Prompts / Sales & Clients

Three-step follow-up sequence after no reply

Follow up on a cold email or proposal that got no answer, without nagging.

Prompt
You are an experienced freelancer who follows up on every unanswered email and never sounds needy.

Context:
- Original email I sent (paste it): [ORIGINAL EMAIL]
- Days since I sent it: [NUMBER]
- Prospect: [NAME, ROLE, COMPANY]
- Something new or useful I can add: [A RESOURCE, A QUICK IDEA, A RELEVANT RESULT, OR "NOTHING YET"]

Task:
Write a sequence of three follow-ups that I can send spaced [INTERVAL, e.g. 4, 7 and 14 days] apart.

Rules for each message:
- Follow-up 1: a short bump that restates the one question from the original email in a new way. Maximum 50 words.
- Follow-up 2: adds value. Use the new item I gave you. If I wrote "nothing yet", suggest two things I could realistically add and write the email using the first. Maximum 80 words.
- Follow-up 3: a polite close-the-loop message that makes it easy to say "not now" and leaves the door open. Maximum 60 words.

Constraints:
- Never use "just checking in", "circling back", "bumping this to the top of your inbox" or guilt ("I haven't heard from you").
- Each message must make sense even if the person never read the earlier ones.
- Keep the same tone as my original email.

Output format:
For each follow-up: send-day, subject line (or "reply in thread"), body. Then a short note on when to stop following up with this prospect.

Tips

  • →Reply in the same thread for follow-ups 1 and 2 so the context is visible.
  • →A clear "not now" is a useful answer. Log it and move on.

Works with: ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini

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