--- title: Your Blog Post Title Here... description: "Ghosted after sending a proposal? Sales trainer Josh Hedaya explains why buyers go dark, what to send next, and why \"just checking in\" never gets a reply." --- [Skip to content](https://go.connectionselling.io/connection-selling-blog/a-prospect-ghosted-me-after-i-sent-the-proposal-what-should-i-do-next#main-content) Get started Get started # A prospect ghosted me after I sent the proposal. What should I do next? ![Josh Hedaya](https://7528315.fs1.hubspotusercontent-na1.net/hub/7528315/hubfs/raw_assets/public/mV0_d-cms-elevate-theme_hubspot/elevate/images/avatar-placeholder.jpg?width=48&height=48&name=avatar-placeholder.jpg) Josh Hedaya October 12, 2026 Stop sending "just checking in." Sales trainer Josh Hedaya of Connection Selling teaches one move, from his Connection Code method: email the buyer about their own problem, in their own words, and ask whether they solved it or are still looking. Still silent after two or three tries? Send one line: "Let me know where we go from here." That is the short answer. The rest of this article is how Josh teaches it to the sellers he trains, what to actually send, what never to send, and how to stop this from happening on the next deal. ## Why prospects go dark after a proposal You had a great call. They had a problem your product or service solves. They said, "Send me a proposal." You sent it. Then crickets. Josh describes the trap this way. When a buyer finally does answer, sellers take what they hear as the truth: too expensive, we went with a competitor, bad timing. Most of the time that is the safe reason. The true reason is that the buyer didn't feel comfortable enough to tell you what was really going on in their head. So they say nothing at all. A few more things are usually going on, and none of them are about you being a bad seller: - **They don't want to disappoint you.** On a live webinar, Josh put it plainly about one silent buyer: "She doesn't wanna deal with questions. She doesn't wanna be sold." - **Your follow-up is about your deal.** "Just checking in on the proposal" asks the buyer to do work for you. A question about their own situation is easy to answer. - **The proposal went by email.** If you emailed it, you never saw their face when they hit the price. You don't know if you heard them right. In Josh's words: "Emailing a proposal and say, 'I'd love to talk to you about it,' is like asking to be ghosted." One more truth from Josh's course: your buyer doesn't care about your product or service. They care about what it will do for them. Every step below follows from that. ## What to do next: 6 steps 1. ### Call before you write Josh's own habit is phone first, email second. Many of his real follow-up emails open with a line like "I just tried your direct line, but it went straight to voicemail." Only write that line if you actually called. 2. ### Go back to your notes and find their words Josh calls these leverage points. They are the answers the buyer gave you about their problem and what they wanted fixed. Look for their exact phrases, like "we're a lean shop," "three different vendors for tracking," or "make my life easier." Their words, never yours. And never sharpen them into fancier language. 3. ### Send the problem email Write two or three short sentences about their situation, as if it is still in progress, and end with a question that has two doors. Here is the example Josh wrote in his course, cleaned up for any deal: Hi \[Name\], Last time we spoke, your team was using three different vendors for tracking, and you mentioned you were a lean shop, so things could be easier. I'm curious, did you find a solution, or are you still struggling with this? Cheers, Josh Notice what is missing. No proposal. No price. No product. No "just." As Josh says, "You're making it all about them." 4. ### If they stay silent, send the nuclear email If you have called and emailed a few times over the last month or two and heard nothing, Josh teaches what he calls the nuclear option. Send it after about the second or third attempt: Hi \[Name\], I tried you a few times, but haven't heard back.... Let me know where we go from here. No "thanks." No sign-off. No signature. The white space forces a decision. In the course, Josh explains why it works: there is no social etiquette in ghosting someone, and this email quietly points that out. People will do almost anything to avoid feeling rude. 5. ### When they answer, get a date on the calendar The replies run the gamut. Josh lists the usual ones: "we decided to go another way," "this died on the vine," "I got slammed with other stuff," or "it's still in the queue." If it is still alive, ask for a next step and send the calendar invite right then, so you both know when you will talk again. Josh's rule for every stage after the proposal: always have a next step on the buyer's calendar, accepted by them. 6. ### Next time, present the proposal live This is the step that stops the ghosting before it starts. When a buyer says "send me a proposal," Josh teaches sellers to say yes and ask for 