How to Deal with Crickets and Delays: The Waiting Game
Sometime in late 2015, I was contacted by an agency that found me on LinkedIn about a huge 12-month content strategy project with a bucket list client that was probably worth something in the six-figure range. She gave me the impression the gig was mine and would be starting soon, but no contract. Then she went dark. Crickets. Radio silence.
I had turned down other projects for this new client, added up my newfound riches and gotten very excited about the new opportunity. But nothing. Except anxiously waiting and obsessively checking my email.I was mad, frustrated, and sick of waiting. When I finally realized that I needed to move on, I had a huge whole in my calendar that had to fill that I ended up launching a massive marketing challenge to fill. This experience made me change my entire perspective on waiting.
Recently I’ve seen a number of writers post in online writing forums about how they are tired of waiting for editors to get back with them. It’s a common story for a writer to have a great conversation about a project and then the client going dark for weeks. But that doesn’t make it any less frustrating.
Crickets and Delays Happen More Often in Content Marketing than Journalism
With journalism there is an inherent sense of urgency: a newspaper that has to hit people’s driveways at the crack of dawn, a new issue of the magazine that must be published each month, or even new content that must be posted to an online publication. The number one priority is publish great stuff that people want to read, and publish it on time.
But when working with businesses, things get much more complicated. And slow. There are budgets to worry about. And layers of approvals to go through. As well as shifting priorities for decision makers and people managing the content projects. The sense of urgency just isn’t always there.
The waiting game gets even more convoluted when an agency is involved because now you have more people that can get sick or take a vacation to Hawaii. And you have to wait until the agency and the client negotiate all of the details. Many times an agency will contact potential writers before they actually have the project. But the project may not actually kick off for months. And even if they say it might be weeks, it’s actually very unusual for a project to kick off on time and not be delayed.
5 Things to Do When You Are Waiting
Here are five things that I now try to do when I’m waiting to hear back from someone:
- Take Peter Bowerman’s advice and put more irons in the fire. Early in my career I read Peter Bowerman’s fantastic book The Well Fed Writer, he said that if you are waiting to hear back from a potential client then that means you don’t have enough irons in the fire. So every time I start wondering about a client I talked to, I take that as a clue that means I am not doing enough marketing so I take that energy and throw it into marketing.This was career (and mindset changing advice) that I have to constantly remind myself to follow. And if you have time to complain about the waiting, then that should be a huge sign to turn that energy into marketing for new clients.
- Expect the crickets and delays. The waiting used to really bug me, even when I was following Peter’s advice. Like ‘drive me crazy’ bug me. But now I’ve realized that just is the way the business works. And instead of being irritated that I should expect to not hear back from a potential client for two months then out of the blue get a call asking if I can start tomorrow. Or expect that a project is going to get pushed back for many seemingly silly reason.
- Realize that what seems like a long time to you is not a long time for businesses. I have heard writers say that they talked with someone about a new project last week and haven’t heard back. That is a really short time in most businesses. A few weeks get approval to hire a freelancer, get the budget and get the projection the calendar is a really short time.
- Remind yourself that it isn’t personal. Several writers have commented that it’s rude when people don’t get back with you. While I do agree in theory, I think that you really have to let that go. Realize that they don’t mean it that way and it certainly isn’t a slight against you. All it means is that they likely have a higher priority on their plate than the project that they were talking with you about. It’s easy to think that they hate you and you are a fraud, but I promise you that in almost 99.9 percent of the cases, the delay or crickets has zero to do with you. And even if they end up going with another writer, it almost always doesn’t meant that you aren’t an awesome writer, it simply means that another writer was a better fit for this specific gig.
- Stop holding space on your calendar for potential projects. I find that when I am mentally holding space for a potential project, I get much more frustrated by the delays because it is affecting me. So I stopped doing this and started following Peter’s advice. This totally changes things because the delay no longer really affects me and I don’t feel as inconvenienced.
If I get filled up by the time that they come back with me, then simply say that. If it’s a project that I really want and I am about to take another project that would prevent me from taking the project if it materialized, I will contact the first client and let them know the situation. If a client is truly fantastic, meaning a career-changing opportunity or so much pay that I can’t turn it down, then I will always find a way to take it regardless.
All of this really boils down to is that I think that the secret to handling the waiting game is to simply not wait. Hang up from that great call and keep moving forward until you have a contract in hand. Yes, absolutely keep following up with the potential client. But there is a difference in proactively keeping in touch and constantly feeling frustrated when their email address isn’t in your inbox. So instead keep reaching out to potential clients, keep marketing, and keep moving. I promise you both your mental health and your bank account will thank you.
What has your experience been with waiting? How do you handle it?
