David A. Fields Consulting Group Your consulting firm submitted a proposal to Chlorissa (“Chlo”) Zing, COO at Fantasma, S.A. However, Ms. Zing canceled your scheduled appointment to talk about the proposal, and hasn’t responded to your request to reschedule.
Frustratingly, another hot prospect, Luke van Nesht, with whom your consulting firm held a number of promising conversations, has also stopped responding to your emails and phone calls.
(Author’s note: We get so many requests for this article, that even though it’s only a couple of years old, I decided to republish it. This one is updated with the complete, works-even-better follow-up sequence.)
What’s up with these missing prospects? Are they signaling disinterest or, perhaps, are they just busy, and how can you find out?
Your top priority is to figure out what’s happening, while maintaining the optimal level of persistence.
You don’t want to come across as desperate or pestering. On the other hand, your consulting firm needs to close deals, and tenacity is a necessary trait in successful business development.
In most cases, your consulting firm’s project is not your prospect’s top priority.
Therefore, start with the assumption that your consulting firm is still in the running for a project, and that your prospect is distracted by other work, other people, and squirrels.
The Proven, 8-Part Ghosting Remediation Sequence
Message #1: Immediate Response
Of course, when a prospect doesn’t show up to a scheduled meeting, immediately follow up with a short note asking to reschedule. Offering chocolate inducements is optional.
Messages #2-5: Follow-Ups
If your prospect becomes non-responsive, try following up four more times. Start a few days after your immediate follow-up, then space the next three roughly a week apart.
Adhere to the following principles:
- Stay Right-Side Up. Focus on them and their business, not you and your consulting firm.
- Keep it short and include a question.
- Don’t reference earlier contact attempts.
Luke, quick follow-up on our discussion. Can we get a date on the calendar next week?
To improve the effectiveness of the sequence, leverage a variety of communication channels (email, text, phone call, LinkedIn, etc.).
As long as you’re careful, you can also turn to your other contacts in your prospect’s organization.
Message #6: “Shake It Loose“
Your sixth follow-up is a single question:
Chlo, the project we were talking about appears to be stuck. Is there a way we can shake it loose?
Message #7: A Way Out
Your next message shifts tone, offering your contact an easy way out. A firm “No” is better than being ghosted.
Luke, following up to see if you want to jump on the calendar. If you’re not interested, no worries. Just shoot me a note and let me know.
Message #8: “Have You Given Up?”
The final message in the sequence is inspired by a Chris Voss technique called the “Magic Email” because response rates are typically over 80%.
Luke, have you given up on improving your district’s performance?
Of course, you reference whatever the big benefit was that your prospect was trying to achieve.
This sequence won’t work every time, of course. However, tactful persistence will definitely win more business for your consulting firm.
What tips do you have for consultants whose prospects have gone silent?
Text and images are © 2026 David A. Fields, all rights reserved.
Great article David. May I suggest a ninth step? Break up with them: “It seems that you’re no longer interested in this project, so this will be my last email about it – I don’t want to keep filling up your inbox.
To be clear, we’re still interested in working with you, so if something has come up or if I should reconnect after the new year, please let me know.”
This really positions you as the expert who is not desperate and you’ve made the decision to move on. Also, about 1/4-1/3 will reply with something like “Yes I’ve been swamped. Sorry, let’s talk in January.”
That’s an interesting message, Chris, and you could definitely use it. There are a couple of reasons I keep it out of my own follow-up routine:
1) It’s not really about them–the only purpose seems to be to say, “Fine. I’m taking my ball and going home.” You’re already positioned as an expert and they’re not thinking about your level of desperation–they don’t care.
2) It seems to assume you’re not going to keep the person in your regular outreach schedule regardless of this particular project. Whether or not a prospect ghosts you, they’re in your Network Core and you’re going to be reaching out to them 2-4 times per year.
Also, I’ve never seen this work after the “have you given up?” message.
That said, it’s a well-crafted message and if it fits with your style and creates results, use it! (Also, let me know if the 8-message sequence doesn’t work and this 9th message does the trick.)
I very much appreciate your adding your thinking to the article, Chris!
While I know every situation and potential new project is different, my only hesitation to following up this many times, especially if there’s only crickets in response, is do I really want to work with this client after all? If it is this hard to communicate with them now, when they “should” be the most excited about the results we’ll be working on together, won’t that be a pipedream if they are not inclined to participate in the process or at least communicate timely? I’m wondering if I’ve been making a bit mistake by not chasing potential clients with more than 2 or 3 follow up notes when ghosted.
