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May 27, 2025 16 mins

You followed up.
You sent the brochure.
And still... silence.

If you've ever had a promising lead ghost you out of nowhere, this episode of Leading Her Way is for you.

Nikisha King breaks down the three biggest reasons why leads disappear—and (good news!) how to fix them. 

Spoiler alert: it’s not your price. It’s not the economy. It’s your client journey.

Inside this episode:

  • Why ghosting is a sign of confusion—not rejection
  • How to pre-educate leads before the call to increase conversions
  • Simple tweaks to your inquiry flow, email tone, and response structure
  • The one mindset shift that transforms silence into sales

If you’re ready to turn ghosted leads into booked clients, this episode will give you actionable clarity to improve your sales process and confidently guide people from inquiry to YES.

Want more personalized support? Join the next More Profit, Less Chaos Masterclass and learn the 5-Star SCALE™ System.

Support the show

Want to attract aligned clients with less hustle and more heart?
Follow @nkbizguru on Instagram and get access to Nikisha’s 5-Star SCALE™ Framework at her More Profit, Less Chaos masterclass.

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Transcript

Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to Leading Her Way with your host and
business guru, Nakesha King.
This podcast is the ultimatedestination for women, creative
entrepreneurs, who want to breakfree from burnout.
If you are overwhelmed byclient demands and feel like
you're doing this all alone, you, my friend, are in the right

(00:23):
place alone.
You, my friend, are in theright place Now.
Let's dive in for steps to takeback your time and simplify
your workflow.
All right, Nikisha, take itaway.

Nikisha King (00:39):
Hello, gorgeous, Welcome back to Leading Her Way
podcast, the podcast for women,creative business owners who are
ready to build their businesswithout burning out.
I am so happy to be here withyou, and today's topic is what
we're going to talk about is ifyou ever had a lead reach out to

(00:59):
you.
They inquired on DM, email,through your forum, and then you
respond and all of a sudden,poof they disappear.
They're gone.
You have no idea where theyleft to.
What's going on?
What did you do wrong?
And normally when this happens,we always go to the pricing Our

(01:21):
price is too much because maybeyou sent a brochure, Maybe you
sent something with pricinginformation.
Or we go back to they're notinterested because I did
something wrong or my brochurewas too much.
All of the thoughts you havebecome about you and that
silence is something we alldread.

(01:41):
But, most importantly, what'shappening?
We all dread, but, mostimportantly, what's happening
isn't about you personally, butwhat is it in your client
journey process that might becreating this?
So that's what I want to speakto you about.
So let's get this clear when aclient or a lead ghosts you,

(02:04):
it's not about your price, it'snot about the economy and it's
definitely not always them notbeing ready, but most of the
time it's about their journey,the process, the way that we
respond.
So I'm telling you this from mypast experience.
I remember when I would getleads coming in and they'll come

(02:27):
through my contact form, my DM,you know someone might refer
them and when they come in,there would be something that I
would do, the way I wouldrespond to them.
I literally might be jumpinginto bed with them too quick.
You ever thought about datingand how dating is a process.

(02:47):
It's like the first thing we dois we go out, or, before we
even go out, I'm going to askyou a question.
So right now, if you're usingan app for dating, the DM
conversation is what really hasto happen before I even consider
going in public or with someonebecause I don't know who they
are.
It's the same thing.
So we don't send a response ora DM going, let's get a date on

(03:08):
the calendar.
We might do a response askingthem a little bit about who they
are, what brings them joy, dothey have any pets?
Do they have any kids?
Do they have all the thingsthat we want to know if they're
really a good fit?
And it's the same process withlead but, like I was saying in
the past, when I used to doinquiries, there was a common

(03:30):
thread of what I was beingtaught to do.
I was being taught to respondwith either a brochure with
pricing information, because weassume everyone comes asking us
about a price so we should do apricing brochure, and then when
they ghost us, we automaticallyconnect it to our price and,
trust me, it's never the pricingwe think it is, because in our

(03:52):
heads we believe our price istoo much.
That's a whole notherconversation we're going to get
to, but it's never your price.
Then I would maybe send a get alike, get on a call.
But sometimes people want to bewarmed up and it depends on who
your ideal client is.
If you know your ideal clientis someone who wants to get on a
call, great.
If you know some people whomight come to you who are your

(04:14):
second and third ideal client,you're kind of we have more than
one.
But if they come in there mightbe a little bit curious, want
to know more, how can we speakto them?
Instead of saying let's get ona call, right?
We want to start to look atthese elements that we think are
really working in our favor,but the results are.

