What the follow-up email has to do#
Your contact will forward it. The person who approves the budget may not have been on the call, and your email is what they read instead. So write it for two readers: the person you spoke with, who wants to see you listened, and the person who signs, who has thirty seconds and no context.
That gives the email three jobs:
- Prove you heard them. Use their words for the problem, their numbers and their deadline. “Your checkout went down for 40 minutes last Black Friday” beats “you have performance concerns.”
- Set up the proposal. Say what it will contain, so nothing in it surprises them, and the date it arrives.
- Fix the next step on the calendar. One step, with a day and a time. “Let me know your thoughts” leaves the next move to them, and a busy buyer does not make it.
Keep it to 120 to 200 words, with no attachments: no deck, no case study. Leave out what you did on the call (“we discussed,” “I walked you through”) and keep what you learned.
The subject line does half the work when the email is forwarded. Put in the project, the word “recap” and the date of the proposal: “Checkout load test: recap, and the proposal by Thursday.”
If the call showed a bad fit, send no proposal. Send three lines that say so, and name someone who fits better if you know one. A clean no keeps the door open for the next project.
The four parts of a good follow-up email#
- 1
A line of thanks that names something real.
Name the person who joined late, or the detail that changed your view. “Thanks for bringing Marcus in; his point about the refund queue changes the scope.” One sentence.
- 2
The recap: what you heard.
Three to five bullets in their words: the problem, what they tried, the deadline and why it is fixed, who decides and who signs. End with an invitation to correct you: “Tell me if I got any of this wrong before I price it.” A correction now costs you one email. The same correction after the proposal costs you a rewrite.
- 3
What the proposal will contain, and when.
Name the parts: the scope and what is out of it, the approach in phases, the timeline against their deadline, the price, the payment terms, and what you need from them. Give a date, not “in the coming days.” For a small job, send it the same week. For a project that needs an estimate, two to five business days is normal. If you need something from them first (access, numbers, a sample), say so here, because the date depends on it.
- 4
The next step, with a date.
A 20 to 30 minute call to go through the proposal together, with the people who decide. Send the calendar invite with the email, or offer two times. On the call you answer their questions on the spot, before they turn into reasons to wait.
Add one more line only if a question is still open from the call. Leave pricing out of the recap unless you agreed a number on the call: a guess in the recap becomes the number they hold you to.
Same day or next morning?#
Send the recap while the call is still fresh for both of you.
- The call ends with hours left in their day: send the recap the same day, before they leave work. From good notes it takes ten minutes.
- The call ends late in their day: schedule the email for about 8:30 AM their time the next morning. An 8:30 AM email gets read first. One sent at 11 PM gets read after everything else. If they are in California and you are in New York, your 9 AM is their 6 AM: schedule for their clock, not yours.
- You are already a day late: send it now, with one line on top (“Sorry for the lag, here is what I heard”) and no longer apology. Past 24 hours they have talked to other vendors, and the one who wrote first is easier to remember.
Split the recap from the proposal. Do not hold the recap until the proposal is ready: the recap goes today, and the proposal goes on the date the recap promised. If you miss that date, write before it passes and give a new one.
Three follow-up email templates to copy#
Paste them, then fill in every bracket. A recap with a bracket left in it does more harm than a late recap.
Template 1. After a good call
The buyer has the problem, the deadline and the budget, and asked for a proposal.
Hi [Name],
Thanks for walking me through [the thing they showed you]. [Colleague]'s point about [X] changes how I would scope it.
Here is what I heard. Tell me if I got any of it wrong before I price it:
- [The problem, in their words: “our checkout went down for 40 minutes last Black Friday.”]
- [What they tried, and why it did not work.]
- [The deadline, and why it is fixed: “before November 27, when traffic peaks.”]
- [Who decides: “you and Marcus decide.”]
You will have the proposal by [day, date]. It will cover the scope and what is out of it, [two] ways to run the work, a timeline that lands before [deadline], a price for each option, and what we need from your side.
[If the price may need another signature: Who else should see it before it is final?]
