If your team runs a scaled go-to-market pipeline, you likely know that closing a deal often requires multiple meetings. Yet, here's the stark reality: 80% of sales require at least five follow-ups, but 44% of salespeople give up after just one【Brevet Group】. This reveals a critical gap and a massive opportunity.
So, how do we bridge this gap and ensure every lead is nurtured to the finish line? The answer lies in building an effective follow-up strategy that keeps deals moving forward with precision and persistence. This guide provides a practical, step-by-step follow-up playbook to help your team keep conversations going and transform potential leads into successful deals. Let’s dive in!
In the middle of a meeting, staying present and engaged is crucial. Don’t let note-taking distract your reps from the flow of the conversation. Use an AI meeting note-taker like Scheduler AI to capture every detail, allowing you to focus on your prospect while still gathering all the information you need for follow-ups.
In any complex sale, understanding who the decision-makers are is essential. During your initial calls, make it a priority to discover who else needs to be involved in the process. Ask questions like, “Who else would benefit from being part of our next discussion?” or “Are there other team members whose input would be valuable in the next steps?” Add stakeholder names to your CRM and use a conversational AI tool to send personalized invitations for the next meeting.
Booking a follow-up meeting before you end the current one can significantly increase your chances of closing the deal. This keeps the momentum going and ensures that both parties remain committed to moving forward. In the last five minutes, say, “I’d love to dive deeper into these points. Can we schedule another meeting to continue our discussion?” Use AI scheduling tools like Scheduler AI to automatically send a calendar invite during the call and ensure that everyone who needs to attend actually accepts.
After each meeting, it’s essential to keep the conversation alive by summarizing key points and outlining the path forward. This reinforces the value you provide and keeps the prospect engaged. Send a follow-up email using this template:
"Hi [Prospect's Name],
Thank you for the great conversation today. To recap, we discussed [key challenges]. The cost of inaction could be significant, but we can address these with [proposed solutions]. Let’s keep the momentum going with these next steps: [list next steps]."
You can even use AI to generate and personalize these summaries.
As you move through the pipeline, maintaining communication is crucial. Keep providing value and reaffirming your commitment to solving their problems. Before the next meeting, send an email like:
"Hi [Prospect's Name],
As we prepare for our upcoming meeting, I wanted to share the agenda. I also pulled together some success stories and use cases that mirror your situation. Please let me know if there's anything specific you'd like us to address."
Ensuring all stakeholders are present and prepared for the meeting can make all the difference. Poor logistics can stall momentum and create unnecessary friction. Verify all invited attendees have accepted the meeting and send reminders 24 hours before. Use AI to scan calendars and send reminders for each invite to ensure everyone is on the same page.
Ahead of your next meeting, create a concise buyer business case. Even better, create a document or CRM note that summarizes the key information and goals of a deal (a buyer business case). This helps frame the discussion and quickly aligns everyone involved on the same page. The use case should summarize the core business priorities, the problems/challenges holding the prospect back, and the aligned path to vet the solution and decide whether to implement.
It's common for prospects to go dark during the sales process. However, this doesn’t mean they are lost forever. With a proactive approach, you can reignite their interest. If a prospect goes silent, send a note saying:
"Hi [Prospect's Name],
Sorry today wasn’t a good time for you. I notice that normally happens for one of three reasons:
You got busy (business is crazy).
Priorities shifted.
You weren’t sure about the value of our solution.
Any of the above sound right, or are there other questions I can help with?"
You can also set up conversational AI workflows to send these engagements and nurture leads back into a conversation.
Even when leads seem to vanish, it doesn’t mean the opportunity is lost. Mark them as lapsed and re-engage them in 30-90 days. You can set up conversational AI scheduling workflows for this with an intro like:
"Hi [Prospect's Name],
I know last month wasn’t a great time. Have you found a good solution for [specific problem] yet? We’ve been working on some exciting developments that might help, so I wondered if it might make sense to reconnect. Thoughts?"
The goal is to re-engage the conversation first and then quickly nurture and close the meeting. You can have your reps do this or craft an AI scheduling agent to do it for them.
Implementing the playbook above can indeed enhance your team's sales efficiency. But if you’d like a truly seamless and autonomous solution, consider leveraging a custom Scheduler AI agent. This powerful tool can integrate each step of the follow-up process, offering a streamlined experience for both you and your prospects.
Are you ready to transform your follow-up process and close more deals with ease? Let's chat to explore how our Scheduler AI agent can seamlessly integrate with your sales strategy and elevate your team's performance.
Chat with us to see if an AI solution is a fit for your organization.
