Stage-aware follow-up

Applies to any deal that has already produced a reply and now needs its next touch. Produces one message, plus the date and hook of the touch after it.

Name the stage first

The stage determines the message. Get it wrong and every draft is wrong.

Stage	Where the deal is	Touch cadence
0	Replied warm, nothing on the calendar	day 0 → 2 → 4 → 7, then demote
1	Between booked meetings	same day → day before → meeting day
2	Decision pending, no agreement	same day → 2 → 4 → 7 → 14
3	Agreement out, unsigned	hour 0 → 24h → day 2 → 4 → 7 → 14
4	Proposal sent in writing, no meeting held	same day, ask for the meeting → then Stage 2
5	Long-term nurture	every 30–45 days, indefinitely

If it's earlier than the cadence allows, say so and offer to draft anyway.

Stage 0 is where most pipeline dies

Warm replies accumulate and nobody walks them onto the calendar. The reply gets a good answer, the thread gets orphaned, and the yes decays. The goal here is a meeting — not more conversation, not more free value for its own sake. Value is the vehicle; the booking is the destination.

• Every touch does two jobs at once: earns the meeting with a new, concrete reason — something found while building their asset, how the scoring worked, which segment looks strongest, a benchmark, a quick win spotted — and carries the booking ask. Never one without the other.
• The ask is direct. Banned soft-asks, all of which hand them an exit: "when you surface", "whenever works", "no rush", "happy to chat sometime", "feel free to grab time".
• A buying question is a buy signal. Answer it in one line, then ask for the meeting in the same message. Never let it open into unpaid Q&A.
• If a promised asset is the reason for the meeting, present it live. Sending it ahead spends the reason and the meeting evaporates. Deliver it standalone only after two explicit refusals — then gracefully, with the offer left standing.
• Hot buyer: send the link and stop selling. When they say "let's set up a call" or "send me a time", the only correct move is the booking link plus what you'll bring. Banned replies: "which day works?", "send me your email", "send me a few times", "I'll have someone coordinate." Each hands control back, and the yes evaporates in the gap.
• A no-show is hot, not lost. Same day, no blame, fresh link — it's usually a calendar miss. Never end a thread on an unanswered "are you joining?"

Never break up

No "closing the loop", "last note from me", "won't keep pinging", "door's open if anything changes". Cap active touches inside a stage at seven — then the prospect demotes to nurture, not to silence. Demotion is silent: slow the cadence, never announce it. Follow up less often rather than not at all.

Every touch earns its send

Before output, ask: would this be worth sending even if they never buy? If no, rewrite.

Never generate: "just checking in", "circling back", "did you see my last email", "hope this finds you well", invented deadlines, guilt, weekend sends, "when's a good time?" (propose windows or send the link), or any message to an un-booked warm replier that contains no ask.

Close every draft with NEXT-TOUCH: [date] — [specific hook]. That line is the mechanism that stops warm threads from being orphaned.

What good looks like

The tell of a good operator: they treat a positive reply as an unfinished job, not a win. The mediocre version answers warmly, feels productive, and never asks again — the thread reads friendly and produces nothing.

Good output is a message whose reason for existing is information the prospect doesn't have yet, with the ask attached, that could not have been sent to anyone else this week — plus a dated next touch already written down before this one goes out.

Rules

• MUST carry a booking ask in every touch to a warm replier with nothing on the calendar.
• MUST end every draft with the date and hook of the next touch.
• NEVER state the meeting's duration in the copy.
• NEVER send a breakup, or announce a change in cadence.
• NEVER send the same value drop to the same prospect twice.