By disappearing, I mean people who meet with you and tell you they are ready to buy – or to list – and then suddenly, they don’t respond to calls, emails, or texts.
I recall one young couple from my days as an agent. They were a co-worker’s buyers, but she was tied up 
and asked me if I’d show them a lot for sale. I did, and they said they loved it. They were on their way to a party in Spokane that afternoon, but said they’d be in the first thing the next day to write an offer.
We never heard from them again – and my co-worker hadn’t taken down their names or any of their contact information, so… (Yep, she didn’t last too long in real estate.) I often wondered if they’d gotten in a car accident or something, but without their names there was no way for me to find out.
Now, as a copywriter, I run into that more often. Someone writes and is eager to get started, either on a bio, letters, a brochure, or web copy. They instigate long phone conversations and even send me background material. Then they disappear.
That’s why I never start working until the deposit is in my account – a lesson learned the hard way when I first started copywriting.
There are a few who are just slow. One bio I wrote this year was for an agent who contacted me 2 years ago. One day she sent the completed questionnaire and said “I’m ready!”
More puzzling are the ones who send a deposit and then disappear. I can’t write a bio unless I know something about the agent, so if they never get around to filling out the questionnaire, nothing happens. Right now I have someone who sent her deposit a month ago. Over the years I’ve had 3 or 4 who never did get respond to any of my calls or emails. Did they change their minds or ?
And then there’s the one who sent the deposit, responded a few days after I sent the copy, then disappeared. I’d like the balance of payment, and I’d also like to know what happened to him. When I called the phone number in his signature, the agents at that company didn’t seem to know him. Hmmm… A mystery.
What do you do when people disappear?
If they’ve sent a deposit, or if we’ve had a long conversation about their copy requirements, I send weekly reminders. If not, I just leave them on my mailing list in hopes that my Thursday messages will act as a memory jog.
Do you keep calling or writing? If so, for how long?
Have you had any who re-appeared after a few weeks or months?
How did you handle the fact that prices may have changed? Have you had returning buyers who were angry because the home they wanted to see has since gone under contract?
Empty chair Image courtesy of drpnncpptak at FreeDigitalPhotos.net
Remember courtesy of stuart miles at freedigitalphotos.net
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