The Role of Follow-Up in Closing Negotiation Gaps

Here's exactly how I structure my follow-ups to stop deals from slipping or ghosting at the last minute. Buyers ask themselves 5 crucial questions before they spend money. So we match our follow ups to each different question of the buying journey. The questions: 1/ "Do we Have a Problem or Goal that we Urgently need help with?" Follow up examples: Thought Leadership emphasizing the size / importance of the problem. Things like articles from Forbes, McKinsey, HBR or an industry specific publication. Screenshots, summations or info-graphics. NOT LINKS. No one reads them. 2/ "What's out there to Solve the Problem? How do Vendors differ?" Follow up examples: Sample RFP templates with pre-filled criteria. Easy to read buying guides. Especially if written by a 3rd party. 3/ "What Exactly do we need this Solution to do? Who do we feel good about?" Follow up examples: 3 bullets of criteria your Buyers commonly use during evaluations (especially differentiators.) Here's example wording I've used at UserGems 💎: "Thought you might find it helpful to see how other companies have evaluated tools to track their past champions. Their criteria are usually: *Data quality & ROI potential *Security (SOC2 type 2 and GDPR) *How easy or hard is it to take action: set up/training, automation, playbooks Cheers!" 4/ "Is the Juice worth the Squeeze - both $$$ & Time?" Follow up examples: Screenshots of emails, texts or DMs from customers talking about easy set up. Love using ones like the Slack pictured here. Feels more organic and authentic than a marketing case study. 5/ "What's next? How will this get done?" Follow up examples: Visual timelines Introductions to the CSM/onboard team Custom/short videos from CSM leadership When we tailor our follow ups to answer the questions our Buyers are asking themselves - Even (especially!) the subconscious ones Our sales cycles can be smoother, faster and easier to forecast. Buyer Experience > Sales Stages What's your best advice for how to follow up? ps - If you liked this breakdown, join 6,000+ other sellers getting value from my newsletter. Details on my website!

Most seller-experts freeze up at follow-up. Not because they don’t know what to do. Because they're afraid.. "What if I'm bothering them?" That fear has quietly killed more deals than bad pricing ever could. Here’s what I’ve learned after 20+ years: Silence doesn’t feel respectful. It feels like abandonment. When you go quiet, clients often assume: ❌ You found something better ❌ You weren’t that interested ❌ You’ve already moved on Meanwhile, the data reminds us: ➟ 80% of sales need five or more follow-ups ➟ 44% of professionals stop after just one Your competitor? Still showing up. The truth is, being strategically helpful is never annoying. But going dark usually is. Here are 7 follow-up moves that add value instead of noise: 1/ Share a Fresh Insight “Saw how [competitor] tackled [specific challenge]. Three smart ideas you could borrow...” 2/ Ask a Sharp Question “How’s [initiative] progressing since we last spoke?” 3/ Highlight a Win “Just helped [company] cut [metric] by 30%. The surprising unlock? [insightful tactic].” 4/ Offer a No-Pressure Give “I’ve got 15 mins Thursday. Want to see what worked for [peer org]?” 5/ Reconnect Through a Connector “[Mutual contact] mentioned you’re focused on X. I know someone who cracked that. Want an intro?” 6/ Use a Trigger Event “Saw the [trigger] news. 3 competitors noticed too. Here’s what they might miss.” 7/ Close with Clarity and Warmth “Sounds like Q4 is tight. I’ll check back Jan 15 when you’re planning next year. Sound good?” Every follow-up is a choice. Be forgotten. Or be invaluable. Your prospects are juggling more than ever. They need what you have. But they won’t chase you for it. So pick one stalled opportunity. Make one thoughtful move. Today. Because while others are hesitating, you’re building trust. It’s always your move. Share this to help someone in your network.

