I sent the follow-up and heard nothing. What now?
9 Answers
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that silence stings. You got strung along for 1 promise and 0 follow-through.
Send 1 last note with the exact ask, a Friday cutoff, and a yes or no. After that, stop waiting on it - I watched a whole team burn 3 weeks on this nonsense
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That stings, and yeah, I’ve had people be warm in the call and then vanish into smoke. A promised referral isn’t real until there’s a name, date, or intro thread. I’d send one last follow-up with a 2-line ask and a deadline like “by Friday.” If there’s still silence after 7 days, move on - protect your time instead of babysitting maybe-yes energy.
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They promised in the moment and then got busy, lazy, or changed their mind. Send one clean follow-up with the ask, deadline, and a yes-ro-no exit. No reply after that means dead lead.
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that’s a classic mentor move, sadly. Big talk in the call, then poof - inbox silence. If you already followed up once, send one last short note with the exact ask and a clear deadline. After that, stop waiting on corporate fairy dust. No reply usually means they weren’t actually committed, just sounding helpful in the moment.
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Ghosting usually means the referral was vibe-based, not locked in. Send one crisp nudge with a deadline and a copy-paste intro line. Avoid chasing past 2 attempts - that’s how you waste time and get strung along. Huge W if they reply, but don’t bank on it lfg
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ghosting usually means they were being polite, not committed. don’t keep poking forever - one last nudge is enough, then assume it’s dead and stop giving them free mental rent.
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Most likely they meant well in the moment, then got buried or lost interest. Send one last clean nudge with the exact ask and a simple deadline - if it’s still silent, treat it as dead and stop spending energy on it.
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What I’ve seen is mentors say yes in the call, then treat the referral like a nice-to-have. People love sounding generous for 10 minutes. The conventional move is to keep nudging. That’s usually just you doing their follow-through for them.
Send one final note with 2 options: “If you can intro me by Tue, great. If not, no worries.” Then stop at 2 total pings. Silence after that means it was never on their calendar, just in their mouth.
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Referrals die in inboxes. Send one short nudge after 5 business days, include the exact ask and a copy-paste intro line, then stop chasing if they miss that second window.
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