What To Do When a Client Ghosts You

So you got ghosted. You made a connection, you hopped on a call, you sent over a quote–and got no answer. Your potential client vanished into thin air after you did all this work. Before we talk about what to do next, let me just say that I feel for you. This is one of the most difficult parts of freelancing. It’s a bummer. But with the right mindset and the right strategy, ghosting can happen with less frequently and bother you less each time. Keep reading and I’ll show you how. 

Quick side note: one key to getting ghosted less is pitching with complete clarity. My free Photo + Video Pitch Deck Template can help you do this, with a clean design and copywriting prompts that win pitches. 

Think of Alternative Explanations

The knee-jerk reaction to ghosting is always to assume the worst. When a potential client ghosts you, the easiest thing to do is assume they’re doing it maliciously, that they’re wasting your time on purpose, or that they stole the strategy you pitched them and are doing it without you. 

But just because these things are easy to assume, it doesn’t mean they are true. And since you’re already imagining your client’s intentions, you might as well imagine something that is helpful for your motivation instead of something that is detrimental to it. I wrote about this concept here, but the idea is to assume positive things instead of negative things, since you’re already assuming. Maybe your potential client got put on another project. Maybe they had to go out of town for an emergency. Or maybe they just forgot. All of these explanations lend themselves to a better mind state, and a more effective strategy for following up. 

Indra Nooyi, former CEO of PepsiCo said in an interview with Fortune Magazine, “Whatever anybody says or does, assume positive intent. You will be amazed at how your whole approach to a person or problem becomes very different. When you assume negative intent, you're angry. If you take away that anger and assume positive intent, you will be amazed. Your emotional quotient goes up because you are no longer almost random in your response.”

Follow Up 

Once you have a better explanation for the ghosting in your mind, it’s time to follow up. Following up is key to winning projects. I estimate that about 75% of the projects I’ve pitched, I’ve had to follow up more than once to eventually lock them in. The reality is that people are busy. You’re busy! Your friends probably have to follow up with you a few times just to get you to go to a movie with them. 

Follow ups don’t need to be anything more than reminding a potential client that you exist. I usually send something like “Hey Mark, just following up here.” If I want to introduce a little bit of persuasive tension, I’ll add something relevant to our call like, “We’ll need to get started soon if we want to hit your launch deadlines.”

Following up is quite simply part of the pitching process. It’s incredibly rare to win projects without following up, so if you don’t do it, you’re leaving three quarters of your business on the table. And someone who followed up more will get that business. 

Adjust Your Expectations and Process

A project isn’t locked until it’s locked. Green freelancers get really excited at the opportunity to pitch, so they drop everything else they’re working on to put all their energy into a beautiful pitch deck. I know I did this when I first started. But the reality is that you won’t get every gig that comes across your desk. Other people will win some, you won’t be cut out for some, others will get scrapped. The key to longevity in freelancing is to adjust your expectations on winning pitches. I’ve met some jaded freelancers who are a pain to work with because they think they should be winning every job. And that’s just not true for anyone. 

With this in mind, it’s outrageously inefficient to drop your other work to spend a day pitching. This is why templates are so important, to save your time and mental energy for the clients who are already paying you. If an opportunity comes your way, just plug some new info into your pitch template and you’ll be good to go. (Don’t have a pitch deck template? Goodness me, you better click here for a free one!)

Leave Communication Open 

If after you follow up a few times, and your potential client isn’t responding, make sure to leave the lines of communication open. Don’t set an ultimatum in your follow ups, because this closes off communication. Instead, send a final follow-up email that tosses a rope to the client whenever they need it. I’ll usually send something like, “Hey Mark, following up on this one again. Ready to get to work whenever you need us!” 

I wish I could tell you how many times clients ghosted me, then emailed me nine months later to hire me that day. The only reason I can’t tell you how many times that’s happened is because it has happened too many times to count. At this point, I take clients like these into account. I’ll send someone a quote after a call, and then get ghosted, and not even worry about it. Because I know that about half of those people will call me with a tight deadline and a stack of cash in hand in a few months. 

Adjust Your Future Pitches

If clients are consistently ghosting you, you need to adjust your future pitches. One of the main reasons clients ghost is because of a lack of clarity. Even after your pitch, they’re unsure of your process, your price, or the timeline. If at the end of your pitch, you don’t outline the next steps to get started, there’s likely some confusion in the client’s mind. If you’re getting ghosted all the time, you’re probably not being clear. 

Want to pitch with more clarity? My free Photo + Video Pitch Deck Template can help you do this, with a clean design and copywriting prompts that win pitches. Download it today. 

Thanks for reading! Good luck! 👻