Fortune is in the Follow-up
Time is the silent killer of deals. Follow up is your Swiss Army knife to win Sales in 2024-2025.
Time is the silent killer of deals. Deals have an innate momentum when they first open: buyer interest is high and engagement flows smoothly. But as days pass, the urgency fades, priorities shift, and opportunities slip through your fingers.
It's a reality every seller faces--circumstances evolve, and competitors pounce at the first sign of hesitation. The buyer starts to compare alternatives, skepticism grows within the buying committee, and your once-promising deal vanishes in a blink.
Follow-up is the lifeblood of deal velocity. It's the bridge that keeps the conversation active, concerns addressed, and the buyer's interest burning.
But follow-up is frequently neglected.
Why? Because it's drudgery.
In 2024-2025 inboxes are crowded, everyone has tighter budgets and top of funnel prospects are more valuable than ever.
You can’t afford to leak the mid funnel.
To fix the leak - master the art of follow-up.
In this article, we'll explore the reasons why deal velocity slows down, often due to natural causes, and how an effective follow-up strategy can counter these challenges. We'll delve deep into actionable steps to engineer your follow-up process, avoiding common pitfalls, and why current tools might not be enough.
Let’s dive into fixing your deal velocity 👇
First, What Really is Deal Velocity?
We all have done that 1 deal where everything went so smoothly.
You feel the velocity when the buyer asks the right questions, promptly responds to your emails, and swiftly schedules follow-up meetings.
You correspond actively, meet with the right stakeholders, and progress towards the next steps without delays. As a seller, you address buyer concerns artfully, provide relevant information promptly, and build trust through sharing valuable insights.
So deal velocity refers to the speed and efficiency of the deal as it moves through your pipeline toward a successful close.
It's a critical concept in sales because accelerating deal velocity is essential for closing deals quickly, addressing buyer needs promptly, and staying ahead of the competition.
Reflective Question: Think about the last 3 deals you worked on, how did you honestly feel about the velocity? Was it like running in sand, or did it feel more like strolling down a clear, open path?
Why do deal slow down?
Deals going cold are as old as time. But have you considered why this happens from the buyer's perspective?
In today's business climate, B2B buyers have a lot to deal with:
Shifting Priorities: Buyers' organizational priorities may change, pushing your solution down the priority list.
Budget Constraints: Financial limitations can cause delays in the approval process.
Consensus Building: The need to build consensus among diverse stakeholders can elongate the decision cycle.
Stakeholder Changes: Changes in key personnel can disrupt the continuity of the buying process.
Buyer's Indecisiveness: Anxiety about making the correct purchase decision, coupled with stakeholder pressure to be accountable to the decision champion.
Lengthy Evaluations: Comprehensive evaluations and risk assessments take time.
Researching Alternatives: Buyers may spend time comparing your solution with competitors.
Internal Delays: Inefficiencies within your own sales processes, such as slow follow-ups or inadequate resource allocation, can decelerate deal velocity.
On top of above, they might have questions you didn't answer, or they didn't really get why your solution matters.
Not to mention, your competitors just hit them up on LinkedIn.
And let's not forget their personal lives—the constant ping of social media notifications, back-to-back meetings, endless paperwork, unexpected office fires, the scramble to pick their kids up from school—it’s a whirlwind.
Reflective Question: When you were trying to buy a B2B solution, what really got in your way? This can help you empathize more with the buyer.
Engineering a Follow up Process
To act on deals and win back, we need to first group deals into segments. Each segment requires different strategies to regain lost velocity.
The primary categorization you can use is time since last positive response.
Active/On-Track Deals
(0 to 10 working days since last response)
Characteristics:
Buyers are actively responding and engaging.
Follow-up meetings and progress updates occur regularly.
Buyers adhere to the next steps and show interest.
Seller effectively addresses buyer concerns and requirements.
Deal progresses as expected through the sales pipeline.
What to Say:
Engage promptly by responding to buyer inquiries within 24 hours.
Provide value by sharing relevant insights, case studies, or recent success stories.
Set clear next steps with deadlines after each interaction.
Summarize and confirm key points and next steps in follow-up emails.
Examples:
"Hi [Buyer], here's the case study we discussed that aligns with [specific benefit] for a company like yours. Looking forward to exploring this further on our next call."
"Thank you for your question about [specific feature]. I’ve detailed how it can enhance your team’s efficiency and am happy to dive deeper during our next discussion."
How Frequently to Follow-Up:
Send follow-up emails every 3 working days unless otherwise instructed.
