Some projects naturally grow cold or lose momentum. If they are genuinely forgetful, contact them every couple of weeks to see if the project is still going ahead. Find out what their deadline is too and remind them of their own imposed deadline or ask if it will be extended.

You're need to gauge the client needs. I would hate someone to be calling me too often for a project I no longer require. But then again, I'm not really a sales person. Maybe a someone that good at sales wouldn't take no for an answer?

If a job is on proof, try and get some feedback on where the project is going or if it's shifted direction.

I had a project that was briefed in May and the client got busy with other stuff. In September they came back and it went ahead. I touched based with the client every month or so just to check if it was still going ahead.

I don't chase people. Someone you have to push forward through a job is usually indecisive, couple that with pulling teeth for information from them and you have a long drawn PITA project on your hands.

If I've already started on the project and it stalls without notice, it'll sit on my desk for a month and then get billed as incomplete, unless it gets more attention within that time.

well the project hasnt started yet. I have one client that was supposed to call me but never did. i emailed him and he told me he was busy with a client of his own and would contact me at the end of the month when that settled and some issues at his school settled down a bit (hes a professor at a college). he said he would contact me at the beginning of the month, so i presume there are still a couple days before i could hear back from him. I guess i could do like you said buda and notify them monthly, but with the project not being started yet then i dont think that would be too good of an idea.

another client i was told was supposed to "call me in a few days" this was a few days ago. and i have yet to hear from them. they own their own business though and work long hours, so i understand if they are constantly busy.

i guess ill wait it out a bit longer and then go from there.

Nothing wrong with a follow up, I just wouldn't make a habit of calling and calling for not.

Ever think, maybe they're just not that in to you? Not to be crushing in that statement, but think of what the business equivalent of blowing someone off.

its a possibility.