I sent an invite for [day, date, time, their time zone], 30 minutes, to go through it with you and [colleague]. If that time does not work, reply with one that does and I will move it.
[Your name]
Template 2. After a call where budget is unclear
Budget never came up, or they said “it depends.” Do not guess a number into the proposal. Give two ranges and ask which one fits. A one-line answer saves you a proposal they cannot buy.
Hi [Name],
Thanks for walking me through [project] today. [The one thing they said that you are building the scope around.]
What I heard:
- [The problem, in their words.]
- [The deadline.]
- [Who decides.]
We did not get to budget, and I would rather ask than guess. I see two ways to do this:
- [Smaller option]: [what it covers]. Usually $[X] to $[Y], about [N] weeks.
- [Larger option]: [what it adds]. Usually $[X] to $[Y], about [N] weeks.
Which is closer to what you have in mind? If there is a number you need to stay under, tell me and I will scope the proposal to fit it. One line is enough, and you will have the proposal [two business days] after you reply.
If neither fits, tell me and I will say so. I would rather not send you a proposal you cannot buy.
[Your name]
Template 3. After a no-show, then a rebooked call
They missed the first call. You wrote, they rebooked, and the call happened. They missed once, so this email is shorter and puts the next date in writing. The email after the missed call, before the rebook, is two lines. Write it after the slot ends, not five minutes in:
Hi [Name], we had [time] today and I did not see you on the call. Want to move it? I can do [day, time] or [day, time], or pick a time here: [booking link].
Then, after the call that did happen:
Hi [Name],
Thanks for making time today. The short version of what I heard:
- [The problem, in their words.]
- [The deadline.]
- [Who decides.]
I will send the proposal on [day, date]. I put 20 minutes on [day, date, time, their time zone] for us to go through it, so it does not wait in your inbox. Reply with another time if that one is wrong.
If [the other decision maker] cannot make it, I will send them a two-paragraph summary to read in two minutes.
[Your name]
Leave the missed call out of the recap. They remember it, and a reminder spends your first line on it.
How to follow up on the proposal until you get a decision#
Many proposals die in silence. Plan three follow-ups before you send the proposal, make each one carry something new, and let the last one ask for a yes or a no. Email is not the only channel: if you have the signer’s number, a two-minute call after the second email can get the answer the email did not.
| What | What you send | Why it works |
|---|---|---|
| The day you promised | The proposal, with a two-line summary on top: the option you recommend, the price, the start date | The person who signs reads the summary and nothing else |
| Day 2 after the proposal | One question: “Did it reach [the person who signs]? Is there anything I should change before they read it?” | It asks for something small that they can answer in a line |
| Day 7 | Something useful: the answer to the question they will ask next, a smaller first phase, or a start date you can hold | It gives them a new reason to reply |
| Day 14 | The honest question: “Should I close this for now? A no is fine. It helps me plan.” | A question they can answer with one word |
When they reply “not now, after the board meets on the 20th,” stop the follow-ups and write on the 21st. A follow-up before the date they named tells them you did not read their email.
When they say no, ask one question: what tipped it. Note the answer on the deal. Read the reasons once a quarter: they show where your price or your proposal loses.
Common mistakes in discovery call follow-up emails#
- Recapping what you did instead of what they said. “We discussed your goals and our process” proves nothing. Quote them.
- Pasting the AI notes. Twelve bullets from your call recorder read as a transcript. Pick the four facts the person who signs needs.
- “Let me know your thoughts.” Name a day and a time instead.
- Leaving people off. Everyone on the call gets the recap. A colleague you left off hears about it from someone else.
- “In the coming days.” Name the date of the proposal, and keep it.
- A price you have not estimated. Wait for your estimate, or give a range on purpose, as in template 2.
- “Just checking in.” A follow-up with nothing new in it gets skipped, and so does the next one.
- Stopping after one follow-up. Silence after a proposal often means a busy week. Send all three, and ask for the no in the last one.
