Are you tired of getting ghosted?
Something I often see freelancers complaining about is ghosting.
They’ve put in hours of work on calls or in meetings (or both). They’ve done their research, put together a detailed proposal, and maybe even put together some samples or ideas. They’re already invested in the project.
But there’s a problem.
They’ve heard nothing back since they sent over their price.
They’ve been ghosted.
And a lot of freelancers don’t like it.
The best way to deal with it is not to let it get to you.
While you might think it’s impolite for people not to get back to you, nobody owes you a response.
You might be pinning all your hopes on winning a project so it’s a big deal for you. But they might have 101 other things on their mind that are more important than telling you they don’t want to work with you or they’ve decided to go with someone else.
Some people just feel uncomfortable having those types of conversation. Maybe they think it’s better to let you come to the right conclusion naturally than to give you the bad news directly.
Be honest with yourself. Is the issue really about them not “having the decency” to give you a yes or no or is it more about your pride being hurt because you didn’t win the project? Would you really feel any less disappointed if they had called you up and told you they weren’t going ahead?
Yes – it might be annoying that you’ve given up a day of your time trying to win that work only to get ghosted, but the fact you’ve given your time away for free is your problem not theirs.
If you don’t like it, change the way you run your business.
Why are you getting ghosted?
If you only get ghosted occasionally, you probably don’t have a major issue. But if you’re getting ghosted regularly, the problem might be you. And the first step to fixing it is figuring out what’s causing it.
So why are you getting ghosted?
You attract the wrong type of prospects
Sometimes getting ghosted comes down to the prospects not being the right fit in the first place. And that’s a marketing problem. It could be that you’re not marketing yourself in the right places or it could be that your messages aren’t giving off the right impression.
Let’s say your prices are at the higher end of the scale for what you do, but your marketing suggests you are “affordable”, or that you “have a solution for every budget.”
You’re going to attract people who think you are cheap. The problem with price buyers is they’ll always be looking for the cheapest option and if that’s not you, they’ll go elsewhere.
Price isn’t the only misconception people might have about you from your marketing. They might have other expectations about you or your services that don’t match up when you speak. And if you don’t match up to their expectations, it’s going to be hard to win them around.
Fix your marketing and you can fix this problem.
You get on calls too easily
You often hear people talking about “qualifying leads”, but it’s something a lot of freelancers don’t do. They get an enquiry and jump straight into a call or meeting without taking time to find out whether it’s likely to go anywhere.
Rushing into calls without asking a few simple questions first is an easy way to get your time wasted.
For example, you might get an email saying “I’d like to have a chat about your services – are you free for a call tomorrow?”
You get excited – it’s a potential new client so of course you want to get on a call. You agree on a time and get all psyched up to sell yourself.
But then it turns out you can’t help. What they want is completely different to what you offer. They’re polite and listen to your pitch – maybe even tell you they’re interested – but they have no intention of getting back to you.
Or they are interested but not right now – they are just testing the water and finding out what their options are. You deliver your best pitch and they end with “sounds great – we’ll get back to you in a couple of months” but they don’t get back to you.
You can avoid getting your time wasted and getting ghosted by establishing a few facts before you get on a call or drive across the country for a meeting.
Don’t be afraid to get more details about the prospect’s needs, timescales, and even budgets before you give your time away for free.
You’re not being clear about what you offer
You might be attracting the right type of enquiries with your marketing but then losing them during your sales process because you’re leaving them confused or unsure about what you’re offering.
Maybe you use too much jargon or overwhelm them with technical details.
Maybe you try and sell them your all-singing-all-dancing solution without showing them why they need it or how it will solve their problem.
Or maybe you have given them so many options, they don’t know which one to choose, so they just don’t choose any.
People are not going to buy from you if they don’t understand what you are selling, don’t think they need it, or aren’t clear on which of your many, many packages is the right fit for them.
You don’t instil confidence
If you come across as confident, your prospects will have more confidence in you. But if you’re letting prospects control the call, or you don’t sound sure that you can do what they need, or you come across as unprepared, this might put them off.
