failure to follow up is most likely not intended to communicate "We are pursuing other options" but rather "Oh, crikey, I forgot about that among the 100 things

failure to follow up is most likely not intended to communicate "We are pursuing other options" but rather "Oh, crikey, I forgot about that among the 100 things I had to do this week." This is absolutely worth repeating, or even printing and sticking on the wall. Developing a nose for these sorts of good-but-busy clients takes time, but they can often turn out to be the best clients as they're the least likely to meddle and the most likely to schedule tight, productive calls with you. You don't need this advice, but for anyone struggling to deal with busy leads, you need to ratchet down the complexity of your communications each time you get in touch. There are absolutely busy clients who won't/can't respond to complex e-mails that are wisely trying to assess a situation, ask questions, etc... but who will instantly approve a $10k order on the back of a very simple "Would you like us to do X? It'll cost Y" style of question. It's happened to me! :-)