What to Do When a Client or Prospect Ghosts You

You have a promising initial conversation with a potential client about a writing project. Or you have submitted a first draft to a new client and are awaiting feedback. Or have sent your invoice and payment is past due.

(5 Tips for Writing Better and Faster.)

But when you call to follow up, you can’t seem to get them back on the phone. They don’t pick up or take your call. If you leave a voice mail message, they don’t return it.

In short, all you get is deafening silence. You are being ignored or “ghosted.” It’s frustrating. Annoying. Worse, if you can’t connect with them, that writing project may have hit a roadblock and the client relationship may be derailing.  

Here are a few tips that at best might break the silence—and get you closer to being hired, move the project forward, or at least might make you feel better about how you are being treated—and why.

To begin with, understand that you are not alone. Ghosting has become commonplace today. The most common reasons why clients ghost freelancers is to avoid unpleasant conversations they do not want to have. These might include telling the freelancer she was not selected for a particular job or that the boss hates the copy.

Another reason for ghosting is that the day they call you, the project might be a top priority. But then, other things pop up, and suddenly that writing assignment is on the back burner or even canceled.

So what can you do if you are ghosted? I have a few suggestions based on my 4+ decades experience as a freelance copywriter.

The surest way to cut down on ghosting is “money up front.” There is an old saying in business that the person who holds the money has the power.

An approved written or signed contract is vital. But as writer Harlan Ellison once told me, having the client or publisher “cross your palm with silver” is the best way to be taken seriously. For most copywriting assignments, I require an approval of my written agreement and a paid project retainer of half up front to get started.

Monthly retainer clients are also less likely to ghost you, because you have an ongoing relationship. Get the retainer on first of the month before you put in any work or hours for that month.

Always be marketing so that your lead pipeline is filled to overflowing with potential new clients and projects. In my book The Secret of the Double Pipeline (CTC Publishing), I advocate doing so much marketing that your pipeline is filled with twice the number of new clients and projects you could potentially handle.

That way, even if you are ghosted by some clients on some projects, you have a plentiful supply of other clients standing in line waiting to cross your palm with silver on new projects to replace what you have lost.

Finally, remember motivational speaker Rob Gilbert’s SWL + SWL = SW formula, which says:

Dealing with ghosting, rejection, and other setbacks is unavoidable. No copywriter or any other writer has a 100% success rate. Anyone who says he or she does is lying to you.

So when you are ghosted, recognize it as something that happens, deal with it professionally and as best you can, and don’t beat yourself up over it; after all, there are far worse things that can and do happen to us as writers and as human beings.