(04:35):
They're not, Because when we doit, we see that our response is
someone ghosting us or it's alow turnout.
This is so important to look atthe stats, If I respond this
person and how I respond.
I did this.
So maybe this doesn't work.
We always going to test it.
But here's the thing when Izoomed in, I realized it had

(04:59):
nothing to do with my pricing.
It had nothing to do with arecession or tariffs or even my
whole getting back to you.
It was just about there was noclear structure.
There was no clear journey forthis lead to step into.
There was no warmup.
There's possibly nopre-education, for you know I'm

(05:21):
talking about you, but for methere wasn't no pre-education.
I didn't have that and it wasjust crickets.
It was just this disappearingact that would frustrate me so
much.
But once I started to realizethis, I was working with my
coach and I started to realize Ihad no clear client process.
I knew that I was ontosomething and I needed to start

(05:45):
learning how to map out theactual journey I wanted my
clients to experience.
I wanted to map out a way thatI would get them ready to engage
with me.
And once I mapped that out,everything changed and that is
what I'm going to be sharingwith you today.

(06:06):
I'm going to be sharing threebiggest reasons why clients
ghost us and what we can do tofix it.
Do you hear me what we can do,what's in our control to fix it?
Not what someone else, not whatthe market's going to do,
nothing of that nature.

(06:27):
We are going to take control ofthe things we personally can
control and, as a business owner, you get to control your
client's journey.
No one else gets to controlthat the market, your prices.
I promise you these externalthings are not about you
personally.
So first, what's happening?
So you have a potential clientwho found you online and they

(06:50):
love.
They loved what they saw, butthey couldn't figure out what's
next.
You ever had those momentswhere people just don't know
they love you.
What's the action to take?
So they DM you Okay, and whenthey DM you or they email you,
how can we tell them what toexpect?
How can we start telling peoplehow to expect us to work with

(07:15):
them?
What will happen next?
How do we get them ready?
We could do it through socialmedia.
We could do it to a responseautomated response but how do we
create that?
We want to be able to add whatto expect.
Can you imagine having a socialmedia post that's pinned to the
top that says what to expectwhen you inquire, or what to

(07:36):
expect when working with me?
This section can be somethingthat literally breaks down your
process in three to five steps.
That's using simple language,nothing too heavy, right?
What to expect?
The first step is I might askyou a question to understand
where you are in your journey.

(07:57):
Your second step if you feellike this is a possible fit, we
will get on a call so we canlearn more about each other.
Third step on that call, you'regoing to make a decision.
You're going to be like youknow what.
This is really something I wantto do.
Or you might say I'm not readyto move forward because this is
not number one on my value, butwhat I would love to do is stay
in contact or join your middlelist or something where they can

(08:19):
keep in touch with you.
Get that.
This is what you want to be.
Setting up, Bonus use visuals,icons, things to make it really
simple, really easy what toexpect when working with me.
And what does this do?
It will build clarity, andclarity creates buy-in.

(08:42):
When people understand exactlywhat's about to happen, they
don't have to guess, they don'thave to figure it happen.
They don't have to guess, theydon't have to figure it out,
they don't have to wonder.
And people don't ghost whenthey know what's coming.
Isn't that so good?
All right, let's talk aboutreason two.
You're asking them to commit tooearly.
Think about it.
You go out on a date withsomeone and they're like would

(09:05):
you like to get married?
And you have no clue who theyare.
You're not committing, you arerunning as far away as possible.
I would I'm going to be reallyhonest.
I would be so scared I would berunning.
So sometimes, if your firstemail is about booking a call or
ready to get started, just slowit down a little bit, right?

(09:28):
Clients want to explore and askquestions, so we should explore
and ask questions too before weget in a relationship with them.
So what we want to do is add amiddle step and maybe it's a
little bit of a link to a pagethat shows your three steps of
what will happen.
What's next?

(09:48):
Maybe it's a fun quiz to get toknow where they are in their
journey.
And these are the things youmight want to do.
And my favorite one that I loveis share a video walkthrough of
your service.
Not a 10 minute video, please,but like a one minute video,
right, Show up, smile and go.

