Ghostbusters Guide: Why Your Leads Are Ghosting You, And How To Prevent It

If you think you can afford to ghost people in business, then you are wrong.

I’ve had a great chat with a potential business partner; we exchanged a few emails, called each other, even laughed. I’ve done my research, I’ve tailored my offer, I understood the partner’s needs and pains, and I found a “perfect” solution.

I’ve even come up with a trackable ROI! I’ve spent weeks working on the offer. Everything was going great. Or I thought it was…

Because one day, my potential lead just diapered into thin air. They stopped answering my emails and phone calls.

And I had to accept the ugly truth — I’ve been ghosted.

What’s Ghosting?

Ghosting comes from the dating world. It is when someone abruptly cuts off communication without explanation.

And now this immature practice entered the business world. Instead of telling me “no”, the leads cut off communication and become pretty much impossible to reach.

Ghosting is different in the business world because it happens once the conversation has already started! And it was usually going well! There have been multiple chats, and the lead seemed genuinely excited about the potential opportunity, and there were real chances that the partnership would move forwards…until it didn’t.

That’s why being ghosted hurts on a personal level because it just doesn't make sense. Or does it?

Ghosting Is Bad For Business

Ghosting is bad for business and your brand. If you can’t be bothered to respond to someone, you are unreliable, immature, and just plain disrespectful. It may be that you don’t like rejecting people. So what?

Get over it!

It’s not fun delivering bad news, but life is full of bad news. We all have to say “no” once in a while.

When you don’t respond, you keep people in a holding pattern and take up their time. We don’t care if your answer is a “yes ”or “no ”; we just want an answer so we can move forward!

If you’re someone who is a regular ghost — please stop! You are harming your brand and your company’s brand when you fail to communicate.

When It’s OK to Ghost?

It’s never OK to ghost! It’s simply not OK to ghost people in the midst of conversation. Your reputation suffers, you create resentments, you annoy, and you burn bridges.

You set a bad example. And we know that we are being ghosted because:

1. I Saw You Open My Email

Many people are using email extensions that let them see if you have opened an email. Not only it shows that a person has read an email, but we can also see how many times you read it! Excuse “I didn’t see the email” doesn’t work anymore!

2. You Are Wasting My Time

It takes you approximately between 5 — 15 minutes to respond to the email; by choosing to ghost, you are taking time from me that I could have invested differently rather than sending a follow-up email, asking the obvious “Have you had a chance to read my email?”.

Which of course you did!

3. You Can’t Afford It

Whether you are a small company, self-employed or work for a large corporation, people will remember being ghosted. No matter how many clients you have had, negative feelings attached to your brand can hurt you down the road. Karma does exist.

What to Do If You’re Ghosted

Basically, I’ve realized that you have few choices:

• Keep contacting the ghost over and over again.
• Reach out positively to give them a last chance to respond.
• Publicly shame them and copy in other people, their managers etc.
• Resolve never to do business with them again, and move on.

3 Steps To Minimize Ghosting

So, what should you do when you’re being ghosted? What can you do?

Nothing.

Find learning that works best for you, and try to move on. There are plenty of other fishes in the sea. I have learned that there are at least few things that you could do that can potentially minimize your chances that you get ghosted.

Here they are.

1. Always Set The Next Step With a Potential Lead

One of the ways to avoid ghosting is to be specific about what the next point of contact will be. Schedule the next call while on the call. Be clear with what will happen between now and then.

2. Always Follow Up

If you don’t have a specific meeting scheduled, don’t let it go too long before re-engaging. The professional world moves quickly. The longer you wait to re-engage, the more likely priorities will shift.

3. Try to have more points of Contact

This isn’t always possible. Reach out beyond your initial contact with other people within their organization. Even if you aren’t going to engage with the others much, they can act as a good back plan if your contact turns out to be a ghost.

4. Change Communication Channel

Change the channel you are using to talk with them. If you had been emailing, send them a note on LinkedIn. Putting your message into a different context can sometimes provide an opportunity for them to respond differently.

5. Be Pleasant but Persistent

There is still a chance that your contact will respond to your consistent and genuine attempts to keep the conversation going. So be persistent — but don’t let your frustrations come through in your communication!

Enjoy your ghost hunting!

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