🧩🖊️🌳  Dear Agency Founder

How to stop getting ghosted after sending proposals

Discover a proven method that transforms your sales process from one-sided submissions to collaborative partnerships. Increasing your close rate and eliminating those painful silences.

We have all been there. We get an interesting lead in the inbox. We have an exciting first call, then we go away and spend time crafting a proposal.

We describe our value and the outcomes they'll get, breaking down tasks and costs. We add some case studies and a sprinkle of testimonials. And then we send.

We probably get a "thank you I'll take a look", but then silence.

A few days later we'll politely email to ask how's it coming along. What did you think of the proposal?

No reply.

We'll send more emails and get no response until eventually we have to write the breakup email.

"You've probably found someone else, but if you need us, we're here"

Polite on the surface, but underneath, deeply cheesed off.

Even if they do reply at this point, it will be a no. They disengaged when it counted.

Where did that initial excitement go? What happened?

The good news is that it's nothing personal, the bad news is that you are partly responsible.

Taking responsibility isn't about giving yourself a hard time it's about noticing the things in your control and committing to improving them.

So let's improve!

What's really happening

Yes, it's a bit rude that they didn't get back to you.

The problem is, once they had your proposal there was nothing of value left for you to give. Replying to follow up emails wasn't of any use to them because you weren't the chosen supplier.

Here's why:

As prospects have conversations with potential suppliers they are confronted with a whole wealth of new information and approaches. It's completely normal that during that period their idea of what they are looking for changes. You have benchmarked price and approach early and it's likely, almost inevitable, that your proposal will become outdated.

A proposal's value depreciates fast from the moment you send it. The goalposts move.

A sales process is like a negotiation. When you give something, you should get something.

Information that they need includes things like:

Information that you need:

You were ghosted because you gave them everything they needed, and got nothing you needed.

How many emails do you reply to that are of no value to you?

Like I said, it's nothing personal, they probably want to be polite. But wanting to be polite isn't enough when you are busy.

Stay in the process and get those replies

I realised what was happening by accident as the deals began to get bigger.

I could no longer send that quick proposal.

What they were asking for was too big or too complex.

I would go away and just end up with more questions. I'd have to ask for another call. I'd try and find some information that would help them so I wouldn't be turning up empty handed. Some research or a case study of our work that might shape the discussion.

The second calls would go well, they would let me in a bit deeper and tell me more about the outcomes they were trying to get to.

Often the shape of the deal would start to shift. Just like a user research session I'd find out the motivations behind the project. I had solutions they hadn't thought of.

We would both have more questions and now maybe I had enough to create a ballpark (but not a final) cost.

The great thing about the back and forth was

With each call, the information would become richer and we all got closer to knowing what should be in the final proposal.

And each call had something they needed which reduced the chance of them not showing.

What I noticed was, by the time we got to the final proposal we were often the only company they were still talking to.

The companies we were up against that had already sent proposals that didn't have the nuances, extra value and real detail under the hood that we had. They were the ones getting ghosted.

The Co-Creation Method

What I learned about creating an engaging sales process I formalised into a way to nurture prospects and only get ghosted by the ones I didn't want us to win anyway.

Here's how to do it:

The more touchpoints you could have the better.

Here's an example process:

  1. Initial call: focus on listening to the problem
  2. Follow up: Share relevant previous projects and experience. Give examples of cost for these (but not for this project)
  3. Meet again to provide a wide ballpark cost based on their requirements
  4. Speak to others in their business about the plan and bring their goals into the frame
  5. Present final plan to refine the project scope and a detailed estimate

This is a lot of effort and you can't do it with every lead. Use the engagement of the prospect to guide you. As well as your normal qualification - only put in effort when they are committing to more touch points.

Your prospect's willingness to co-create with you is a buying signal. How quickly do they get back to you? Are they chasing and pushing the deal forward?

When you get that commitment then match it with your effort. Use the time you were going to spend on other deals that aren't getting back to you.

Conclusion

If you thought you were being helpful by getting them full costs and a proposal quickly then hopefully this article has made you rethink.

You may have been quick but your competitors are having 3 or 4 conversations and the goalposts are moving. Your proposal is out of date and a ghosting becomes more likely.

Try to never end up in a situation where you have no more information to give. When you hand in that final proposal, it should be because you are in the driving seat to win the deal.

And by doing this you will win more deals.

As well as not getting ghosted you've co-created the proposal with your prospect. How can there be another proposal out there more aligned to what they want? How can there be another agency they are more committed to?

There isn't, it's yours, and you know what?

You deserve it.