Everyone agrees the money is in the follow-up. Very few small firms have written down what the follow-up actually is: when it happens, what it says, and who sends it. So it gets done from memory, and memory is the first thing a busy week takes.
What follows is the cadence I set up with clients. It's deliberately plain. Each touch has a job, and if a message has no job it shouldn't go out. You won't find "just checking in" or "bumping this to the top of your inbox" anywhere below. Those messages ask the other person to do the work of remembering why you're writing. A good follow-up gives them a reason to answer.
Two rules sit underneath all of it.
The same-business-day rule for yeses. When someone says yes to a conversation, they get a booking link or two specific times the same business day. Not tomorrow. Interest has a short half-life, and the gap between "yes" and a date on the calendar is where more business quietly disappears than anywhere else I look.
Agree in advance what a good reply looks like. In most owner-led firms every reply waits for the owner, and the owner is with a client. Sit down once and decide how you'll answer the common cases: a yes, a question about price, a "not right now," a referral. Write those answers down. Then whoever handles your messages can send most replies the same day, and only the unusual ones wait for you.
Timings below are in business days unless they say otherwise. Adjust them to your sales cycle, but write your version down.
1. After a yes
The job: get a date on the calendar while the yes is still warm.
| When | Touch | What it's for |
|---|---|---|
| Same business day | Booking link or two specific times | Turn the yes into a date |
| Day 2, if no time picked | One line, offer again | Make it easy; people lose links |
| Day 7, if still nothing | Short, low-pressure close | Leave the door open without chasing |
Same day:
Good, glad you're up for it. Here's my calendar, pick whatever suits: [link]. If none of those work, tell me a day and I'll fit it.
Day 2:
In case the link got buried, I have Tuesday at 10 or Thursday at 2 Central. Either one work?
Day 7:
I don't want to crowd your inbox. If the timing's off this month, tell me when is better and I'll write then.
2. After a first meeting
The job: make sure the meeting ends in a next step, and that the next step happens.
| When | Touch | What it's for |
|---|---|---|
| Before you hang up | Agree the next step and put it on both calendars | Avoid the friendly call that leads nowhere |
| Same day | Short recap: what you heard, what happens next | Show you listened; confirm the step |
| Same day, for you | Two lines in your tracker: what they need, what's next | Get the outcome out of your head |
| Day before the next step | Anything you promised to send | Arrive prepared |
| 72 hours, at the latest | If nothing was agreed, propose one step | No conversation goes past three days with nothing scheduled |
Same-day recap:
Thanks for the time today. What I heard: [their problem in their words]. You wanted to see [the thing they asked for] before deciding anything, so I'll have that to you by Thursday, and we're down for the 14th at 11 to go through it. If I got any of that wrong, tell me.
If the call ended without a step:
I left our call without suggesting a next step, which was my miss. Would it help if I put together [one specific thing] and we spent 20 minutes on it next week?
3. After a proposal
The job: help them decide, one way or the other. A clear no is better than a long maybe.
| When | Touch | What it's for |
|---|---|---|
| Day 3 | Answer questions; offer a short walkthrough | Catch confusion early |
| Day 7 | Add one useful thing: a detail, an example, a date that matters | Give a reason to reply that isn't "did you read it" |
| Day 14 | Ask directly where it stands, with an easy out | Get a decision |
| After that | Move to the "not now" list with a revisit date | Stop chasing; don't disappear |
Day 3:
Sending this in case it's useful: most people have one or two questions after reading the proposal, usually about timing or what's expected from their side. Happy to take 15 minutes to go through it. Here's my calendar: [link].
Day 7:
One thing I didn't spell out in the proposal: if you start before [date], the first [step] lands before your [busy season / planning cycle], which you mentioned was the pressure point.
Day 14:
Where does this stand on your side? If the answer is "not now," that's a perfectly good answer, and I'd rather know than guess. If it's a yes with changes, tell me what would need to be different.
4. For a thread that went quiet
The job: find out whether there's still something here, and close the loop honestly if there isn't.
| When | Touch | What it's for |
|---|---|---|
| 2 weeks after the last reply | Pick up exactly where it stopped | Remind them of their own words, not yours |
| A month later | Offer something specific and useful | A reason to answer |
| A month after that | Permission to close | Most people answer this one |
| Then | Quarterly touch, real reason only | Stay known without pestering |
Two weeks:
Last time we spoke you were about to [the thing they said they were doing]. How did it go?
A month later:
I came across [a short, specific thing] and thought of what you said about [their problem]. No reply needed if the timing's wrong.
Permission to close:
I'll stop writing about this for now, since I suspect the timing isn't right. If that changes, I'm easy to find, and I'd be glad to pick it back up.
5. For dormant past clients
The job: stay a person they think of, not a vendor they used once.
| When | Touch | What it's for |
|---|---|---|
| Every quarter | One personal note, written to that person | Keep the relationship current |
| When something real happens | Congratulations, a relevant article, an intro | Be useful without asking for anything |
| Once a year | Ask how the work you did is holding up | Learn, and open the door to the next thing |
Quarterly:
It's been about a year since we wrapped up [the project]. I've been wondering whether [the specific thing you built together] held up once things got busy. How's it going?
When something real happens:
Saw the news about [their announcement]. Congratulations, that's a long time coming. If you need anything as it gets going, I'm around.
Once a year:
I'm going back through the work I did over the last couple of years to see what lasted and what didn't. Would you give me ten minutes on how [the project] has held up? Candor welcome.
Keeping it running
A cadence on paper does nothing. It needs a list of every open conversation with a dated next step, and fifteen minutes a week to look at it. The conversation tracker is a simple version you can keep in a spreadsheet.
If you want to see which part of your follow-up is costing you most, the Pipeline Leak Self-Check takes about ten minutes.
Eric Burr, Lamprophony Enterprises, St. Louis