Why your proposals get ghosted ... [🐝U]

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There’s a moment every newer freelancer waits for.

You’ve had the call.
Things seem to go well.

Then comes …
“Can you send me a proposal?”

Your heart jumps a little.
& you try to look cool on the outside
while you’re doing a Snoopy dance on the inside

There’s a fish on the line.
A prospect is interested

& that’s usually when everything stops.
→ the questions
→ the clarity
→ the context
→ the conversation

But that’s exactly when it should ramp up.

The automatic response is
“Sure / absolutely / no problem”

A proposal should confirm a decision … not create one.

The 1st Big Mistake

Proposals aren’t pitches

I’ve seen people write proposals & send them out … cold.

We’re talking “Day After Tomorrow” post-deep freeze cold.
As in, not only were they not asked for a proposal,
they’ve never even “met” or had ANY interaction.

That’s like literally walking up to a stranger & saying
“hello, let’s get married!”

It’s not confidence.
It’s delusion.

Nothing’s going to get you ignored or blocked faster.
& there’s no coming back from getting sucked into that Black Hole.

Never “just email” proposals

For years, I’d send proposals off into the void.

No reply.
No feedback.
Just silence.

& the worst part?
I never knew why.
I just assumed.

When you email the proposal
→ You lose control of the situation
→ You can’t see their reaction
→ You don’t know if anything is missing or needs explanation

& honestly, they’re probably not even looking at the proposal
They’re skipping to the price

Before we talk about what you should do with a proposal,
Let’s look at what should be included
& why

What a proposal’s actually for

Proposals explain how you solve their problem

To do that, you need to know their problem.

To learn that, you need to ask questions.
LOTS of them.

I get it …
When you’re new, you’re scared they’ll disappear if you ask too many questions.
But you need that clarity to understand their needs … before you get started.
because then you’re dealing with scope creep, delays, & maybe even something you’re just not capable of delivering.

Start with the context…
Why are you meeting?

“I need a website” is NOT the problem.

“I need more clients” isn’t even really the problem
Maybe they need current clients to buy again
Or to spend more when they do buy

Why the “website”?
How does that fit into business & revenue growth strategy?

You need to understand how things fit together (& they need to be able to explain it)
even if you’re not working on all the pieces.

Just because email or social media or websites or mailing postcards are on different platforms does not mean they’re in a silo

& the more you understand how your thing fits in the bigger picture,
the better results you can give them
& the more likely they’ll want you to help them again
& be willing to pay you more

Remember that everything needs to make them more money than they spend.
& they need to be able to track that bottom-line impact vs the vanity metrics.

Then you move into these categories:

1 - Urgency.
Why now?
What changed?
What happens if they don’t move forward?

2 - Measurement.
How do they measure the project’s success?
What numbers matter?

3 - Market.
Who exactly are we trying to influence … their ideal customer?
What conversation are they already having in their head?
What do we want them to do next?

Everything flows from the market.

Here’s something else most people miss …

4 - Competition & messaging
What makes them different from everyone else?
Who’s their biggest competition?
How do competitors position themselves?

& …

5 - Internal bottlenecks.
Who’s responsible for content?
Who gives approvals?
Who slows this down?

6 - Decision-Makers
Remember to find out who else is involved in the decision-making.

Even with small companies & solopreneurs, that’s not always just the business-owner.
There can be a spouse or investor that has a say on how money is invested.
You need to know that & they need to be part of the proposal review.

Because second-hand information passed onto a decision-maker is like a game of telephone … the message that starts with you gets completely mangled by the time it gets back to you

& you have no way to control that unless everyone that has a say is in your meeting.

Now comes the time to talk about the elephant in the room…

7 - What’s their budget?

If you avoid the budget conversation because it feels “awkward” …
You’re not being polite.
You’re setting both of you up for a painful surprise later.

Either they say no because it’s too high (& they don’t see the value)
Or they say no because it’s too low (because maybe you’re not “good enough” if “that’s all you charge”)

Asking about budget is awkward & can be uncomfortable.
But it’s necessary.

& when they throw the money question back at you (especially at the start of the call) …

It depends.
It really does

for website work, I’ve had …
→ a $500 client that just needed a couple of check-in calls to ask questions within 2 weeks
→ a $40,000 6-month retainer that had me work on case studies, product brochures, newsletter segmentation, & web copy while mentoring a newly-graduated marketing student in his first “real job”

It depends.

Yes, there’s a lot here.
& no, there is no set question list you can ask
but these are topics you want to cover

I don’t write that many proposals anymore.
In 2025, I wrote 3
But I landed 4 new clients that kept me busy for several months
& things kept getting added to the contract

That’s because I asked the questions
Understood the situation
Built the rapport
Paid attention to red flags & said NO to bad fits

2 said YES without even asking for a proposal

2 had a proposal walk-through on a Zoom call then said YES

1 was a “no-for-now” because they didn’t realize how big a project it was
or how important it was for everything to work together.

0 proposals get sent via email without a meeting to walk through it together.
None.
No exceptions.

It’s frustrating not knowing why you lost.
& without knowing, you can’t make a fact-based decision on what to change
so you look at the default … money
But lowering prices isn’t necessarily going to solve the problem.

If a decision-maker can’t make it, we reschedule.
If they have several other people they’re comparing with, I don’t bother
When there are red flags about answering questions, I pass (& usually try referring them to someone else)

A proposal doesn’t win you the work.
Clarity from the conversation does.

& clarity only happens when you’re willing to slow down, ask questions, & sit through silence when they’re thinking about the answer.

Make it a great “ “ week!
EG

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