Are warm, qualified leads ghosting you after the initial meeting? You’re not alone.

18 months ago, a sales cycle was contacting a qualified, ready-to-buy lead with a good offer and having 1-2 meetings, then proceeding with delivery. 

Buying behaviour has changed. Why? 

Well, trust is at an all-time low right now. 

Your potential clients have likely been burned by someone offering a similar solution in the past, and when that happens, it’s harder for them to trust again.

Meaning it takes longer for the prospect to finally say yes.  

They’re essentially looking for a reason to say no to reinforce their original opinion that your industry isn’t worth investing in.

So if your sales cycle messes up once, you’ve likely lost the deal.

What is a sales cycle?

If you don’t know what a sales cycle is, that’s fine! You probably won’t unless you're in my industry.

I worked with a 7-figure consultancy firm owner who didn’t know what one was, or why it mattered.

A sales cycle is everything that happens between the first sales meeting and the final “yes” from the prospect.

If you didn’t know what one was, I’m guessing your “sales cycle” is following up with each prospect via email up to 5 times and getting ghosted.

Or you don’t do anything and expect the prospect to message you saying, “let’s go.”

A good salesperson with a good offer will struggle to close deals if the sales cycle is terrible.

For some offers, a sales cycle could be a week-long process, but for others, it could be months. 

After fixing people’s sales cycle, I’ve seen:

• Clients' close rates go from 25% to over 40%

• Average sales cycles shorten from over a month to under 3 weeks. 

• Close 3 consecutive 5-figure deals after failing to close the previous 8

  
  

Ok, the last bullet point wasn’t a client, it was me! 

This was early 2025, and for context, I’d (finally) upped my prices to reflect the client results we’d consistently achieved.

8 sales meetings with qualified prospects later, and I hadn’t closed a single deal.

All my prospects were qualified, so it wasn’t my lead gen.

It wasn’t down to my offer being bad, because all the prospects had seen it before the call.

Had I turned into an awful salesperson overnight? Unlikely, but not impossible.

So what was it?

After the meeting, I’d lose all control of the sales process.

My sales cycle didn’t make the prospect's decision easier. 

It was weak, not proactive, and subconsciously gave people a reason to say no.

I didn’t provide further value or remain in control of the situation.

How did I fix my sales cycle?

I began by reading the transcripts of all 8 calls and looked at the whole sales cycle afterwards.

Everyone got a follow-up email with everything discussed, and what the next steps would be, the terms of the guarantee etc. 

A couple got internal resources like previous lead magnets and example content.

Then, after a period of time, a follow-up email. 

Basically, I’d lose full control of the process, I didn’t provide enough true value to show how good we are.

I followed the same sales cycle as the last agency that burned them. 

What did I change?

At the end of every first meeting, I booked a 2nd one on the call

I wouldn’t go for the hard close; I’d get all the specifics about their business. Instead of putting together a proposal and emailing it over, I booked a 2nd meeting on the call and made that the “proposal” call.

This allowed the potential client to see more of me and get more of a feel for what it’s like to work with me. 

A few months later, one of the clients I signed told me that not going for the instant close made them trust me even more.

Not just because it was different from the last agency, but because I took full control. 

This helped me realise that all anyone wants in a sales cycle is the “expert” to bring the “buyer” to the solution of their problem in the right way.

I sent over a recap of the initial call with further value

It’s such a small thing, not only did it keep me front of mind, it reminded the prospect of the problem I solved. 

The “value” varied depending on the client and their main objection:

For the prospect worried about content ideas in a “boring” industry, I sent over a Loom video breaking down the content strategy of a previous ‘boring” client, and explained why it worked. 

The next prospect struggled with the idea of someone else “pretending” to be him, and it not coming across as authentic. So I sent over my internal Conversion Content SOP. (If you’d like it, let me know!)

Finally, for the prospect who’d basically agreed already, I sent over examples of successful outreach campaigns. 

(I’d worked with a similar personality profile the year prior, and that was their biggest objection; I figured it was a safe bet.)

What did all of this have in common?

They were genuine, casual, and authentic while providing value. 

It wasn’t the classic sales rep email.

It wasn’t the “professional” BS you become accustomed to in the corporate world.

It differentiated me from competitors and built further trust. 

At the end of meeting 2, I’d play it by ear. 

After going through each proposal, a bullet-pointed list about the strategy I’d implement and more info about what working with me looks like, I’d fly by the seat of my pants a bit, 

I’d play it by ear. 

The close was there for one of the prospects, so I took it. 

But for the other 2, I’d establish the date I had in my mind to begin the onboarding process, which in both cases was 2 weeks in the future.

Then told them I’d love to work with them and asked if there was anything I could do to make their decision easier. Neither asked for anything specific.