This can happen if you get caught off guard, which is why I don’t take unscheduled calls anymore. I used to. I used to answer my phone no matter where I was. But I quickly realised this was a huge mistake. Trying to deal with a brand new enquiry while you’re out at lunch or you’re just about to head into a meeting is a mistake. You’re not going to be in the right headspace, you won’t be prepared, you might not have access to the information you need, and it’s easy to give poor answers (or the wrong information) when you’re distracted.
So don’t try and deal with new enquiries when you’re out and about. It’s much better to pre-arrange a call or meeting so you can prepare properly. You’ll do a much better job of impressing prospects if you’re completely focused on them and have had time to do your research and preparation.
Your approach is too aggressive
People do not like being backed into a corner and pressured into buying before they are ready.
You’ll know you have this problem if you are getting lots of prospects agreeing to go ahead or move to the next stage when you’re on the call or in the meeting, but then completely ignoring any follow up calls or emails. Or if they sign up to something but then cancel or ask for a refund within the cooling off period.
Chances are they have just said yes to get you off their case.
Pressure selling is not a good way of selling – you want clients to feel completely confident that you are the right person for the job. You don’t want them to feel bullied into buying from you.
You also don’t want to come across as desperate for the sale – it’s not a good look.
Your approach is too passive
While you don’t want to come across too desperate or forceful, you also don’t want to appear disinterested.
People want to feel as though you value their business. They don’t want to feel as though they are an inconvenience or that you’re just going through the motions.
The best way to show you are interested is to be genuinely interested. And that’s much easier to do if you are attracting people you actually want to work with rather than just agreeing to a call with anybody that gets in touch.
Your proposals aren’t personalised enough
In one of my previous jobs, we had a generic email template that we sent out with proposals. It was shit. I never used it.
Instead, I personalised my follow-up emails and amended bits of the proposal to show the customer I had been listening to them.
It didn’t take a lot of work. I’d just pick up on something they’d said and reference it in the email. For example, if they mentioned they had a dentist appointment later that day, I’d add something like “hope your trip to the dentist wasn’t too painful.”
And I’d make sure the proposal included anything I’d promised to include. For example, if I told them I’d highlight the offices we’d viewed on the floorplans, I’d do exactly that.
You don’t have to spend hours on proposals. You can use a template. The key is tweaking the contents so that everything in it is relevant to the prospect and that you address any questions or concerns they had.
You’re not following up
People are busy so reviewing your proposal or getting back to you with information might not be top of their priority list. So don’t be scared to give them a nudge.
Sometimes we need prompting for a response – I’m sure you’ve had occasions in the past where something has slipped you mind until you receive a gentle reminder.
I’m not suggesting you call them within an hour of sending your quote through, but if you haven’t heard back for a few days, just drop them a quick email.
You’re competing for the wrong things
I see this all the time. Someone puts a post out asking for recommendations for a copywriter/web designer/coach/consultant/accountant/VA or whatever, and it ends up with hundreds of comments. People connect and send over their pitch or their proposal or a long detailed email. Or in some cases, they go through a lengthy application process.
They get upset when they don’t hear anything back. But the person asking for the recommendation is probably being bombarded with messages and applications and they can’t be expected to reply to them all.
Yes – in an ideal world, they would send a quick “thanks but no thanks” response, but it’s not going to be their priority. So if you’re going to get upset when people don’t acknowledge you, don’t put yourself forward for this kind of stuff.
How to avoid getting ghosted
Ok – you might not be able to avoid it completely, but there are some things you can do to protect yourself from regular ghostings.
At the very least, you can minimise the time you spend talking to timewasters and tyre kickers and the amount of work you do for free.
Stop viewing prospects as clients
I was guilty of this when I started out – I’d refer to prospects as clients.
Mostly, it’s because I hate the word “prospects” – I prefer potential clients.
But wording aside, the point is: people are not customers or clients until they give you money.
It sounds harsh, I know, but it’s true.
And it’s important you make the differentiation.
Because if we call our prospects ‘clients’, we start to think of them as clients. And then we start to treat them like clients – giving them our time and letting them benefit from our knowledge, experience and skills.
The problem is they aren’t paying us for it.