The Art of Follow Up: How I Closed an 8-figure Deal It was just another Tuesday when I got the call that won us an 8-figure exchange. But really, it was 90 days of diligent follow up that made it happen. It started with a cold email to a referral partner. He replied "Not Interested." I asked why to understand his objections. Crickets. A week later, I called and pitched him. "Sounds good, send some info and I'll take a look," he said. Classic brush off. I sent the info, then called again to confirm he received it. "Yep, got it. But look, I have a long-standing relationship already, I'm all set," he insisted. "No problem, I understand loyalty," I said. "Out of curiosity, what have you received out of the that relationship?" Silence. I had uncovered a pain point. We discussed his frustrations, and I reminded him about our referral fee structure. I told him "I tell you what, keep us in your back pocket, happy to be a backup option. We're super responsive, nights and weekends too. Call or text anytime." Skeptically, he agreed. Two weeks later, he texted me a question on a Sunday morning. I answered right away. When he called the following Tuesday, it felt different . He goes "I have to be honest with you, you've followed up and have been very persistent and responsive and my current qualified intermediary hasn't returned my call for 48 hours. I'll give you a shot." Months of perseverance had paid off because I didn't give up after the first "No," I was ready when opportunity came knocking. Its not easy following up and staying persistent but here are 3 tips that have helped me with follow up: 1. Vary Your Communication Channels Don't rely only on email. Incorporate phone calls, LinkedIn messages, texts, and even handwritten notes to stand out. 2. Add Value At Every Touchpoint Follow ups shouldn't just be sales pitches. Share relevant articles, industry insights, and educational content to demonstrate you're invested in their success. 3. Be patient and wait for your opportunity and responsive when it comes. To win a deal, a listing, or client, what followup methods have help you succeed? #sales #followup #persistence

Most follow-ups don’t fail because of poor writing. They fail because the rep doesn’t know what actually matters to the buyer right now. That’s what we fixed at Revenoid. As a founder, I kept seeing these follow-ups: “Bumping this up.”  “Just checking in.”  “Any thoughts?” None of those messages show the buyer that we understand their challenges. So we rebuilt follow-up from grounds up. – For SDRs. For AEs. For AMs. Here’s how we run it now at Revenoid: 1. Start with Strategic Initiative-Level Pain We don’t follow up with surface signals. We start with actual motion: – “Hiring 60+ engineers in APAC” – “Post-acquisition team consolidation” – “Vendor rationalization to reduce CAC” We detect this from public, internal, and proprietary data — earnings calls, CRM notes, call transcripts, press, hiring boards, and team changes. 2. Layer Context with MEDDIC & MEDDPICC Every follow-up is tied to deal context: – Did we identify a Champion? – Was the Economic Buyer ever involved? – Do we have the right Decision Criteria? If not, the system flags gaps — and we follow up to fix them. Like: “Noticed your CFO just joined the deal thread. Want to recap the ROI angle before QBR?” 3. Use Smart, Multi-Channel Follow-Up Every buyer communicates differently. So we don’t just rely on email. We follow up through: – Call prep insights (strategic hooks personalized to their current priorities) – LinkedIn messages (using recent posts, team growth, funding changes) – Email threads (contextual reactivation using signal + urgency) 4. Turn Signals into Sequences Revenoid detects the motion. It maps it to deal stage + persona. Then it recommends the next move - along with the message. It’s not another AI tool. REVENOID is the intelligence layer across all tools — CRM, Call Recordings, Emails, Public Reports, News, Case Studies, Benchmark Data etc. We’ve seen this shift response rates across the funnel: → SDRs book 3x more meetings by following buyer strategic initiatives level pains mapped to our unique offering. → AEs restart stalled deals with contextual reactivation → AMs upsell accounts based on exec team changes + new goals Follow-up isn’t “just another step.” It’s the most important second chance in sales. We treat it that way now. If you’re still chasing buyers without knowing what they care about today, you’re not following up. You’re following a process. DM me and I’ll show you how we rebuilt follow-up into a signal-led GTM engine. We just published our Follow-up strategies in the latest newsletter “The New Operating System (with Prompts) for Follow-ups: Signals + Context + Action”. Link in the comments below 👇