I got an email from one of them 24 hours afterwards saying, “Let's go”, before I had the chance to send further value.

For the other, I hadn’t heard anything, so I followed up 72 hours after the proposal call and sent over some of the filters of the first lead list to get his opinion.

The intention was to show how prepared I was to hit the ground running. 

It worked. 

He asked me to phone him, and his exact words were, “I’ve looked for every reason not to proceed, and I don’t have one. Can we start on the 7th?”

My lead gen was good

I was an above-average closer

My offer was strong

Yet because my sales cycle was bad, I couldn’t close mid-high ticket deals. 

When I fixed it, I closed my next 3.

Fun fact, it’s over 6 months later, and all 3 clients are still with me!

Over the next few months, I began to notice my own clients struggling with their sales cycles. 

They were making the exact same mistakes. 

Primarily losing control after the initial meeting. 

So I took the outline of what I did for myself and applied it to them.

The results were unanimous across the board:

Shortened sales cycle and higher close rates. 

Then, in the summer, I created my “Scale/Optimise lead gen via LinkedIn” offer. 

Specifically for people who have an existing lead gen channel, a good offer, and can sell.

My DFY LinkedIn funnel is designed for businesses that need a full lead gen system. 

My Scale/Optimise lead gen via LinkedIn offer is designed for the business ready to explode its lead gen and shorten the entire sales process.

You can see the results that the offer has achieved so far on the relevant service page. 

In Conclusion:

If your lead gen performs and your sales calls go well, but warm qualified leads still ghost, then your sales cycle is the problem.

As a thank you for reading this far, if you’d like me to look at your sales cycle free of charge, message me the word “sales cycle” on LinkedIn, or book yourself directly into my calendar in the footer and answer the questions with “sales cycle.”

But if you’d like to do it yourself, I’ve created a checklist for you to follow:

1. Leave the first meeting with an agreed-upon next step

Ideally, it will be a 2nd meeting within the next week where you go over the proposal, that's what I prefer.

One of our clients who runs a business consultancy loves giving the prospect advice that can get a quick result, and uses the 2nd meeting to go through the results.

But another of our clients loves a phone number exchange to finish, he’s old school (I’m sure he won’t mind me saying that!)

Try a few different ones and see what works best for you!

2. Make point of contact before meeting 2

A bad automated reminder of the meeting doesn’t count. 

You’ve spoken with each other now, put a bit more effort in. 

I like the meeting recap + 1.

The meeting recap can be a simple email write-up if you’ve gathered that’s what the prospect's personality profile will like.

Or you can use Gemini, or your favourite AI of choice, to turn the transcript into a pretty document. 

The +1 is specific value related to the initial call. 

Whatever you found their biggest pain point was, send over something that solves that pain point, while getting a case study in there. 

I gave examples of what I used depending on the client earlier, but one of my clients has amazing blogs, so after every call, we LinkedIn DM the most relevant one to the prospect alongside a voice note tailored to their specific solution. 

These are the little trust-building extras that make a world of difference for closing mid-high ticket offers. 

3. Read the situation at the end of meeting 2

If the close is there, take it. 

If it’s not, don’t force it, but do sell the future.

If you’re like me and use meeting 2 as a strategy overview and proposal style meeting, I recommend:

• Saying the date you envisioned for you guys to start

• Blueprint the rough dates you expect to achieve certain deliverables 

The aforementioned consultant, who uses the 1st meeting to provide a “quick win”, uses the 2nd meeting to provide even more free value, but will finish with a set action plan for the prospect and let them make their own decision. 

He provided so much free value, the prospect has been left thinking, “If the free stuff is this good, how good is the paid?”

That’s his style, it might not be yours, and it’s not mine. 

There's no one best way; your sales cycle should reflect your personal style. 

This client’s style is the opposite of mine, but both are backed by the same psychological principles, and we both care about the client. 

If you don’t get the “let’s go” from the prospect within a few days, I recommend 2 follow-ups. 

1. Value that’s a part of the overall service

(Think of me sharing the filters for the initial lead list to get that prospect's opinion from earlier) 

If you still haven't got the “let’s go” after the 1st follow-up, send an email along the lines of:

2. “If you still want to start on X date, I’ll need to know by (specific date) so we can hit the ground running.”

   
   

That’s it, if the prospect is warm, qualified, and you’ve done everything correctly, they’ll likely say yes, and if they don’t?

That’s fine, you can come back later! 

Retargeting campaigns are the biggest goldmine in all of lead generation.

Don’t be that annoying sales rep trying to force something through right there and then.

One last time, if you want me to look at your sales cycle free of charge, 

Book yourself into my calendar (it’s in the footer), 

I hope you’ve enjoyed the read!

-Joe