How Tommo Closer writes this email for you#
Everything above is work you do by hand after each call. Tommos (tommos.ai) does it while you are on your next call: it is a CRM whose AI agents, the tommos, take a B2B inquiry to a signed contract. After a discovery call, Tommo Closer writes three of the emails in this guide on the deal’s record: the recap, the proposal email from your estimate, and the follow-ups until a decision. It writes the recap in the shape of the four parts above from the transcript, rather than pasting the call’s notes. The price ranges of template 2 and the decision to walk away stay yours. Each email reaches your phone as a card with Send, Change and Skip. Tommo Closer comes with the Close plan, $599 a month for the firm, with no seats and the AI model included.
- 1
The transcript landsClose
Tommo Closer reads the call's transcript from Granola, or from a Google Drive folder you name. A Zoom or Meet call works once its transcript reaches either one.
- 2
The recapClose
Tommo Closer writes the recap in your voice from the transcript and the deal’s record. The main contact goes in To and everyone else from their side on the call in Cc. A recap that leaves someone off with no reason does not reach your card. The card: the recap, with Send, Change and Skip.
- 3
The proposal emailClose
Tommo Closer writes the proposal as an email with the price, scope and dates from your estimate. It never makes up a price, a scope or a date. When the record holds no estimate, it asks you for one on a card. On the Sign plan, Tommo Legal drafts the SOW from your template and Tommo Closer sends its link.
- 4
The follow-upsClose
If they go quiet, Tommo Closer follows up until there is a decision: a yes, or a no with its reason on the record. Each email leaves inside their working hours, on their time zone. You set how soon and how many times it writes into a silence. When they name a date or an event (“after the board meets”), it waits for that. Pause outreach on the lead stops it.
You approve every email until you choose otherwise. After twelve approvals in a row of one kind of email with nothing to fix, Tommo Closer asks to send that kind on its own. You switch that on, on a paid plan, and switch it off the same way.
The rebooked call in template 3 starts earlier, on the Book plan: when a lead misses the call, Tommo SDR reads that after the slot ends and drafts the email to rebook them.
Questions about the follow-up after a discovery call#
- How do I write a follow-up email after a discovery call?
- Send it the same business day to everyone who was on the call. Recap their problem in their own words, say what the proposal will contain and the date it will arrive, and end with one next step on a set day and time. Keep it under 200 words.
- How soon should I send the follow-up after a discovery call?
- The same business day if the call ends with hours left in their day. Otherwise schedule it for the next morning, about 8:30 AM their time. If you are already past 24 hours, send it now with a one-line apology.
- Should the recap include the price?
- Only if you agreed a number on the call. Otherwise say when the proposal with the price will arrive. If budget never came up, give two ranges and ask which fits, as in template 2.
- How many times should I follow up on a proposal?
- Three after the proposal: a question on day 2, something useful on day 7, and a request for a yes or a no on day 14. If they name a later date, write on that date and not before.
- What do I write when a prospect goes silent after the proposal?
- Ask for a decision, and make a no easy to give: “Should I close this for now? A no is fine.” It is easier to answer than another reminder.
- Can AI write the follow-up email for me?
- Yes, if it reads the call and works from your numbers. In Tommos (tommos.ai), Tommo Closer reads the transcript from Granola or a Google Drive folder, writes the recap and the proposal email from your estimate, and follows up until a decision. Each email waits on a card for your Send until you choose to let one kind go on its own. It is on the Close plan, $599 a month.
- Does the AI make up the price in the proposal?
- Not in Tommos. Tommo Closer takes the price, the scope and the dates from your estimate, and asks you for the estimate when the deal has none.
- What do I need to have Tommo Closer write these emails?
- A Google Workspace account, since the emails go from your Gmail, and your call transcripts in Granola or a Google Drive folder. Sign in with Google, and Tommo opens a record for each conversation still open from the last 30 days, up to 50, so your next recap can come from a deal already in work.
- Does Tommo Closer send emails without my approval?
- Not at first. Each email comes as a card with Send, Change and Skip. After twelve approvals in a row of one kind of email with nothing to fix, it asks to send that kind on its own, and you decide. That works on a paid plan only.