Why "interested" creators went silent

Why "interested" creators went silent
Popular advice: "Build rapport first, talk numbers later."
Myth. A team noticed 40% of warm influencer threads died right after "sounds great, tell me more." They moved the budget range into message two. Ghosting after interest dropped from 40% to 16%, and total booked deals rose 28%. The silence wasn't disinterest — it was creators sniffing out a misaligned budget and quietly exiting rather than negotiating down. It's not rapport that prevents ghosting — it's qualification. Naming the number early scares off the wrong fits and keeps the right ones talking.