31.03.10  Guest columnist: Vanessa Clark  |  The silent treatment (or Zen and the art of stress-free pitching) |  As a freelancer, you suddenly realise how much of your life now involves selling and marketing yourself: getting your name out there (thank you, Freelancentral!), pitching for business, scoping and quoting for the work, and then the agonising wait… will you get the dream job from the dream client that you KNOW you will be perfect for.

And you wait.

And you wonder whether to call, or to email, or to alternate, or do both at once.

Perhaps a banner on Table Mountain would show just how keen you are?

Stop right there. I spent the rather bumpy year that was 2009 learning this lesson, and I think I have arrived at some good reasons not to do this, but rather to focus your attention on current clients and other new business.

At the outset, let me explain that I am a complete information magpie. Rather give me too much information than too little, and somehow through a strange percolation process, my brain manages to deal with it. And out pops a press release, comms strat, brochure or web page.

Combine this with a bit of a tendency towards golden retriever type enthusiasm, especially about anything new, and you get someone who used to set daily reminders to follow up new business proposals – alternating email and phone calls of course!

So earlier this year I was interested to read a Harvard Business Review blog by Peter Bregman titled: When Your Voicemails and Emails Go Unanswered, What Should You Do? The article rather sternly suggested that you follow up once, immediately after the meeting, and then act like you haven’t got the job. If the person wants to hire you, they will call you when they are ready.
 
Peter’s rationale is that people are so busy nowadays that all your dedicated following up does is add another email or voicemail to their already long to do list.
 
Interesting.
 
I’d like to add my own theory to this. You know in Indiana Jones-type movies when someone inevitably ends up in quicksand? Wriggling doesn’t help; you just end up sinking even faster. Standing still is a bit better, you still sink, but slower than if you wriggle. To get out of the quicksand you need dramatic and decisive action involving branches or ropes or those swinging vine things you get in jungles.
 
Specifically during last year, I think many companies found themselves standing very, very still, hoping the quicksand would miraculously solidify under them. Oh, they would take a look at different options for dramatic and decisive action, but not be able to commit, just in case the decision ended up in speeding their sinking, rather than saving the day.
 
This translates into them simply not making a decision about your brilliant pitch.
 
The situation has changed rapidly this year, and in my experience anyway, companies are recognising a business requirement, speaking to people who can help, and making a decision, quickly and decisively. However, it’s worth remembering that now and again you are going to encounter a company that is just not yet ready for your version of a swinging vine, despite all your convincing.
 
So, this year I have decided to take a more Zen-like approach to following up new business. For instance, if I email over a proposal, I will follow-up once to make sure the proposal has arrived and is not lost in the ether somewhere. And then the ball is in the prospective client’s court – if they haven’t realised how capable and enthusiastic I am from our meeting, it’s unlikely they ever will.
 
To begin with, this was absolutely terrifying. I had to sit on my hands to stop myself reaching for the phone. But I did notice I had more time and energy to focus on the work I was already hired to complete. And then I bounced the idea off a couple of people who had been running businesses for a lot longer than I have. And every single one of them agreed – the client will call you when they are ready, and nothing you do will change when that is.
 
What do you think? Is this a good strategy or a recipe for disaster? What do you do?
 
I’ll keep you posted on how things work out for me.
 
PS. I don’t recommend this approach when trying to get information out of a client to complete work in order to meet their deadlines. Or chasing overdue invoices. I feel another column coming on…

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About the author

Vanessa Clark is a former journalist who cut her PR teeth with a global tech start-up based in London in the early 2000s. Back in South Africa, she looked after marketing strategy and implementation for Clickatell, the bulk SMS company, before launching into freelance territory.

Her company, Twokats Communications, provides PR and communications services to a range of interesting South African-based companies, doing things differently and making a difference in the world. Current clients include BSkyB's TEAMtalk media, Rennie Property eNetworks and JobCrystal.