Great question to raise, Gabrielle. “Do I really want to work with this client?” and “Will this client be hard to communicate with?” are very fair questions and you should feel good about your answers before you agree to work with them.
However, unresponsiveness on a proposal, particularly if you didn’t have a next step set on the calendar, is not a great indication of whether a client will be a good communicator during the project. More likely, it’s an indication that your project is not their top priority at the moment. Sure, it’s the very top priority for you and they very well may be excited about the results you can create together, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t more pressing things they have to attend to.
Are you missing out on projects by not following up with more than 2-3 notes? Yes. You can be almost 100% certain you have left some closeable deals on the table.
Thank you for raising that excellent concern, Gabrielle!
This is great David! Thanks for reviving the article. I’ve definitely been surprised to find clients very excited about working with me who had ghosted a number of my messages. They’re just super busy! In a recent case, the CEO signed with me after my ~fifth outreach. In another, HR leadership roles had changed and a little sleuthing would’ve helped me identify my new contact sooner.
QQ about the subject lines for the notes. When they’re emails, is your subject line the same as “have you given up?”, or something different?
Wow, Jana, great case study. Congratulations on winning with the ghosting CEO, and kudos to you on your persistence.
Subject line: yes, your subject line in an email is something like, “Jana, have you given up on growing the firm?”
Thanks for contributing your story and for the smart follow-on question, Jana.
That subject line feels very harsh to me – no? Maybe a little condescending and self-serving? To your earlier point, perhaps the client has prioritized other projects that grow the firm, just not the one I’m in the running for… Is that the insight this subject line is attempting to shake out? (I see a similar discussion point with Robert.)
Fair question, Lisa. The subject line is provocative and, most importantly, it works! Keep in mind, this is message #8 and it is purposely a different tone and approach than the other 7 messages. By message #8 it’s clear that a pattern interrupt is needed. Yes, this email is trying to solicit a firm “No” or a “Not yet”… or, really, any engagement that gives you direction.
For the record, I have personally used the “Given up?” subject line many, many, many times and have never once received a complaint or “That’s harsh” response from a client. Quite the opposite. Same is true of our clients.
You and Robert are raising a very understandable concern. My suggestion: don’t be afraid! The fear of this subject line sounding harsh is actually upside down–you think your client is going to judge the subject line (and you) as condescending. 99.9% of the time they’re thinking about themselves, not you. They will judge themselves harshly for not responding to your earlier emails or, perhaps, for giving up on an important initiative.
You can be Right-Side Up while also being bold and advancing your business. Thank you for pushing on this, Lisa. Your questions make all of us better!
David, great article! Before I found your awesomeness and I was a very new consultant, I was conducting three follow ups – all through email to a few potential clients who had ghosted me. So, what can one do when it’s been a couple months since contact? The multiple contacts all of a sudden seems too much. Or is it?? And how long for an unresponsive potential client before you categorize them as “officially ghosting”?
At least you followed up three times, Heidi! That’s better than not doing any follow-up at all. If it’s been a couple of months since your last outreach, then you’ll need to start at message 4 and space them out a bit more so it doesn’t look like you suddenly woke up. If you’ve let it sit for two months, then you can move to a bi-weekly cadence.
If the gap is 3-4 months or more, then you’ll need to start with every third week. Your goal, after all that time, is not to try to win the project. It’s simply to reengage them with conversation. Move to 1:1:1 messaging.
A client has “officially” ghosted you if they miss a scheduled appointment without letting you know in advance. In most cases, your very first, immediate follow-up message will unghost them.
I’m glad you shared your situation and posed the question, Heidi–others are facing the exact same situation.
Appreciate this greatest hits replay David. Will give it a try for sure. Have you given up closer is the one that’s giving me a bit of pause. Feels easily misread as confrontational/personal. You see people riff the language on that one?
Deprioritized, set down, back-burnered, _____?
Fair question, Robert. The “given up on” language is particularly effective because people do not like to give up on things, whereas deprioritizing or back-burnering is fine.
Also, people don’t like to say they’ve given up on something, which pushes the response rate up. The response to “Have you deprioritized..” is, “Obviously, dude. That’s why I haven’t sent you any responses and why I’m not responding to this note either!”
Remember that by the time you’re sending the “Given up?” message, you’ve already had a scheduled meeting that they ghosted and you’ve reached out 7 times. It’s okay to be slightly provocative.
That said, experimenting is always worthwhile. If you try other variations, let me know how they go, Robert!