How to Stop Freelance Clients from Ghosting You
You’ve done the hard work of attracting a new freelance client, learning about their business needs, and writing a proposal. Everything is going great so far. You attach the proposal to a well-written email and hit send.
The client politely responds, “Thanks! We’ll review everything next week and get back to you!” You send a friendly reply, “Sounds great. Let me know if you have any questions in the meantime!”
You wait… and wait. A week goes by, then two. You politely follow up, only to hear crickets. Another week goes by and you realize: the client has ghosted you 👻
This scenario is all too familiar for freelancers — and there’s a reason why.
If you’re struggling to win projects and clients are ghosting you after you’ve spent hours writing a proposal, it’s likely because you’re not effectively building trust, setting clear expectations, or following up often enough.
Many freelancers struggle with these two critical parts of the sales cycle:
- If a freelance client is unsure about working with you, it’s because you didn’t build up enough trust or rapport with them through your website or initial conversations.
- If a freelance client is surprised by the cost of the project, it’s because you didn’t adequately discuss their budget or your pricing, and only included those details in the proposal.
“Wait, so you’re saying it’s my fault?”
Freelancers aren’t always to blame (some clients do inexplicable things), but they’re often quick to accuse clients of poor behavior while overlooking their ability to prevent being ghosted in the first place.
Why Do Clients Ghost Freelancers?
Freelance clients often ghost freelancers when they feel surprised by the price after reviewing the project proposal. This is ultimately the result of misaligned expectations. However, even if the client finds the price surprising, they likely won’t cease communication entirely unless other factors were at play.
When someone genuinely trusts you, respects you, and wants to work with you, they won’t ghost you. Instead, they’ll negotiate, ask follow up questions, or politely decline. If a potential freelance client pulls a disappearing act, it’s likely because you didn’t establish enough trust and rapport with them.
To make matters worse, freelancers allow too much time to pass between follow-ups. By the time you check in to see if they’ve reviewed the proposal, they’ve either decided to “go in a different direction” or never replied at all — leaving you scratching your head.
Other times, the client may gather proposals from multiple freelancers to evaluate their options. This is standard practice across many different industries. But clients won’t typically disclose this, and if you don’t remember to ask, you could be ghosted without knowing why.
Disclaimer: Sometimes clients communicate poorly regardless of the expectations you set with them — but ghosting someone after they’ve invested time and effort preparing a proposal is rude and unprofessional.
So, it’s not always your fault, but there are certainly adjustments you can make to your sales process that will help you win more freelance projects:
- Build trust through your website, project intake form, and discovery calls.
- Proactively discuss the clients timeline + budget before sending a proposal.
- Offer multiple options at various price points.
- Set clear expectations for next steps when delivering a project proposal.
- Establish a process for following up, getting signatures, and closing the deal.
The exact implementation may vary slightly for every industry. However, adapting and improving in these 5 areas can dramatically reduce the chances of a freelance client ghosting you.
Building Trust
Potential freelance clients are far less likely to ghost you if you’ve earned their trust and respect. This starts with your website (or social media accounts) and project intake form. If you don’t have your own website, I strongly urge you to create one.
Your website should clearly outline your services and showcase your work. Your project intake form should be strategically crafted in such a way that it builds trust with the client AND provides you with the key information you need to determine if the project is a good fit for your business.
If you’re curious about how to do that, check out this article:
Setting pricing expectations on your website or project intake form can also reduce the chances of a client ghosting you. You may get fewer leads, but the quality of the leads you do get should be much better. You can do this by sharing exact pricing, price ranges, or ask for a budget range in your project intake form.
This will make pricing discussions more approachable and predictable, and give you the confidence to successfully navigate an intimidating topic.
When a potential freelance client contacts you, respond within 24 hours and ask additional questions via email or set up a discovery call. Clients often contact multiple freelancers at once, so a quick response can help establish you as a professional and leave a lasting impression.
It’s important to start building trust with clients not just from the moment they contact you, but from the moment they discover you. That often happens through your website, social media, or a referral — so make sure your online presence is working on your behalf!
Proactively Discuss Budget & Timeline
Most freelancers are intimidated by the thought of having financial discussions with potential clients. There are a lot of valid reasons for this, but most stem from a lack of confidence and experience. This can make it feel like the client always has the upper hand and therefore, all the leverage.
