Activate for: follow-up, follow up email, post-call, after the call, post-meeting, meeting summary, recap email, next steps email, send proposal, after demo, post-demo, proposal follow-up, close follow-up, send summary, call recap, meeting recap, send to prospect. NOT for: initial outreach (use outreach), multi-touch sequences (use sequence), pre-call preparation (use pre-call-brief), content creation (use content-creation).
TIMING: Send within 2 hours of the call ending. Post-discovery follow-ups sent within 2 hours have significantly higher reply rates — the prospect is still at their desk thinking about what was discussed.
The best follow-up email arrives before the prospect has left their desk.
Subject: [Reference to their specific pain -- not "Re: our call"] Good: "Re: the headcount challenge at [Company]" Good: "Following our conversation -- [specific topic]"
Line 1: "Thanks for the conversation this morning." [One sentence -- short acknowledgement; do not over-thank]
What I heard: [2-3 bullets using the prospect's EXACT phrases from the call notes. Do not paraphrase — quote their words directly. This proves you listened. Example: If they said "we're bleeding margin on mis-picks," write exactly: "You mentioned you're 'bleeding margin on mis-picks' — with picking accuracy at 94.2%, every percentage point is costing real dollars." Pull phrases directly from the call transcript or notes provided.]
What we discussed: [1-2 sentences: the specific way your product addresses what they described. Not a pitch -- a reference back to what you agreed was relevant.]
Next step: [List EVERY commitment agreed during the call, with exact dates/times. Extract these directly from the call notes — do not invent commitments. "I'll send the [case study / proposal / pricing] by [exact date agreed]." "I've sent a calendar invite for [exact date/time agreed] for [purpose]." If multiple commitments were made, list each one separately. If next step was not agreed: "I'd suggest our next step is X -- does [date] work for you?"]
[Optional: one specific resource if promised]
[Name]
Subject: "[Company] + [Your Company] -- next steps"
Structure:
When sending a proposal, the email framing matters as much as the document.
Structure:
When a deal has gone quiet without a clear close/loss decision.
Subject: "[Company] -- checking in honestly"
Structure:
FOLLOW-UP EMAIL -- [Type] | [Prospect Name / Company]
SUBJECT: [Subject line]
[Email body]
[Sign-off]
TIMING: Send [immediately after call / within 2 hours / within 24 hours] NEXT ACTION: [What the rep should do after sending this email]