Follow up sequence

Follow-Up Sequence

Draft a 3-touch follow-up cadence with distinct angles per touch. Load voice.md and, ideally, the original first message so touch 2 and 3 don't repeat the opener.

When this skill triggers

• User asks for a follow-up or sequence after no reply
• User asks "how do I nudge without being annoying"
• User asks for a multi-touch cadence
• User asks what to send when someone goes silent

The sequence philosophy

Most operators write follow-ups that recap the previous message ("Bumping this in case it got buried"). The data says this is the least effective pattern. It signals "you didn't matter enough to think about again."

The alternative — 3 touches, 3 completely different angles — treats every touch as a fresh conversation attempt. The prospect got 5 emails from other vendors that all said "just following up." Yours doesn't.

The 3-touch structure

Touch 1 — Original message

This is the message the user already sent. The skill doesn't rewrite it.

Touch 2 — "Reply, not pitch" (send 3-4 days after touch 1)

The single most important insight from the top-performing GTM creators' data: touch 2 that feels like a reply to something the prospect said outperforms polished new emails by ~30%.

The pattern: short, human, no recap of touch 1, no product mention. Feels like a Slack message.

Example:

"Hey — wanted to make sure this didn't get buried."

That's it. Sometimes literally that short. The rest of the message space is intentionally empty. Feels like a real human bumping something, not a marketer building a case.

Never do these on touch 2:

• Restate what you said in touch 1
• Include a new pitch
• Ask "any thoughts?"
• Send anything longer than 3 sentences

Touch 3 — Different angle + specific ask OR graceful exit (send 5-7 days after touch 2)

Touch 3 is the last shot. Two options based on the prospect:

Option A: Different angle

• Reference a NEW piece of context (something they just posted, a piece of news, a shift in your space)
• Ask for something specific and small
• No mention of touches 1 and 2

Example:

"Saw your team just posted for a Senior RevOps role — that's usually the moment a stack review kicks off. If it's on the table, would 15 minutes with me save you a week of vendor calls? If not, no worries at all."

Option B: Graceful exit

• Acknowledge the silence has meaning
• Take yourself off the sequence
• Leave the door open for later

Example:

"Silence is fair — probably means the timing's off. Taking you off the sequence. If it becomes relevant later, I'm here. Otherwise, good luck with the rest of Q4."

The user chooses A or B based on whether they still believe the account is viable.

Timing

Default cadence:

• Touch 1: Day 0
• Touch 2: Day 4 (3 business days later)
• Touch 3: Day 10 (5-7 business days after touch 2)

Adjust based on tier:

• T1 signals: compress to Day 0 / Day 2 / Day 5 (window is tight)
• T3 signals: stretch to Day 0 / Day 7 / Day 14 (no urgency)

Rules

Never do these:

• Recap what you said in the previous touch
• Use phrases: "just bumping this," "circling back," "in case you missed this," "at the top of your inbox"
• Attach the same resource twice
• Send more than 3 touches without a fresh signal (touch 4 without a new reason is spam)
• Include a P.S. that's really just another pitch

Always do:

• Change the angle completely between touches
• Keep touch 2 shorter than touch 1 (opposite of what most operators do)
• Give touch 3 a real exit if that's what's warranted
• Match the tone of the original message

Output format

Return in this structure:

FOLLOW-UP SEQUENCE — [Person] @ [Company]

Original context: [what touch 1 was about — 1 sentence]
Cadence: Day 0 → Day 4 → Day 10 (adjust as noted below)

TOUCH 2 (send Day 4)
Angle: Reply-not-pitch
"[the touch 2 draft — usually 1-3 sentences]"

TOUCH 3 (send Day 10)

Option A — Different angle
"[the touch 3 draft with new context]"

Option B — Graceful exit
"[the graceful exit draft]"

RECOMMENDATION
[Which option to send and why, based on the account context you know]

Examples

Example 1 — LinkedIn DM sequence after post engagement

Input:

• Person: Sarah Chen, VP Sales at Acme
• Original touch: Referenced her post about tool sprawl, offered a resource
• No response after 4 days

Output:

FOLLOW-UP SEQUENCE — Sarah Chen @ Acme

Original context: Referenced her LinkedIn post about outbound tool sprawl, offered a consolidation framework
Cadence: Day 0 → Day 4 → Day 10

TOUCH 2 (send Day 4)
Angle: Reply-not-pitch
"Hey — wanted to make sure this didn't get lost in your feed."

