The Ghost Project: The worrying trend of consultancy proposals becoming free feasibility studies

It’s happened to me more than once this year, and I know I’m not alone. You receive an enquiry. There's a clear challenge or opportunity, and the prospective client is asking all the right questions. You invest your time, your thinking, your experience. You craft a detailed consultancy proposal, including pricing options, methodology, timelines, outcomes. It’s not boilerplate; it’s tailored. Thoughtful. Strategic.

And then comes the reply: “Thanks, but we’ve decided not to proceed with the project after all.”

They haven’t gone with someone else. They haven’t critiqued the proposal. They’ve seemingly just changed their mind. Which makes it very hard to shake the feeling that your work wasn’t treated as a proposal at all but as a free feasibility study.

Look, this isn’t about sour grapes. Clients are allowed to change their minds, of course they are; but there is a growing trend of speculative commissioning, i.e., the practice of requesting consultancy proposals not to award work, but to test whether the work is worth doing in the first place. It’s lazy. It’s disrespectful. And worryingly, it’s increasingly common.

The problem isn’t the rejection, it’s the misuse

As consultants, we all accept that not every proposal results in work. But proposals take time. If they’re done properly, they require immersion in the client’s world, analysis of context and ambition, and the intellectual labour of mapping a route from problem to solution. That’s not a sales pitch. That’s the beginning of the work itself.

So when a prospective client asks for a proposal and uses it as a substitute for doing their own internal planning or due diligence, they’re essentially outsourcing strategy exploration without any commitment or compensation. It’s cost avoidance disguised as procurement.

Worse, it creates a culture where consultants are encouraged to do free work up front, just to earn a conversation. The whole process becomes speculative, one-sided, extractive, and ultimately unprofessional.

The deeper issue: project immaturity

What’s often behind this behaviour is what I call “project immaturity.” These are organisations or leaders who have a vague sense that something needs to change, but they haven’t really thought through what they’re trying to achieve. Instead of framing a clear scope, setting a budget, or aligning internally, they shortcut to external validation with “Let’s see what a consultant says, and then decide if we want to do it.”

In other words, the project doesn’t really exist yet; but your proposal makes it feel real. It gives form and substance to their half-formed ambitions. And once they’ve seen it all written down, they either get cold feet or feel they’ve learned enough to pause for now.

I suppose it’s flattering in a way; but it’s also exhausting, and professionally unsustainable. Writing a detailed, relevant, and response proposal doesn't just happen. If I spend a day working on something, that's 20% of my working week given over to proposal development. Which is fine if you've got a full team delivering whilst you develop; but when you work on your own, like me, it's a massive time commitment. Time that I could be spending on delivering for other clients.

Consultants are not free planning tools

Let’s be blunt: a proposal isn’t an ideas shop. Consultants aren’t R&D departments available on demand. If a prospective client needs help figuring out whether a project is worth pursuing, that’s not a proposal request, that’s a separate piece of work. It’s called a scoping engagement, or a discovery phase. And it should be commissioned accordingly.

If you’re not ready to commit to a project, don’t ask for a full proposal. If you’re exploring options, say so honestly. And if what you need is a conversation to shape your thinking, then pay for a conversation. We call that consulting.

A better way forward for everyone

I’m not bitter. I’m a grown-up. I understand that projects evolve, and that organisational priorities shift, but this pattern of using proposals to do internal thinking erodes trust and professionalism across the board.

So here’s what I’d like to see:

• Clients to be honest about their stage of readiness. If you’re still building a business case or testing ideas with the Board, don’t request a proposal. Ask for a conversation or a diagnostic session, and expect to pay for it.

  
  

• Consultants to hold their ground. We need to stop delivering 10-page proposals packed with insights when the client isn’t ready to buy. Qualify harder. Ask more questions up front. And don’t be afraid to say, “This sounds like a scoping piece, shall we start there?”

  
  

• Professional norms that value mutual respect. Both sides need to treat each other’s time and expertise as valuable. That’s how you get better relationships, better work, and ultimately, better results.

  
  

A product of mutual interest

Proposals should be the product of mutual interest, not unilateral exploration. If you’re not ready to commission, then don’t invite people to pitch. And if you are ready, then don’t mine proposals for free thinking only to shelve the project when you realise change takes money and effort.

Let’s value the consultancy profession by recognising that a good proposal is part of the work. If it’s worth having, it’s worth paying for.