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- The Art of the Follow-Up
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Welcome to the GTM Launchpad newsletter! Each week I will share a sales play to help you grow your business, level up your sales game and succeed in the trenches
Most deals don’t die because of price or product fit
They die in the silence between touch #2 and touch #7
You’ve seen it both ways
Your reps give up after one or two tries
Or they go the other direction, hammering prospects with the same “just checking in” until it feels desperate
and let’s be real you’ve probably been on the receiving end of some atrocious follow ups yourself. I know I have. The kind that make you think “If this is how they sell imagine what it’s like to buy from them”
That’s why this matters. How your team follows up is the difference between pipeline that compounds and pipeline that leaks
The good news? Follow up done right isn’t about pestering. It’s about persistence with purpose
So if I were in your seat this week here’s how I’d reset the follow up game for your crew 👇
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Follow Up That Wins (not just noise)
Most reps don’t actually know how to follow up
They either
Ghost after 1–2 touches
Or they hammer with “just checking in” until the thread dies
and here’s the truth your buyers aren’t ignoring you because they’re jerks.
They’re drowning
50–60 hour weeks, inboxes on fire, board decks due, stakeholders to wrangle
Even when they want your product the thought of fighting for budget and rolling it out feels like climbing Everest without oxygen
That’s why follow up matters
Done right it removes friction and makes saying yes feel easier than staying stuck
Here’s how to coach it
1️⃣ Cadence discipline → 7–12 quality touches over 2–3 weeks. Not 3 emails in 24 hours. Persistence without smothering
2️⃣ Value every time → Share something new: a nugget, story or resource. Not a deck dump. Not a “case study.” Actual proof you listened
👉 Bad: “Just checking in to see if you had a chance to review my note”
👉 Good: “You mentioned onboarding a new CS tool last month. Here’s a short playbook one of my clients used to roll it out without killing their team’s bandwidth”
3️⃣ Mix your channels → Calls, emails, LinkedIn even voice notes. Different buyers answer in different places. Spread your bets
4️⃣ Address the real blocker → Fear of change. Coach reps to frame follow ups around safety, ease and proof of quick wins
👉 Good angle: “Teams we help usually see the first win in 30 days before they roll it out org-wide. Want me to share how that phased rollout works?”
5️⃣ Know when to “put a pin in it” → Forget the break up email. Respect the timing and exit with grace: “Hey [Name] sounds like now’s not the window. I’ll put a pin in it and circle back later. Until then here’s [resource] that might help in the meantime”
🔍 Leader’s Audit Checklist (run this Monday AM)
Pull 5 recent follow up emails per rep
*Do they say “just checking in” or “circling back”? Kill thoseCheck for a “give”
* Did the rep share an insight, story or resource that makes it worth the prospect’s time?Look for clarity in the CTA
* One clear, light ask (“Worth a quick chat?”) vs. vague or pushyTone check
* Is it human, relevant and short enough to read in one scroll?
👉 Run this quick audit and you’ll know within 10 minutes whether your team’s follow up is moving the needle or just making noise
Explore. Engage. Evolve.
🎥 Video of the Week: The Best Cold Email Follow Up Strategy in 2025
If you want to see what modern follow up actually looks like in action this one’s worth 10 minutes of your time. Austin from Instantly breaks down how to structure follow ups so you’re not just “checking in” but actually moving the convo forward
What I liked
He shows how to turn silence into replies without spamming
The timing breakdown (when to hit and when to wait) is money
Simple, tactical stuff you could literally pull into your SDR playbook this week
📚 Book of the Week: Fanatical Prospecting by Jeb Blount
Look this one’s not new but it’s timeless and it hits even harder when you line it up with today’s convo on follow up
The reminder I took from it - prospecting and follow-up are about discipline not heroics. Reps who build consistency win. Reps who “dabble” don’t
If you’ve got SDRs or AEs who treat follow-up like an afterthought this is a book to drop on their desk or grab the audio and have your team listen on the commute
👉 How I’d use both: Watch the video with your SDR leader, pull one tactic to test this week then layer the book in as the bigger cultural reset
Video = plays for today
Book = habits for the long haul
Bonus Sales Tactics 🤑
1️⃣ The Ghostbuster Email
For prospects who went dark after a positive call
Subject: “[First Name] thought of you when I saw this”
Body: “You mentioned [challenge] in our last chat. Came across this [resource/story] that might help. Figured it was worth passing along. If now’s not the right time no worries but wanted to make sure you had it”
👉 Shows you listened. Adds value. Keeps the door open
2️⃣ The Objection Replay
Next time a prospect stalls (“budget freeze,” “timing,” etc) coach reps to follow up with a short story
“Totally get it [peer company] told me the same thing last year. They ran a pilot in Q4 to test the waters and had a quick win in 30 days. Want me to share what that looked like?”
👉 Turns an objection into a value driven follow up
3️⃣ The “Pin in It” Exit
Instead of a noisy “break-up email” teach reps to gracefully park the convo
“Hey [Name] sounds like now’s not the right window. I’ll put a pin in it and circle back later. In the meantime here’s [resource] that might help your team”
👉 Leaves them with value and positions your rep as a trusted partner not a pest
Fortune’s not just in the follow-up it’s in the right follow-up
You and I both know blasting out more touches isn’t the answer
The real win is staying top of mind with relevance, timing and care
So here’s my nudge to you this week pull a few threads from your reps (or your own inbox) and see if the follow up actually earns attention… or if it’s just noise
Tighten that up and you’ll not only save deals that would’ve slipped you’ll roll into Q4 already carrying momentum 🤙
👉 If you test one of these plays or run the audit hit reply and let me know how it landed. I’d love to feature a few real world wins in next week’s issue
Thanks for reading. See you again next week at 8 am MST!
- Tom Slocum ✌️
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