. Then stop. On Friday, close it on your side and send one line saying so. Under the Migration Method, this is the pull back that leaves them room. You are not slamming a door, you are taking your foot out of it so they can walk through on their own.
Who else has to touch the pin?
I still own my copy of The Wealth of Nations. I read it my freshman year, and no professor assigned it. I read it to defend myself against friends who were sure that one person's profit has to be another person's loss. (Yes, I was THAT freshman.) In Book I, Chapter 1, Adam Smith uses a pin factory, the plain straight pin a dressmaker sticks in fabric, to show how splitting work into small steps multiplies output. The making of a pin is "divided into about eighteen distinct operations," and in a shop "where ten men only were employed," those ten "could make among them upwards of forty-eight thousand pins in a day."
Writing your proposal was one of those operations, and you already finished it. Other hands still have to touch that pin, the partner, the board member, and the person who actually feels the pain. So ask it out loud: who else has to touch the pin?
One thing this week
Open the proposal that has been quiet the longest, send the Friday note, and do NOT write again until they answer or Friday comes. If they answer within the hour, they were waiting for permission to tell you the truth. Take the answer. A clear no gives you your week back.
If you want a practice where you play the last note yourself, the next page walks you through who it is built for, and you decide from there.
See if you fit: theretern.com/apply?utm_source=blog&utm_medium=organic&utm_campaign=independent-chief&utm_content=goodbye-is-a-crime
See you next week.
CHEERS
Kirk