And why would they value our time, experience, knowledge and skills if we are just giving it to them for free?
So stop saying “I’ve got a client call” or “I’ve got a client meeting” when really what you mean is you have a call or meeting with a potential client. You need to approach calls and meetings with potential clients in a different way.
That’s not to say you shouldn’t give them anything – you still need to show you have the required knowledge, experience and skills to help them. And you don’t have to turn your calls and meetings into full-blown sales pitches or pressure sell them into buying from you.
But equally, you shouldn’t keep giving, giving, giving in the hope that eventually they’ll start paying you. Why would they? You’re giving them what they need for nothing.
So put limits on how much you are prepared to invest in potential clients before walking away.
This will depend on what you offer and how your business is set up, but don’t be afraid to set terms that work for you.
For example, you might do all initial consultations via video call and only travel to in-person meetings once someone becomes a paying client.
Attract better prospects
If you’re doing a lot of calls and meetings that never turn into work, you’re probably not attracting the right type of enquiries in the first place.
For example, if you get lots of people asking about stuff you don’t really do, it’s likely your messaging is unclear. Or if you often get told “you’re too expensive” you might be giving off the idea that you’re cheap (or desperate).
Your marketing should do the heavy lifting of sales for you. It should convince your ideal clients that you are the right fit for them so that by the time they come to you, they are already likely to buy. That way, all you need to do, is nudge them over the line.
Be clear about who you work with (and who you don’t work with). Talk about the problems you solve, the outcomes you deliver, and the value you can add. Show that you are credible and worth investing in.
Don’t market yourself as “affordable” or “low-cost” if you know your pricing is at the higher end of the market. Don’t say you work with “any type of business” if you know that you can’t support businesses of a certain size.
The job of your marketing isn’t just to attract as many leads as possible. The job of your marketing is to attract the right leads and repel the wrong ones.
If it does its job, you won’t attract as many timewasters.
Check prospects are the right fit before putting loads of work in
There was a time when I always made myself available to potential clients.
I’d answer my phone wherever I was. And if I got an enquiry – no matter how vague – I’d set up a call.
Mistake.
Firstly, taking unscheduled calls is not a good idea. It’s too easy to get caught off guard and not give a great impression of yourself. This is why I don’t do it any more – I only take scheduled calls.
But what about those vague enquiries?
“I’m interested in your services – can you give me a call?”
“I’d like to have a chat about your services – can we set up a meeting?”
“I’m thinking about getting <thing you do>. Are you free for a coffee/call/meeting at some point next week?
All sound pretty promising right?
But before you rush into a call/coffee/meeting, you need to check whether they are the right fit.
- Can you help them?
- Do you want to help them?
- What are the chances of them actually becoming a paying client?
Let’s start with the most basic question – can you help them? What’s the point of getting on a call or travelling to a meeting only to find out you can’t meet their timescales? Or that you don’t even offer what they want or need. A few simple questions should help you establish exactly what they’re looking for.
Next, you need to make sure they are the sort of person you want to work with. Is the work they want from you the sort of work you enjoy doing? Just because you can help doesn’t mean you should.
Again, a few simple questions will help you figure out whether you would like to take them on as a client.
The other thing you need to work out is how serious they are about becoming a client.
Perhaps they are just looking for some free advice and have no intention of signing up to your paid service once they’ve taken advantage of your free consultation.
Maybe their company insists they get three quotes on everything so that’s what they are doing even though they already know who they are going to choose.
Or it might be that they are keen on working with you, but they are not the person in control of the budget and don’t get a say in the final decision.
It’s not always possible to know these things in advance, but there are questions you can ask and processes you can put in place to minimise the risk.
It can be as simple as asking a few questions via email or direct messaging. Or you might want to put a questionnaire in place for people to complete before you schedule a call.
The important thing is finding out whether a prospect is a good fit before investing your time in calls and meetings.
Evaluate your sales process
Do you have a sales process or do you just wing it whenever you get a new enquiry?
Your sales process doesn’t have to be complicated but it should be something you can evaluate.