(10:09):
Hi, how are you?
Thank you for inquiring.
I would love to learn a littlebit more about you, so let me
ask you this one question.
You could do that.
You could do a video going hey,you inquired.
I am so interested in learningmore about what you would like.
Let me share with you whathappens after you inquire.
I may ask you a question to seewhere you are in your process
and if you feel like you knowwhat we want to have a further

(10:30):
conversation.
I'll send you a link to mycalendar and finally, on that
call, we could decipher if wewant to work with one another.
If we do, we'll say yes andtalk about the next step.
If not, what I would love to dois add you to an area where we
talk to you and email you.
If you're open to that, Is thatokay?
Okay with you.
This is a really good way tostart warming people up.

(10:54):
It shifts you from chasing asale to building trust, and
trust leads to dialogue.
Trust is everything.
We don't believe we can gettrust in the beginning of a call
, but you can, and this is someof the ways that you can.
Reason three you sound likeeveryone else.

(11:17):
Omg, If you sound like everyoneelse, how can they tell the
difference?
Right, your email might soundtoo scripted, it might sound too
businessy and if they feel likethey're getting a bot and not a
real person, they're going toghost you.
Now I always tell peopleautomation is amazing, but

(11:39):
automation doesn't mean cold andbusinessy, it means personal.
You know your tone.
If you don't know your tone,you have tools today that will
help you find your tone.
And, in having that, use it inthat first email.
Right, Personalize your inquiryresponses.
Mention something from theirmessage.

(12:00):
Use their name.
How does automation work?
When I teach my clients, we usetheir name.
We use elements, but elementsin regards to asking questions,
elements to personalize it.
I do this because I don't wantmy clients getting stuck in
responding to inquiries and ifthey're working and they're

(12:20):
doing so much, they don't havetime.
So we set up automation, but wecan pull their name in our
write-up.
We can pull other things in ourwrite-up, not just for hello
their name.
We can speak to them in acertain way that makes it feel
like we're connecting with them,and I teach my clients that.
So this is something I want youto also do.
The other part is you can add ashort video, like when you're

(12:44):
doing a DM.
Do a video of you right, Sayinghi, how are you Calling their
name makes a big difference.
We want to do this because wewant people to buy from us as
people.
People love the actuality nowthat they have a short distance

(13:05):
between the owner and them.
They want to get to know you,because if they're really going
to work with you, why would theywant to know this automated or
this not automated, but thisrobot automation?
They want to get to know you.
So make sure your personalityshows up in the things that
you're doing.
Be present.

(13:25):
Present doesn't mean you don'thave energy and all the energy,
feelings and the boundaryfeelings.
Listen, people want to workwith people and that is who you
are.
That is who I am.
I love working with people.
Oh my God.
People make me ecstatic, likeso happy.
Here's the truth.
Getting ghosted isn't always asign that you're doing something

(13:49):
wrong, but it is a sign thatsomething in your client journey
is either unclear, rushed ormissing some form of connection,
and that is what we want towork with.
And the really, really, reallygood news is all of those things
are fixable.

(14:09):
You can fix those with easythings that you put in place and
we look at it to see if it'sworking.
That's what I love about it.
So I'm going to offer yousomething.
I'm going to offer you twothings.
If you're ready to audit yourclient journey in the show notes
, you can definitely download myaudit, your client journey

(14:32):
checklist.
We want to help you figure outhow to stop wondering why people
are ghosting you and put thingsin place to test it.
You can also head to my websiteat wwwnakishakingcom to
download this audit, or youcould definitely download it in

(14:55):
show notes.
I will walk you through everystep from your inquiry process
and spot exactly what thingsmight be feeling or not working
for you.
Or, better yet, join me at mymore profit, less chaos
masterclass that's coming up andI'm going to teach you my

(15:18):
entire five-star skill system,and the first one that tells you
about ghosting is our signatureclient experience.
The framework we built herewill teach you how to implement
all of these little things hereand there to build a client
journey that sells before thesales call.
If you don't need to hustleharder, you don't need to hustle

(15:42):
harder, but you can definitelywork smarter and that is what we
teach you in the more profit,less chaos masterclass.
So I'll see you next week andremember your business isn't
meant to run you ragged.
That is not why you startedthis entrepreneur journey, this
business.
You are building it to rise asthe iconic woman CEO you're

(16:06):
meant to be.
See you next week.

Speaker 1 (16:10):
Thank you for joining us today on Leading Her Way.
We loved having you with us.
Remember each action you take,no matter how small, adds up to
big results.
If today's episode fired you up, hit subscribe for more
insights and visit our resourcehub, which is linked to the show
notes.
There you'll find tools tostreamline, organize and grow

(16:33):
your business.
Keep moving forward and we'llbe right here to cheer you on
next week.
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