Why Good Agencies Get Ghosted (And Great Ones Don’t)

The uncomfortable truth about why prospects disappear (it’s not the economy)

“We had three great calls, they loved our ideas, asked for references, and then… nothing. I sent a bunch of follow-ups over the next few months, thinking they were just busy – and we never heard back. Six months later, we found out they hired another agency when the work went live.”

As an agency owner, you know how confusing it can be to figure out what clients actually want. More often than not, you are ghosted or given vague feedback…left feeling totally confused on what your prospects are thinking.

Here’s the uncomfortable truth: You’re not being ghosted because prospects are busy or the global economy is a mess. You’re being ghosted for one of three reasons:

1. You haven’t properly vet them (they were never a fit and you wasted your time)
2. You did more than your 50% (and you missed the signs that they weren’t that into you)
3. You didn’t give them confidence (you overfocused on your “services” instead of “outcomes” you create for them)

Ghosting is a problem in our industry—that is not up for debate. But we are a big part of the problem. We’ve trained our prospects (brand and business leaders) to think our time has little value. We’ve shown them we are so hungry for opportunities that we’re willing to do almost anything they want, on the most unrealistic timelines, for the chance to just pitch.

We’ve taught them to be lazy by creating a brief for them.

We’ve taught them to waste our time by being willing to do hours of work (hourly breakdowns, strategy, creative ideas) without any commitment.

We’ve taught them to disrespect us because we’ve disrespected ourselves.

The good news is, this is an issue we can change individually AND as an industry. And the first step is acknowledging the truth: you are the problem.

How your sales process actually trains clients to ghost you

Let’s take a step back and look at where this all starts – your sales process.

Most agency websites have a generic email or a very basic form. I typically see 3 questions on an agency website form:

• Name
• Email
• Tell us about your project

A blank box where they can give you vague information is not good enough. Typically, these forms get filled in with less than a sentence, such as “branding project”. And how are you supposed to figure out if that’s someone worth your time?

You need to gatekeep your time like the premium service provider you are (or want to be).

At a minimum, we need to know:

• Is their business or industry one you have in-depth experience in (ie, not one random case study – you have earned knowledge in this space)?
• Does their goal align with your expertise?
• Are their expectations of timing and budget aligned with your business?
• Are they prepared and ready to hire an agency partner? (ie, they have clear goals, a brief, a budget, a timeline, stakeholder sign off, an internal project team, etc.)

A better form would include these (mandatory) questions:

• Company / Brand name
• What is the main goal or desired outcome that would make your project a success?
• What is your ideal timeline for starting this work and completing it?
• What is driving this timing?
• What level of investment are you prepared to make? (I like to provide tiered ranges here – starting with your minimum viable project fee)
• How did you hear about us / who can we thank?

And to clarify – you should know all this BEFORE getting on the call with a prospect. If they don’t have this information, then it’s simply a networking call. And we don’t write proposals for networking calls.

Okay, so we’re aligned that we need to improve our website forms, yes? This is a step one.

The next step is key. If they passed the form test and you took an initial call with them (which, by the way, should be 30 minutes max because you’re evaluating them as much as they’re evaluating you), do not (I repeat, do not) offer to write a proposal.

At the end of your initial call, ask this question instead: “Great chatting and getting to know you and your brand. What feels like the best next step to you from here?”

I promise this simple question will save you hours wasted in writing proposals. Because here’s the thing…when someone offers to write a proposal, you’re not going to say no. It’s awkward to say, “you know what, we don’t think this is a fit, so no thank you”. And this is WHY the majority of ghosting situations happen.

A basic rule of thumb here – if they half-ass filled out the form, were 10 minutes late to the call, are non-responsive to your emails, return that energy. Don’t proceed to spend hours writing up scenarios for them. You’re actually showing them they can do the bare minimum and you’ll still do the maximum…and believe me, if they hire you, that translates over into the client partnership. They are THOSE clients you love to hate.

The 3-Step Ghost-Proof Discovery Framework

Here’s the framework that eliminates ghosting before it starts:

Step 1: An Informative Website Form

Prospects who can’t answer this aren’t ready to partner. And it’s okay to scare off a ghost.

Step 2: A Pre-Call Email

This sets the tone that you are leading the process – and allows you to get a feel for their responsiveness. Generally, I would let them know who is joining the call on your side and what they can expect. Here’s an example.

“Looking forward to our chat this week. To give you a sense of next steps and what to expect, this is what our typical process looks like:

• We’ll have a Meet & Greet this week to talk about your project and together assess if there’s a good fit
• I’ll have you fill out a more detailed project brief (or if you have one at the ready, you can send it to us)
• We’ll set up a second call with my team and all stakeholders to discuss the brief in more detail together
• We’ll confirm timing and next steps

If you have any questions let me know, otherwise I’ll see you later this week.”

Step 3: The Next Step Commitment

If they do want a proposal (which they should ask for), here is where you’ll need to find out who the decision makers are (all of them) and ask to have a briefing call with them before putting a proposal together. They don’t need a proposal to decide if they like, know and trust you – save yourself the time. And if this is too much of a time commitment for them, then a proposal is too much of a time commitment for you.

Protect your time like it’s rare and highly valuable – because it IS. And when you respect your time, you’ll find everyone else (your team, your prospects, your clients) start respecting it too.

Why confident agencies never get ghosted – and how to build that confidence

A lot of this comes down to confidence.

Confidence to say no.

Confidence in what you do well.

Confidence to know there is plenty of work out there.

But how do you build this confidence? Here are three mindset shifts that change everything:

1. You’re interviewing them, too.

Stop acting like you need them more than they need you. You’re evaluating whether they’re the right fit for your expertise. Show up with the energy that they have something to prove to you, too.

2. Scarcity creates demand.

I worked with an agency that raised their minimum project size from $25K to $100K. Their ghosting rate dropped from 60% to 15%. Higher barriers signal higher value.

3. Your process is non-negotiable.

Great agencies say: “Here’s how we work. Here’s our timeline. Here’s our process.” They don’t ask permission – they inform and educate.

If you have a scarcity mindset, you will let these bad prospects (and bad clients) run your business for you while you take a backseat and watch it all crumble.

You’ll be burnt out. You’ll have high turnover. You’ll resent your business (and your clients).

And I know because I’ve been in those businesses.

The good news is, you can change it. Stop chasing prospects who disappear when it’s time to commit. Start attracting clients who can’t wait to work with you.

You deserve to thrive and so does your business.

Your resident ghostbuster,

Melissa Lohrer