When you send a proposal and you never hear back from the company…
When you follow up several times after a first meeting and never receive a response…
When a company eagerly requests to meet with you, but they don’t respond to your emails…
When someone books time with you and then cancels without any explanation…
…you’ve been ghosted.
Ghosting is incredibly rude. It shows a person’s…
Immaturity
Weak communication skills
Disorganization
Cowardice
However, when you become an entrepreneur, especially one who has built a business around your skills and expertise, you will get ghosted.
I hate ghosting.
That’s why my goal today is to help you minimize it as much as possible.
After working with thousands of independent consultants over the past decade, I’m sharing with you ten time-tested ways to significantly reduce your ghosting rate.
Let’s go!
1 – Pre-Qualify Your Leads
The better you are at pre-qualifying your leads, the less likely they are to ghost you.
Right-fit company + budget + sense of urgency = a pre-qualified lead.
If you’re not meeting with a pre-qualified lead, that’s ok! However, approach the meeting with the goal of building a relationship rather than developing a proposal.
2 – Talk to the Right Person
If you’re not meeting with the decision-maker, you’re significantly increasing your chances of being ghosted. Relying on a more junior employee to champion you and pitch your value to their boss is an uphill climb that rarely leads to a closed deal.
3 – Hold Your Ideas Sacred
Teasing out ideas during a discovery call or client pitch can backfire and lead to ghosting. If you’re so willing to give away ideas for free, then the client may perceive your work as less valuable. And even worse, they may simply hear your ideas and decide they can do it themselves.
Give clients the what (defining the problem that needs to be solved) but not the how (your ideas) until a contract is signed and a deposit has been paid.
Remember: It’s because of your decades of experience that you’re able to come up with genius ideas in just minutes. Don’t discount that.
4 – Ask Questions
Asking the right questions–the kind that make a client think differently about their challenges, needs and opportunities–not only improves your close rate but will greatly reduce ghosting.
View your discovery calls and client pitches as an interview where you’re the host. You’re not there to sell your services. You’re there to be of service.
In other words, be interested, not interesting.
5 – Quantify the Problem
When a client understands what their problem is actually costing them, they are more likely to take action to fix the issue. So when a client says they want to hire you for a certain service, keep asking “why” “what” and “how” questions, like:
“What do you hope to achieve by working together?”
“Why is this important to you right now?”
“How much do you stand to gain if we solve this problem as soon as possible?”
“How much do you stand to lose if you do nothing and keep going as is?”
…until they get to one or more of what I call The Four Pillars of Value™:
Pillar 1: They need help growing revenue.
Pillar 2: They need to cut costs.
Pillar 3: They want access to something you have (contacts, frameworks, etc.).
Pillar 4: They need you to solve a headache that’s preventing further growth.
Quantifying in this way will help clients see that they don’t just want you to “design a new website,” but rather to “grow their customer conversion rate by 50% and reach $15M in revenue next year.”
(And they want your new website design to help them achieve that financial goal.)
6 – Communicate Pricing Early
I know it can feel awkward, but when you have a qualified lead who’s interested in hiring you, it’s important to talk pricing upfront in the very first meeting.
You don’t have to give them a hard quote. But by at least giving a range or “starting at” price, you can ensure you’re both on the same page about budget. This, of course, helps prevent sticker shock and ghosting.
7 – Review the Proposal as a Team
Emailing a proposal with pricing exponentially increases your chances of getting ghosted. Did they read it yet? How did they react to the pricing? Is it what they expected? Are we on the same page? Why aren’t they responding??
Instead, set up a follow-up meeting, either in person or via Zoom, to review the proposal together. Your goal is to see their response and address any concerns they may have LIVE.
Remember: you’re serving as a trusted partner, working hand in hand. That includes creating a win-win proposal as a team and building it together.
8 – Add a Good Until Date
Add a “This proposal is good until [X Date]” at the top of your proposals. 1 – 2 weeks is typically best practice. This accomplishes a few important things:
You’re lighting the fire under the decision-maker. You’re opening the door for follow-ups if you don’t hear from them. You’re avoiding a situation where they sit on the proposal and come back to you 10 months later, ready to work together (but your pricing has since gone up).
And most importantly, you’re sending the message that you won’t hold that space or price for them indefinitely.
9 – Follow-Up
If I had a nickel for every time a consultant asks me how often and when they should follow up after sending a proposal, I’d be a billionaire.
Assume they want to work with you. Assume they are just busy and haven’t gotten a chance to give your proposal the attention it needs. Assume that by following up, you’re doing them a favor by reminding them that this is important and needs their attention. Assume that by following up, you’re demonstrating that you’re attentive and proactive.
Don’t be afraid to keep following up.
10 – Send the Hail Mary
If the good-until date has passed and you still haven’t heard back from them, send the Hail Mary email, which is your own version of this:
Subject: Are you on vacation?
Dear ______,
The good-until date on our proposal has passed and I’ve followed up several times but have not received any response.
I hope it’s because you’re vacationing somewhere tropical with no wifi or that you won the lottery!
But whatever the reason, if I don’t hear back from you today, I’ll assume that this project is no longer a priority for you and I will open up that held space in my calendar for another client.
I’d love to keep the door open to work together in the future and I’d be so appreciative of a response.
Respectfully,
Erin
Ghosting wastes so much valuable time. And since time is your most scarce and valuable resource, let’s use it wisely.
Remember: you never deserve to be ghosted. You’re a pro.