Not wanting to press on an uncomfortable and unfamiliar topic, many freelancers will either timidly ask about budget or avoid the topic altogether. Yet, this is one of the most essential discussions you need to have before writing a project proposal.
First, remember that you and the client share a common goal — to get aligned quickly and ensure you’re a good fit to work together on the project. You don’t want to waste time writing a proposal only to be ghosted because of the price and they don’t want to waste time talking to a freelancer they can’t afford.
So it’s in everyone’s best interest to discuss approximate pricing and timeline sooner rather than later.
Freelance clients are also notorious for asking for a ballpark estimate on the first discovery call — and sometimes they can be quite pushy about it. When that happens, resist the urge to answer on the call. Instead, tell them you’ll put together a quote once you’ve learned more about their needs and had time to evaluate possible solutions.
If all else fails, you can give a wide range or a minimum cost to set baseline expectations. In the past, I’ve told clients the absolutely minimum I’d want to charge to even consider doing the work followed by the maximum I’ve charged for any project, which serves as a price anchor.
Sample response: “Based on what I know so far, I don’t think this will cost any less than $5,000 and I’ve charged upwards of $20,000 for similar projects. Your project will likely fall somewhere in the middle. Do you have any concerns about that?”
Remember, the goal is to minimize the likelihood a client will ghost you once they see the project proposal and sometimes ballparks ranges can help achieve this so long as you make it clear the final cost could be higher or lower.
The more you push yourself to have pricing discussions, the better you’ll get. Sometimes you might fumble, but that’s ok — just keep learning from each experience and you’ll eventually get more comfortable with the topic.
Offer Multiple Options
Another way to reduce your risk of being ghosted by a potential freelance client is to include multiple options in your project proposal. That way, the client can compare your options to each other instead of comparing you to another freelancer.
This approach is also highly effective because it minimizes your chance of being ghosted while maximizing the chances you’ll get hired. It also helps you stand out from the competition because most freelancers simply estimate the cost of the project and send the proposal with a single “take it or leave it” price.
And if you’ve been ghosted, they decided to “leave it”.
Pro Tip: Freelance clients will always see the price in your proposal as the final cost. They won’t see it as an estimate or as a negotiable price. Be sure to set expectations accordingly!
But sometimes there’s more than one way to approach a project. For example, you might offer a web design client the following options:
- Configure a Squarespace theme (1 week @ $795)
- Customize a pre-made WordPress template (3 weeks @ $3,500)
- Full custom website design & code (6 weeks @ $10,000)
You can even use creative pricing psychology tactics to guide the client toward the option you prefer. I discuss that in more detail in my book Kickstart Your Freelancing Career.
For a design or copywriting project, you could use the number of iterations, customizations, or revisions to set pricing options. For photography, it could be the number of photos you offer or the duration of the session.
Offering multiple options may not work for every project in every industry. But with a little creativity, it can dramatically reduce your chances of being ghosted!
Delivering a Project Proposal
Once you’ve sufficiently discussed the project details with the client, you can write a project proposal. This is different than a contract. A proposal is a summary of the work to be done, estimated timeline, final pricing, and payment schedule.
Pro Tip: A proposal is a summary of the work to be done, estimated timeline, final pricing, and payment schedule, while a contract contains legal terms and conditions.
I also like to include an overview of why the project is being done, success stories, testimonials, my best work samples, a cover page, and a signature page.
Does that sound like too much detail for a proposal?
Think about this: when you send the PDF to your point of contact, there’s a good chance it will be forwarded to additional decision-makers within the company. Not everyone will be familiar with your work or reputation. So including these extra details can help “sell” them on your behalf, even when you’re not around.
If you’re curious about what exactly my proposals and contracts include or want to use them in your own business, you can purchase and download them here:
Best Seller!
I’ve always sent my proposals via email and nearly every one comes back signed. If you’ve followed all the steps above, the chances of the client ghosting you are minimal.
However, you can also present the proposal in real time! Consider setting up a meeting to review the proposal with the client on a live video call or even in person. That way, you know they’ve seen and understand the project details and you can answer any questions they have immediately.
