The sale you lost wasn't a no. Nobody followed up.
In Sell or Be Sold, Grant Cardone treats silence as part of the sale, not a verdict on it. Here's what I take from that for owners with a pile of deals marked lost.
Count the proposals your team marked lost last quarter. Now count how many of those buyers actually said no.
My guess is the second number is much smaller. Most of them didn't refuse. They went quiet after a call or two, and someone decided that was the answer.
I've been reading Grant Cardone's Sell or Be Sold. The part that hit me is how he treats silence. When a buyer goes quiet, the sale isn't over. It's still in progress, and it's waiting on you.
Silence is not an answer
An unreturned call can mean a lot of things. The buyer was busy. They missed it. It got buried under fifty other messages. Cardone's advice is plain: call again, and leave another message.
He also says never mention that they didn't call back. No guilt, no "just following up on my last three calls". Each contact should feel fresh.
Here's how I'd explain it to an owner. Look at how your CRM handles this. If it lets a deal be marked lost after two unanswered calls, that is your entire follow-up policy. And nobody chose it.
A buyer who hasn't said no is still a buyer. Treat silence as "not yet".
Persistence is measured in years
By Cardone's own account, as a Shortform summary reports it, he followed up with some clients for ten years before they bought.
I'd keep the idea, not the number. Your sales cycle isn't his. But the lesson stands: the deal often closes long after most sellers have given up.
He links persistence to belief. A seller has to stay convinced that the product is worth having. If you don't believe that, every follow-up feels like begging, and you'll stop. If you do, following up feels like doing the buyer a favour.
One channel is a single point of failure
Cardone talks about using every channel: phone, email, mail, in person. He suggests asking existing clients for introductions, and using a CRM so nothing slips.
Many Indian teams lean on just WhatsApp or just the phone. If the buyer ignores that one channel, the deal dies. A short email, a letter, or a visit can reach someone a missed call never will.
Stay gracious both ways
This cuts both ways. Cardone says to return other people's calls, even when the answer is no.
The same courtesy should shape your follow-ups. Make every message easy to answer. Make it easy to say no, too. A clear no is far more useful to you than another month of silence.
Where I'd push back
Persistence can turn into pestering, and pestering damages a brand. A ₹5 crore business lives on its reputation. So I'd add some rules:
- Space contacts out. Weekly at first, then monthly.
- Bring something new each time: an idea, an update, something useful.
- When someone gives a clear no, respect it.
Follow-up should feel like steady interest, not pressure.
Try this week
- Pull every deal marked lost in the last six months where the buyer never actually said no.
- Send each one fresh, gracious contact, through a channel you didn't use before.
- Log every reply.
You might find that some of your lost sales were never lost. They were just waiting for you.