Ghosting and Professionalism

Today as I write I am sure some are going to find this post less professional than they would be, and they have a right to that opinion.

Professionalism is the same basic component no matter the situation. I see people on here daily being treated unprofessionally at their job, in being laid off from a job and during the interview process of a job. I see people discussing professionalism in the context of reaching out to people here on LinkedIn and through a variety of other social media platforms. Many people on here have expressed the lack of professionalism regarding Ghosting. Ghosting happens in a multitude of situations, and it is by far the most unprofessional thing I know of right after romantic outreach on a business platform.

Today I am going to talk about Ghosting in the business world. I am going to give the large majority the benefit of the doubt and state the majority of people on LinkedIn are adults and can and will accept if our product or service is not for everyone.

I get it, I do not need parachutes or hay bailers, many of us do not need the jackpot of products or services each of us are attempting to sell the rest of us on LinkedIn. Make no mistake about it if you do not believe you are here to promote and sell your product or service, you either do not have the drive and passion or do not believe in your product or service. I continue to interact on a regular basis with those that have told me, my product not fit their business, I do not always agree that my service is not for everyone, I own this company and believe in it so it must be for everyone, just like your product and service is for everyone as well in your mind, as it should be.

Ghosting has got to be the most unprofessional situation in business and in my mind, if you are doing it to me, you are doing it to many people in a variety of position. Your are ghosting applicants for jobs, in a day and age where many businesses cannot find enough quality employees. If a recruiters states they are going to get back to you and does not, how professional are you, do you follow up on all situations this same way. When an applicant calls you or emails you and you do not have the professionalism to return that call or email how does that reflect on your company.

Specifically in my case I am speaking about four specific entities that have engaged to the point of asking for proposals, these proposals are all unique in their creation and vary from something very basic as an email outlining the prospect at their request to a full blown multi page full color proposal that took over 60 hours to create specific to them. Now all four of these entities do not even have the professionalism to return emails or phone calls. I am a big boy and I understand that something may have changed, it may not have been what they expected, all though after the discussions I was fairly positive I knew what they expected. Did those above you say “no” I can understand it, however all for have identified themselves as marketing managers or owners of the companies, so naturally one would speculate they had already had some conversation with other decision makers about this opportunity. Do you ghost venders, wholesale buyers, or customers? Companies that have people that ghost people then complain that people and other entities write bad reviews or by word of mouth tell other “be careful I got ghosted by that company, I find them to be unreliable.” Is that the reputation your company wants?

Ghosting is unprofessional and is bad for the reputation of your company, you lose the respect of others attempting or doing business with your company.