While I realize that live presentations are intimidating for many people, this is another effective way to differentiate yourself from other freelancers.
Set Clear Expectations for Next Steps
No matter what format you use to deliver your proposal, be sure to set clear expectations for next steps. This might seem obvious, but it’s important to guide the client through the end of your sales cycle.
Fortunately, this part of the process is universal. You want the client to sign the proposal and send a down payment (or collect 100% payment upfront if possible).
But what steps can you take to ensure this happens with as little friction as possible?
Specify a Review Timeline
In my experience, a highly effective and beneficial strategy is to state in the proposal that the client has a finite number of business days to accept the project or they risk losing the availability in your calendar.
This gives the client motivation to respond quickly while preventing you from holding a spot in your calendar indefinitely.
Pro Tip: If you’re sending proposals to multiple freelance clients, this is an essential part of the sales process to avoid overbooking!
In fact, this is exactly how I word my proposal: “If [business name] accepts this proposal within 5 days, I can begin work as early as January 15th, 2025”.
You can even ask the client how long they need to review the proposal and make a decision. A few days? A week? Two weeks?
Is there anything preventing them from responding quickly? Does anyone else need to review it? Are they going on vacation? Will they be delayed due to a holiday? Is anyone out sick?
There are many legitimate reasons a client could need extra time to review your proposal. Factor in weekends and holidays, and you’ll know the appropriate number of days to specify.
Make it Easy to Sign & Pay
Lastly, you want to make it as easy as possible for the client to sign and pay. Any unnecessary friction increases the risk of a client ghosting you.
If possible, send a link to electronically sign both the proposal and contract at once. You may need to pay a small monthly fee for an invoicing/signature tool such as DocuSign or HelloSign. Attaching a PDF to an email might be easier (and free) for you, but much more cumbersome for the client.
Then, make it clear what the down payment amount is for each option you proposed and give them multiple easy ways to pay. This is best done through an invoicing software such as QuickBooks Online, but most online payment platforms let you request payment.
Now it’s time to follow up and close the deal!
Best Seller!
Follow Up & Close the Deal
Despite your best efforts, clients may not get back to you right away. That can make it difficult to know what cadence to use for follow-up emails and phone calls — or if the client has ghosted you completely.
Your first goal is to get a confirmation of receipt. This can be a verbal or written confirmation from the client that they received the proposal and contract. This doesn’t need to be formal — any acknowledgement will suffice.
Typically, clients will say something like, “thank you for sending over the proposal, we’ll review it and get back to you soon”.
But sometimes emails get lost and clients can be forgetful. Lightly nudge them every 1-2 days until you get a confirmation of receipt.
From there, give the client sufficient time to review the proposal. Freelancers often assume that if the client is serious about the project, they will prioritize reviewing your proposal immediately. In reality, it’s not that simple.
Clients are busy running their business. It can genuinely take a week (or more) to set up internal meetings, review your proposal, discuss their options among stakeholders, make a decision, and form a reply.
This is why setting proper expectations is so important.
You can also remind them that (as specified in the proposal) you can only hold time in your calendar for a limited number of days. They can accept the proposal after that date, but you reserve the right to adjust your start date accordingly.
If you can get them to verbalize a timeline, they’ll be less likely to ghost you. If the client can’t (or won’t) state a timeline, gently following up approximately every 3 business days and gradually ramp up the intensity of your language to elicit a response.
Lastly, the client may still have questions or want to negotiate before signing the proposal/contract and paying the first invoice. That’s ok! In fact, questions are great because it not only means you weren’t ghosted, it also means they are seriously considering your proposal!
Closing Thoughts
To minimize your risk of being ghosted, you have to proactively communicate and set proper expectations at every point in the process. This starts with your website (or wherever clients discover you) and carriers through every interaction until you close the deal.
You also want to eliminate the possibility of clients being surprised the price and timeline in your project proposal.
Yes, it’s possible someone may still ghost you for no discernible reason — and that’s unprofessional. Potential clients should always give you the courtesy of a quick email reply to let you know they’re not moving forward with you for the project
However, freelancers don’t realize how much they can influence the outcome of a conversation. If you follow this steps in this article, you’ll start closing more deals at higher price points and minimize your risk of being ghosted by a potential client.
Last updated on December 16th, 2024
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