TOUCH 3 (send Day 10)

Option A — Different angle
"Noticed your Head of Sales role posted this week too. Usually that's when a stack review kicks off — the two decisions tend to hit together. If it's on the table, worth 15 minutes to save you a demo week? If not, I'll stop showing up."

Option B — Graceful exit
"Silence probably means the timing isn't right, which is fair. Taking you off the sequence. My DMs are open if things shift."

RECOMMENDATION
Send Option A. Sarah is a VP Sales at a company actively hiring — she's actively rebuilding. The new hiring signal is real context that justifies touch 3. She'll respond to either "yes" or "no" but she probably won't ignore the specific mention of her Head of Sales role.

Example 2 — Email sequence after funding-round outreach

Input:

• Person: Priya Sharma, CEO at Nova (Series A raised)
• Original touch: Congratulated the raise, offered a Series A rebuild template
• No response after 7 days

Output:

FOLLOW-UP SEQUENCE — Priya Sharma @ Nova

Original context: Congrats on Series A + offered rebuild template
Cadence: Day 0 → Day 7 → Day 14 (stretched — CEO, high volume of pitches)

TOUCH 2 (send Day 7)
Angle: Reply-not-pitch
"Priya — bumping the template offer up. Send it if useful, ignore if not."

TOUCH 3 (send Day 14)

Option A — Different angle
"Talked to 3 other Series A CEOs this week — the pattern is the same. Everyone spends the first 60 days trying to hire the CRO, and the outbound engine sits in a coma while they do. If Nova is anywhere near that pattern, happy to send the 60-day playbook I use to keep pipeline moving during a hiring gap."

Option B — Graceful exit
"Fair to assume you're in Series A chaos — happens to everyone. I'll drop back in Q2 with something more useful. Otherwise you know where to find me."

RECOMMENDATION
Send Option A. Priya is 3-4 weeks into a Series A raise, which is peak "hire the CRO" territory. The pattern-recognition angle gives her something new to react to — she's either in that pattern (relatable) or above it (curious). Either way, better than another polite bump.

Example 3 — cold outreach with weak first response

Input:

• Person: Marcus Reid, Head of Growth at Vector
• Original touch: Referenced Beta relationship + his new role
• Reply came back but was thin: "Thanks, appreciate the note. Not looking at anything right now."

Output: Since he replied, this isn't a follow-up sequence — this is objection handling. Use the objection-response skill instead. This looked like a Timing / Not Now response.

## Common failure modes

**Failure: touch 2 recaps touch 1.**
Fix: Delete any sentence that summarizes what was said before. The prospect has your inbox — they can scroll if they need context.

**Failure: touch 3 is another polite bump instead of a real angle change.**
Fix: If touch 3 could be sent verbatim to a different prospect, it's not personalized enough. Add fresh, specific, prospect-only context.

**Failure: sequence continues past 3 touches without a new signal.**
Fix: 3 touches is the limit for the same signal. If they didn't respond, either exit or wait for a NEW signal (job change, funding, content post) before you re-engage.

**Failure: touch 2 is a paragraph.**
Fix: Touch 2 should feel like a Slack message, not an email. One or two sentences. Sometimes 8 words.

## Related skills

- If they reply to any of the touches, use `objection-response`
- If they redirect to another person, use `linkedin-opener` for that person
- If nothing happens after touch 3, wait for a new signal and use `signal-triage` to re-tier the account before restarting