Most opportunities die because nobody followed up. Not because they were bad. Because there was no rhythm. This prompt designs the rhythm.
When you notice proposals stalling in your pipeline. When you realize leads have gone quiet and you don't know why. When you want to scale sales without hiring someone to manage the follow-up.
Your sales cycle length (how long from first touch to close), the types of follow-up needed (proposal status, objection handling, timeline check), and the people involved (who owns the rhythm).
I need a follow-up rhythm that runs without me.
Sales cycle: [how long from first touch to close]
Follow-up types: [what triggers a follow-up: proposal sent, no response in X days, objection raised, etc.]
People: [who owns this: you, a team member, AI, mixed]
Design a rhythm:
CADENCE:
- When does follow-up happen? (daily, weekly, after each milestone)
- Who does it? (person, AI, both)
- What's the minimum viable cadence (the one you'll actually do)?
NEXT STEP:
- What counts as a 'follow-up'? (a message, a call, a meeting request)
- What's the ask each time? (status update, decision, new proposal, meeting)
- How do you know if the opportunity is dead vs. just quiet?
STALENESS SURFACING:
- How do you surface opportunities that haven't moved in 30 days?
- Who gets alerted?
- What's the decision: push, pause, or close?
Give me a one-page protocol I can hand to a team member or run in AI.
Build this protocol once. Test it for one week with 5 opportunities. Adjust based on what actually happens (opportunities move faster or slower than you expect). Then scale it to your full pipeline.
A one-page protocol: three sections (Cadence, Next Step, Staleness Surfacing) with specific days, people, and decision rules. A sample follow-up message for each cadence. A dashboard or list showing which opportunities are current, which are stale, which are closed.
Making the rhythm too aggressive (people unsubscribe). Making it too passive (nothing moves). Assigning follow-up without assigning ownership (everyone's responsible = nobody is). Forgetting to surface stale opportunities.
Follow-up beats all the rest. Most operators lose 40% of deals to silence, not to 'no.' The ones who don't are the ones with a rhythm. Build it. Run it. Watch your close rate move.