Great advice, Jennifer. This happens SO MUCH, and I’ve learned to think of it this way: The job isn’t real until I have a signed contract in hand. I don’t put it on my calendar, I don’t write the fee in the “booked work” section of my account calculations, and I don’t think of it is “mine” at all until the contract is signed. Otherwise I end up turning down work for a project that may never materialize for reasons over which I have no control. Coincidentally, I have one of these projects in the air right now–an editor emailed me a week ago saying he wanted me to get started right away on a new project. I told him I was ready to roll, but then, crickets. I’ll follow up with him tomorrow, but I’m not holding any space open for him, and I’m continuing with my usual marketing.
You have the perfect strategy! Crossing my fingers that you hear back from him soon.
Thanks, Linda. I so needed to hear this. I’m currently going through precisely this situation and it’s comforting to know I’m not alone. I will use this time to keep marketing myself and stop fretting!
You are totally not alone. And it happens all the time. I honestly think we should expect it will happen and then be happy when it doesn’t :>)
Another great post, Jennifer. And soooo on target!
And you are so right about the myriad of reasons. My most recent shock came when a prospect called to say they had been responding to my emails and were wondering why I wasn’t responding to theirs. Apparently, there was a problem with my email server. Not that anything could ever go wrong where computers are concerned.
At the moment, I am playing the waiting game with one client who has been back and forth (since December), another who says he has work coming (since January), two prospects I’d really like to work for, and who say I am still in the running (since February), and another who held the kickoff meeting and promptly disappeared.
It’s really tempting to pause my prospecting while I wait. Especially with the two I’d really like to write for.
But Bowerman is spot on; keep moving forward!
That’s happened to me before about the emails. That is something else I often do but didn’t put in the story – is to make a phone call in case there is an email problem. Very good point! Crossing my fingers that your current cricket editors turn into contracts soon.
I’m actually having an issue right now that is a little related. I connected with a client that asked me to write weekly blog posts, asking for the first one on a short time table.
I wrote the first one over a weekend, expecting that I’d be able to fit the others into a regular non-rush schedule. Then crickets for two weeks – followed by an email asking for a similar “rush” piece.
I had to tell them I didn’t have time to write it (true) because I now had other projects. This time I had weekend plans I wan’t willing to throw out the window.
My default is to spend any of my working hours either on writing, or prospecting. Since the time I was expecting to be writing opened up, I spent it on prospecting.
I’m actually not sure how things are going to shape up with that particular client – so far they haven’t been overly consistent with their own plans. We’ll see how that develops, but certainly I can’t sit on my hands by the phone waiting around for them to call.
Yeah, it’s one thing to go dark BEFORE the project begins, but going dark in the middle is a bit more of a red flag. I would give someone one chance on that since there are legitimate things that come up, but if it’s a pattern, then I would not want to work with that person again.
I agree wholeheartedly with your tips, J–but they also apply to magazines today. I rarely query exclusively anymore and I don’t stop marketing until I have signed contracts and, with business clients, an initiating fee.
Good point! Do you find that there is as long of a lag time or as many starts and stops with magazines as with content? The complaints I’ve heard lately are with content, but it could just be that I have more content conversations.
Such sound advice (as usual), Jennifer! I, too, used to ‘hold space open’ if a potential client contacted me about a big project. But after a time or two of having that big project evaporate, I learned to keep charging forward. Until I have a contract, you don’t have reserved space in my calendar–that’s my new motto. 🙂
Yep. I totally agree with a signed contact or no even penciling in the calendar. I will probably always find it hard, especially if it’s a client I really want to do. But honestly, this is the thing, we will always find room for our dream clients or really great opportunities, no matter how full we are. I am currently full, but I just took a new client last week because it was perfect and I made room.
Thank you for this very timely post! I’m in this exact position right now. Thankfully, I filled my calendar with other gigs and I’m not waiting on the big fish. If it’s meant to be, we’ll work it out down the road. Again, thanks!
Totally agree with Lori. I used to do the same thing, until projects that I expected to book were severely delayed or didn’t materialize. I continue to prospect, follow up with dormant clients and apply for gigs in the meantime, but I always worry that this will lead to a flood of requests at one time or that a project resumes that I already committed to — leaving me swamped. What’s the right amount of prospecting when you’re already somewhat, but not insanely, busy?
I wish I had that answer. But I struggle with the exact same thing. I think it’s almost impossible to get right. And you just have to go with your gut and try your best. But it’s an art not a science.
[…] Or maybe you are irritated at the client for not getting back, which is also a normal reaction. In fact, many people might argue it’s even more normal to be upset with the client than going down the rabbit hole of self-doubt that most writers I know choose as their go-to response to the waiting game. […]