The Follow-Up Email That Wins Corporate Gigs (After They've Ghosted You)

When a corporate client stops replying, the gig isn't dead. Nine times out of ten they didn't pick someone else — they got busy and forgot you. A good magician follow-up email puts you back on their radar and books the show they already wanted to book.

Here's what most magicians do instead. They send one limp "are you still interested?" email, hear nothing back, and quietly cross the lead off the list.

That's a gig walking out the door for no reason.

Because silence from a corporate buyer almost never means rejection. It means an inbox with 200 unread messages, a boss who changed the budget meeting, and a planner juggling four events at once. You didn't lose. You slipped their mind.

The fix is a short sequence I call the 3-Touch Win-Back — three quick emails, sent a few days apart, that do three different jobs: remind, reassure, and close. Not three versions of "still interested?" Three emails that each give the buyer a real reason to reply.

Get the rhythm right and a lead you'd already given up on turns into a signed contract — often at full fee.

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What to send when a corporate client stops replying

The reason one "checking in" email fails is that it gives the buyer nothing. There's no new information, no reason to act, nothing to reply to. So it sits there.

The 3-Touch Win-Back fixes that by making each email pull its own weight. Here's how the three touches work.

Touch 1: jog their memory (most magicians skip this)

Your first email after the silence has one job: remind them who you are and hand them something useful.

Remember, corporate buyers often contact several entertainers at once. They fill out a few forms, get a few replies, and then lose track of who's who. I've literally had clients ask me, "Now which one are you again?" That's not rudeness. That's a busy person who forgot.

So don't open with pressure. Open with value. Send a short note that reminds them of the event, then add one helpful thing — a quick idea for their program, a link to a clip of a similar corporate crowd, a note about a date that's filling up. Something that earns the reopen.

You're not nagging. You're being the easy, helpful one. That alone puts you ahead of every magician who sent a one-line guilt-trip.

Touch 2: prove you're a safe bet for a corporate event

A corporate buyer isn't just spending money. They're putting their own name on the line in front of their boss and their coworkers. Before they care how good your magic is, they need to feel safe.

So your second touch lowers the risk. Show them you've done this exact thing before. A one-line testimonial from another company. A photo of you working a holiday party with the logo behind you. A quick mention that you handle the timing, the sound, and the room so they don't have to think about it.

This is the email that quietly answers the real question behind the silence: can I trust this person with my event? When the answer feels like yes, replying gets a lot easier.

Touch 3: the clean close that gets a yes or a real no

The third touch is the one almost no magician sends. It's a short, friendly email that gives the buyer permission to close the loop.
Something like: "I want to make sure I hold the right date for you. Are we still on for the 14th, or should I open that evening up for someone else?"

That's it. No pressure, no neediness. You're simply asking for a decision. And here's the magic of it — a clean close gets you a yes or a real no. Both are wins. A yes books the gig. A no frees you from chasing a lead that was never going to land, so you can spend that energy on one that will.

Most "lost" corporate gigs are sitting right here, one polite question away from a yes.

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What this looked like for me

Let me show you what this rhythm does when you actually run it.

One fall, I wanted to fill my October calendar. I sat down, wrote three short emails, and set my system to send them out every other weekday for a single week — touch, gap, touch, gap, touch. The same remind-reassure-close rhythm I just walked you through.

I figured I might pick up six shows.

I booked twenty-two.

Fifteen came from my library and past-client list, five from old school clients, and a couple from other listings. Same three emails. One week. More than triple what I expected — from people who, a week earlier, had said nothing at all.

Now picture that same rhythm aimed at one quiet corporate lead instead of a whole list. Three short emails. A few days apart. Each one doing a job. That's how a "dead" gig comes back to life.

Why your booking inquiry follow-up keeps getting ignored

Here's the trap, and it's an easy one to fall into.

When a lead goes quiet, the instinct is to send a soft little nudge — "just wanted to touch base," "any update?", "still interested?" It feels polite. It feels safe.

It's also invisible. That kind of booking inquiry follow-up gives the buyer nothing new, so it gets the same response as silence: more silence.

Quick clarification, because this trips people up. A friendly "just checking in" note has its place — when you've already booked the show and you're touching base with a confirmed client before the event, that's smart and professional. But to a lead who hasn't said yes yet? 

It's empty calories. It asks for their time without giving them a reason to spend it.

The whole point of the 3-Touch Win-Back is that every email earns its open. Remind them with something useful. Reassure them you're safe. Then ask for a clean decision. Three reasons to reply instead of three ways to be ignored.

How to follow up on a magic show inquiry this week

Three steps. You can set this up today.

1. Find your ghosts. Open your inbox and pull every corporate lead from the last 90 days who went quiet after a promising start. That list is your goldmine — those are warm leads, not cold ones.

2. Write the three emails once. Draft your Touch 1 (remind + value), Touch 2 (proof you're safe), and Touch 3 (clean close) as reusable templates. Write them conversational, like you're emailing one person, because you are.

3. Send them on a rhythm. Space the three emails a few days apart — every other weekday works great. Then let them do their job while you go perform.

Do this for even five quiet corporate leads and you'll likely shake at least one gig loose. That's a booking you'd already written off.

The bottom line

A silent corporate buyer usually isn't a no. They're a yes that got buried under a busy week — and your follow-up email is what digs it back out.

Stop sending one lonely "still interested?" into the void. Remind them, reassure them, and ask for a clean decision. That's the whole game.

Want more?

 
Most magicians lose half their gigs in the silence between "sounds great" and "let's book it" — not because their magic isn't good, but because nobody taught them what to send next.

I put my whole system into a free report. It's called The High-Octane 3-Step Email Strategy, and it lays out the exact follow-up emails that turn quiet leads into booked shows.

If you want to stop letting good corporate gigs slip away in the silence, grab the High-Octane 3-Step Email Strategy free here: https://theprofessionalmagicianclubpro.com/3-step-email-strategy/

Cris Johnson is a 20+ year professional magician and host of The Professional Magician Club Pro podcast. He helps magicians book more shows at higher fees. Grab his free guide — The High-Octane 3-Step Email Strategy — here: https://theprofessionalmagicianclubpro.com/3-step-email-strategy/*

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© Copyright Cris Johnson, Inc.