Here's a situation:

I've received several email messages from a woman pitching herself to be a guest on the Marketing Mentor Podcast

I am interested in her -- her ideas do seem relevant to my listeners and not the same ol, same ol -- but I've been so focused on my new Simplest Marketing Planner that I haven't had time to focus on her yet, so I haven't responded. It's just not my priority right now. 

She may think I'm ignoring her,...

...but every time I get one of her messages, I click on a link, read a little, then get distracted.

People pitch me all the time, so the ball really is in her court if she wants to be on the show. 

On the other hand, I am open to people pitching themselves to me -- indeed, that's how I found Michael e. Stern, with whom I've done 15 really helpful and therefore popular episodes. So if she is persistent, I will definitely invite her to be a guest. It just may take some time. 

I wonder how persistent she will be.

If you were her, would you think you were being ignored? Do you see how it's not true?

When I sent this little vignette out as a Quick Tip last month, here's how some of my readers responded:

Thanks for the reminder to be persistent and that not being a priority at the moment isn’t the same as being ignored!! (I struggle with so much negative self-talk! This will be very handy.) 

AND

I usually stop after two follow ups. Maybe because I don’t know the right language, and do not want to sound desperate or intrusive. I would either think I was being ignored because they were busy and I wasn’t a priority, or they were not interested and couldn’t be bothered to respond to tell me. Either way, I put too much concern about what they think about 'me' into it. Good to hear POV from the other side, thanks!

In my recent podcast interview with Michael e. Stern, we talked about the "targeted outreach" he's doing on a prospect and I drew the line between, "He's ignoring me" and "He's not responding." One is a fact, that other is a fantasy. Listen to that here or below.