How to avoid ghosting by clients

Ghosting, aka being given the cold shoulder, is a scenario that agencies and PR consultants will be all too familiar with. It is frustrating and can be particularly galling when a potential client has approached you for a proposal, provided a detailed brief and you then hear nothing back having invested significant time and energy putting together the proposal. 

Possibly my worst experience of ghosting was when a marketing director at a well-known law firm asked me to put together a proposal while admitting that there was no budget for PR. She then rang me to remind me that she was expecting detailed case studies in the proposal. I went ahead because I knew the case studies would be a useful marketing tool but I felt rather annoyed at the demands. And guess what, I never heard back! 

While there is absolutely no excuse for a client not to send a quick email just to say that they aren’t taking a project forward at that time or that they’ve gone with another agency, ghosting happens to the best of us and I’ve learnt not to take it personally. However, there are things you can do to keep the risk of ghosting and timewasting to a minimum. Here are my top tips: 

1. Follow your instincts – if your gut feeling is that the client isn’t the right fit for you, limit your time on the proposal. Better still, politely decline the opportunity. 

2. Don’t over invest. If you spend hours on a proposal, there is always a chance it won’t lead anywhere, and you will be out of pocket. Be strict with yourself and ration how much time you put in. I find that offering a free 30 minute ‘discovery’ call is a good way of limiting over investment. 

3. Don’t try too hard to sell you or your agency -  talk about them and what the client wants to achieve. Try and bring a fresh perspective and different ideas to their issue.  

4. When you are speaking to your prospect, try and get a time in the diary for your next touch point at the end of the call/email. 

5. Do follow up and be persistent. I find it useful to have a set formula for this to ensure that you are following up in a consistent and timely manner, eg after a few days, a week, a month.  

6. Sometimes prospective clients may be embarrassed about saying “no thanks” or they might not want to admit that they can’t afford your services  so make it as easy for them to let you down gently. 

7. If you feel that things have gone cold, then it’s ok to send a ‘give-up email’ asking outright if the client has given up on this project for now? 

8. You should always ask for feedback, it may not always be forthcoming, but it’s good to get a cross check on whether your pricing is competitive or whether there are any other learning points you can take away from the exercise. 

9. Keep in touch - in my experience, it’s not unusual for a client to put PR on hold and then return a few months later when they are ready.  I’ve even lost pitches only for the client to return when the agency they’ve chosen hasn’t worked out! 

10.  Consider introducing a three strikes rule so if a potential client has had more than a total of three proposals and/or meetings and there is still no work, then maybe it’s time for you to disappear and do the ghosting!

 Antonia Welch is a freelance PR specialising in the legal. Find out more at Welch PR.

Antonia was also interviewed for our recent CIPR-member long read, which examined how cancel culture, 24/7 intensified scrutiny and social media misinformation means PRs are in strong demand from law firms right now.

Further reading

• Red flags to turn down a prospective PR client

• Freshen up: how to avoid long term client complacency

• The ego has landed: how to deal with a narcissistic client and come out on top