When I first moved to this new city, I was shocked how hard it was to make friends while working full-time and raising two small children. So I was thrilled when, after several months, I finally met someone with whom I clicked. Hoping she might be a real friend, I was tickled when she offered me her number and said we should get coffee sometime.

So I waited a few days and texted her asking to get coffee.

She said it wasn’t a good week.

So I waited a week and texted her again.

She said that week was also bad.

So I….texted her again.

She said nothing.

Then, embarrassingly, I texted her one more time before I got the message.

In order to avoid annoying sales tactics, learning to acknowledge people’s signals can be worthwhile. If you’re trying so hard to sell people your product that customers feel overwhelmed by your attention, you’re not doing yourself any favors. If you seem desperate or pushy, it doesn’t matter how amazing your product or services are. People will turn away and feel annoyed by you.

Instead, pay attention to what people are telling you as you try to sell to them. Sometimes silence or a deflection is an indicator that you’ve made your point and it’s time to move on before you ruin the relationship. If you know when to bow out, there’s a good chance that they’ll come back when they’re ready to listen or know they are ready to buy your product.

This is why we advocate throwing content that is educational into your social media mix, your newsletter, and your blog. Being all sales all the time comes across as annoying and too pushy. Humor or light, trendy (yet relevant) media is also great to use. You cannot force someone to be receptive to your sales pitch – there may be a good reason that they’re not ready that day.

As I learned the embarrassingly hard way, no one wants to be annoyed by your constant push to get them to do what you want – whether what you want them to do is be your friend or buy your product.