For example, it might involve something like this:
- Enquiry comes in
- You ask a set of questions
- You schedule an initial call
- You send a bespoke proposal
- You arrange a follow up call
- You send three follow-up emails if you don’t get an immediate yes
Now you can evaluate where your process is failing.
If you’re getting ghosted after sending the initial questions, maybe your questions are too detailed, too personal or too confusing.
If prospects seem keen to work with you during the initial call, only to vanish after you send them your price, then perhaps you’re more expensive than they expected or you haven’t done a good enough job of demonstrating the value you add.
And if they seem non-committal before you even mention the price, then maybe your approach is too aggressive or too passive.
Whatever your sale process looks like, it’s useful to understand where in the process you’re losing the sale. That way you can figure out what needs fixing or improving.
Ensure you follow up
Are you following up after you’ve sent your proposal? How many times do you follow up? How assertive are your follow-ups?
I know following up is a challenge for some people because they don’t want to come across as ‘pushy’ or desperate.
But sometimes people need a nudge. They might want to do business with you, but they’ve just not got around to responding because getting started isn’t a priority. Your follow-up might prompt them into action or remind them they need to make a decision.
You don’t have to send chasing emails every day, call every hour, or stand outside their office each morning waiting for an answer.
But put a process in place. It might be that you say to yourself that you’ll follow up after a week if you’ve not heard anything. And then again after another week. You might limit it to three follow-ups within a month of speaking to them and then a final follow-up three months later.
You could even let them know you’ll be following up when you send the proposal – “I’ll give you a call next week to follow up, but if you have any questions in the meantime, let me know.”
Your follow-up process will depend on what you offer, so there’s no right or wrong system, but it’s definitely worth having something in place.
Don’t work for free
You might think you have to put in a lot of work upfront to win a new client, but you don’t.
One of my mentor clients came to me because he was doing just that. He’d do an intitial consultation (for free), which took around two hours (plus travel time). Then he’d make a bespoke presentation (for free), which took about an hour. Then he’d arrange another meeting to present his plan and explain his fee, which took around an hour. So he was doing around four to five hours work (plus travel time) for free.
And what happened when clients said he was too expensive? He’d lower his price to try and win the business because he didn’t want the time he’d already invested to be for nothing.
Within a couple of weeks of working with me, we’d completely changed his process. Now he charges for consultations and an action plan rather than doing it for free. His conversion rates are higher as he is only attracting people who are seriously interested in his services. And, if he doesn’t win the business, he isn’t taking it so badly because he’s been paid for his time.
You don’t have to work this way if you don’t want to, but it just shows what’s possible if you’re willing to make changes.
Don’t rely on work you haven’t won yet
You get off a call with a potential client. It all went well and they’ve told you they want to go ahead – they just need to wait a couple of weeks.
No problem. You block out time in your diary to fit the work in. And you start making plans for the money. It takes the pressure off you a bit knowing you’ve already got some work locked in.
And then you get ghosted. Or the client changes their mind. And the money never appears.
Ouch.
A sale is not a sale until the invoice is paid.
Don’t rely on work you haven’t won yet because if it all falls through, you’ll be left in a panic.
Set up processes to protect yourself. For example, charge a deposit to secure your time. And don’t spend the money until you have it.
Be selective
Ideally, you don’t want to compete for work – you want clients to come to you because they want to work with you.
But if you do pitch for work through freelancer sites or LinkedIn, or you tender for work, be selective.
Don’t get into price wars – always being the cheapest option isn’t a great business strategy. So if you know the potential client is basing their decision purely on price, don’t go for it.
If the project involves a long application process, weigh up how much you want the work before you jump through a load of hoops to win it.
You don’t have to pitch for every single thing going. Choose which opportunities are going to be most worthy of your time. Choose the clients who will benefit most from working with you.
Build a business that works around you.
It is possible to make good money doing the thing you love for people you like. I do and I can help you do it too.
Need some help with your marketing strategy?
If you are struggling to consistently attract and convert the clients you want, let me help you create a more effective marketing strategy.
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If this is your first time here, thanks for reading.
I’m Lisa – owner of LS Mentoring, and author of the The Freelance Fairytale.
I help freelancers and small businesses attract more of the clients they want.
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