10 to 15 more minutes, not today, to walk through it together on Zoom or in person. Then ask about their timeframe for a decision. Open the proposal with their two or three biggest challenges, in their words, and ask, "Would any of these pricing options even work for you?" Then stop talking. You learn about price, budget and hidden decision-makers on the spot, instead of guessing in your inbox. ## What NOT to send Josh tells every seller he trains to remove these from their vocabulary. Each one tells the buyer, "I want something from you." - "Just checking in." - "Just following up." - "Circling back" or "touching base." - "Want to make sure you got the proposal." - "Any questions?" - A new price or "different pricing package options." A price change is still a message about your deal, not their problem. Josh calls this pattern "a tale of stalled deals in three emails." First, "Hey, just checking in on the proposal." Then, "Hey, just following up. Want to make sure you got the proposal." Three months later the buyer finally writes back: "Hey, we went with another way. So sorry." ## A real example from a live training On one of Josh's live webinars, a seller of commercial cleaning services, about a year into the role, took the hot seat. A private school had told him they were thinking about changing vendors. He did a three-hour walkthrough of the campus, about 15 buildings, with his operations supervisor so he wouldn't miss anything. The school's leadership joined the meeting afterward. Then the school moved its deadline from a month out to about a week. He scrambled, emailed the proposal, and asked for time to walk through it together. Nothing. He followed up a week later. Still nothing. His question, word for word: "What do I do next that I've been ghosted?" Josh first checked that he had already called and emailed. He had. So Josh gave him the nuclear email: tried you a couple of times, haven't heard back, let me know where we go from here. No sign-off. Then Josh worked backwards so it would not happen again. He asked what the school liked about its current vendor. The seller knew: same-day cleanups after campus events, at no extra charge. He asked what they didn't like. The seller knew that too: the quality of the cleaning. Josh's point was that those answers are the follow-up. They are the buyer's own reasons for taking the meeting, and they belong in the email, not the proposal. The webinar recording does not show how the deal ended. The lesson Josh took from it is the one in step 6: the proposal went by email, and an emailed proposal with "I'd love to talk to you about it" is the setup for silence. ## FAQ ### How long should I wait before following up on a proposal? Josh doesn't teach a magic number of days. He teaches you to avoid the wait entirely by getting the next meeting on the buyer's calendar before the call ends. If they have already gone quiet, call, then send the problem email. Save the nuclear email for after about the second or third attempt over the last month or two. ### Should I just stop reaching out? Not before you send the nuclear email. It tells you where you stand, and you get a real answer instead of guessing. If the answer is no, thank them and move on. If they want you off the list, Josh's own line works: "Let me know either way, as I'm happy to take you off my follow-up list." ### What do I say in the email after being ghosted? Remind them of the problem they told you about, in their own words, and ask one two-door question: did you find a solution, or are you still looking? Leave out the proposal, the price and the product. Keep it to two or three sentences. ### Is it OK to ask if they got my proposal? Josh puts "want to make sure you got the proposal" in the same bucket as "just checking in." It is a question about your deal, and it asks the buyer to do work for you. Ask about their problem instead. ### Why does "Let me know where we go from here" work so well? It is short, it has no sign-off, and it quietly points out that silence is a little rude. Josh calls it about as close to a guaranteed response as you will find. Buyers usually answer with the truth: they went another way, it stalled, they got busy, or it is still moving. ### How do I stop getting ghosted after I send a proposal? Stop sending proposals by email before you have presented them. Ask for 10 to 15 minutes to walk the buyer through it live, open with their biggest challenges in their own words, and ask whether any of the pricing options would work. Then be quiet and listen. If you want the exact follow-up emails Josh uses, his free guide, [Secrets of B2B Follow-Up](https://go.connectionselling.io/follow-up), has them. ## Share this post [mailto:https%3A%2F%2Fgo.connectionselling.io%2Fconnection-selling-blog%2Fa-prospect-ghosted-me-after-i-sent-the-proposal-what-should-i-do-next](mailto:https%3A%2F%2Fgo.connectionselling.io%2Fconnection-selling-blog%2Fa-prospect-ghosted-me-after-i-sent-the-proposal-what-should-i-do-next) # Connection Selling --- Privacy Policy · Legal · © 2026. 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