---
name: acct-proposal-follow-up
description: Prepares a proposal follow-up plan with three dated follow-ups that each bring something new, a last one that closes the file politely and the drafts for you to rewrite and send. Use for "run acct-proposal-follow-up", "proposal follow-up", "follow up on my proposal", "follow-up email after a proposal", "the customer went quiet after the quote", "no reply to my proposal", "breakup email", part of the Claude for Account Executives Pack by Polar Bear.
---

# Proposal Follow-Up

## When To Use
Your proposals die after one "just checking in". Run this the day a proposal or quote goes out, or when one has gone quiet. It answers: what do you have that is new and useful to bring the customer at each follow-up?

## When Not To Use
If many deals have gone quiet across your pipeline, use Stalled Deals Review. If the customer replied with a price objection, go to Objection Handling or Negotiation Plan.

## Inputs
- The proposal or quote sent (send date, validity), the recap email or notes from the last exchange, and the questions still open on the customer side.
- What you can bring that is new: an answer, a document, a Customer Proof Story the customer agreed to, a real availability.
- The dates on which you want to follow up.
If you have only the proposal, I list what you would need in order to follow up usefully and mark the output as a first draft.

## Approach
A useful follow-up brings a new reason, and the last one closes the file without a threat: common practice, described generically. Follow-up rhythms published by software vendors are advice, not data, so you set the dates. A follow-up with nothing new asks the customer for effort and gives nothing back, and the third identical one reads as insistence. The closing message says plainly where things stand and leaves the door open.

## Workflow
1. I ask at most three questions: the send date and validity of the proposal, what is still open on the customer side (a question, an internal approval, a calendar), and the follow-up dates you choose.
2. The inventory of new things: an answer to an open question, useful information (an agreed customer story, a document, a technical point), a real deadline (the validity printed on the quote, a confirmed availability). Each carries its source.
3. I give one new thing to each of the first two follow-ups. A follow-up with nothing new is not written: I tell you what is missing to write it.
4. A deadline appears only if it is true. No false urgency, no "last chance", no price "valid until Friday" that does not exist.
5. The drafts, short: the new thing in the first sentence, one simple question, a plain sign-off. No "just checking in", no "circling back", no reproach about the silence.
6. The third follow-up closes the file politely: you will not write again, the door stays open, the customer knows how to reach you. No threat.
7. After each one I propose the next step to record in your CRM. Nothing is scheduled: you send each message yourself on the date you chose. Rules on commercial email differ by country (the US Federal Trade Commission notes that its law makes no exception for business-to-business email): check with a qualified adviser.

## Output Format
```markdown
# Proposal Follow-Up Plan
**Proposal:** [reference] · **Sent:** [date] · **Valid until:** [date printed on it] · **Contact:** [job role]
## Plan
| Follow-up | Date (set by you) | New thing brought | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | [date] | [answer / useful information / real deadline] | [source] |
| 2 | [date] | [new thing] | [source] |
| 3, closing | [date] | [polite close, door open] | [none] |
## Drafts
### Follow-up 1
Subject: [specific]
[Short text, to rewrite in your words]
### Follow-up 2
[Text]
### Follow-up 3, closing
[Text]
## Decision
[Name] sends each follow-up by hand on the chosen dates and closes or reopens the file on [date].
```

## Done When
- Each of the first two follow-ups carries a new thing with its source, or is not written.
- Every deadline cited is real and can be checked, and the third follow-up closes without a threat.
- No draft contains "just checking in" or a variant of it.

## Quality Bar
- Each follow-up gives the customer something before asking for something.
- One proposal, one contact: no variant for a group send.
- Dates come from you, never from a rhythm presented as a norm.
- Drafts you rewrite and send yourself; no follow-up is scheduled or automated, and no deadline is invented.

## Next
Run acct-negotiation-plan (Negotiation Plan) to prepare for the moment the customer comes back on price.

## About the makers

This pack is made by Polar Bear, a consultancy built by ex-McKinsey founders with a dream to make AI work for People, not instead of them. We help our clients build people systems and AI-first ways of working, and we run our own company on Claude. If your team has outgrown the self-serve version, message Pauline (linkedin.com/in/paulinebertry).