At-Risk/Slowed Deals
(11 to 20 working days since last response)
Characteristics:
Buyers' responsiveness starts to decline and hesitation to book follow-up calls increases.
Friction in moving to the next step is sensed, and updates from the buyer are hard to obtain.
Deal progression slows down or stalls.
What to Say:
Personalize follow-ups to support decision-making.
Offer assistance and propose meetings to discuss obstacles and solutions.
Highlight urgency by emphasizing the importance of addressing their problem and the impact of inaction.
Suggest alternative solutions like phased approaches to reduce perceived risks.
Involve other stakeholders to identify roadblocks and maintain engagement.
Examples:
"Hi [Buyer], it seems there might be some questions or concerns we haven’t addressed yet. Could we schedule a call to ensure alignment and answer any lingering questions?"
"Addressing [specific issue] now can save your team significant time and resources. Shall we discuss a tailored approach that mitigates risks and enhances value?"
"To provide flexibility, we could consider a phased implementation, allowing you to see benefits firsthand before a full rollout."
How Frequently to Follow-Up:
Send follow-up emails every 5 working days.
Schedule follow-ups immediately after the last interaction to keep the process on track.
Stalled Deals
(21+ working days since last response)
Characteristics:
Buyers are unresponsive for an extended period with no engagement despite multiple follow-ups.
Buyers miss scheduled meetings, and there's a lack of clarity on their current situation.
Deals show no signs of progress.
What to Say:
Monitor events such as leadership changes or funding rounds to reconnect.
Provide thought leadership content and share relevant industry news, trends, or insights to spark interest.
Connect with other contacts within the buyer's organization to discover additional champions.
Examples:
"Hi [New Contact], I've been collaborating with [Buyer] on [solution] and believe it aligns well with your department's goals. Would you be open to discussing how it can benefit your team as well?"
"Recently, there’s been significant focus on [industry trend], and our solution addresses this need effectively. Let’s reconnect to explore how this aligns with your strategic priorities."
"I noticed your company recently [insert relevant news]. This could be a great time to revisit our discussions about [solution] and its potential benefits."
How Frequently to Follow-Up:
Initial Cadence: Send follow-up emails every 5 working days initially if a buying signal is hit (A buying signal is when an interesting activity happens in the leads company where they’d want to invest into the problem area you are solving).
Monthly Cadence: Switch to monthly follow-ups after the first cadence.
Quarterly Cadence: If still unresponsive, follow-up quarterly.
Reflective Question: "Can you implement this prioritization manually, or do you need automated tools?"
Understand the Impact
Here’s the effect your deals will start showing when you engineer your follow up process:
Active/On-Track Deals: Close more swiftly, reducing the sales cycle.
At-Risk Deals: Win back buyer’s interest and move the deal forward.
Stalled Deals: Re-engage and convert them into new opportunities.
Reflective Question: Do you currently categorize deals based on velocity? Are follow-ups for deals slipping through the cracks?
Why current tools fall short
Despite the myriad of tools available for sales follow-up, many of them fall short for several reasons:
Over-Reliance on Manual Processes: Most CRM systems require manual task assignment for follow-ups, which is time-consuming and prone to human error. Worse, sellers don’t use them.
Cumbersome and Slow Platforms: Many CRM systems are slow and cumbersome, making meticulous follow-ups difficult. A swift tool is needed to provide a Superhuman-like experience in generating what to say next.
Lack of Customization: Current tools often lack the flexibility to tailor follow-ups to the specific needs and behaviors of different deals, leading to generic and less effective communications.
Time-Consuming Research: Sales teams spend a significant amount of time researching and preparing for follow-ups, which could be better spent on high-value activities.
Ignoring External Signals: Many tools do not integrate external signals (like news of leadership changes or funding rounds) to enrich follow-ups, missing opportunities to personalize and time your outreach perfectly.
Poor Deal Prioritization: Most CRMs don't effectively prioritize deals based on engagement and segment status, leaving sales reps to wade through their pipelines without clear guidance.
The New Way
But what if there was a better way?
After talking to many founders, directors, AEs, and sales teams, we identified a burning problem: the mid funnel is leaking.
That's where Aristotle comes in.
We're building a powerful tool that seamlessly integrates with your CRM, so there's no disruption to your workflows.
It turns your CRM into an engine that accelerates deals through your pipeline.
With Aristotle, your AEs will have the power to: Prioritize their follow-up pipeline to know who to follow up with today.
Get intelligent follow-up suggestions for any pipeline stage or scenario.
Track interactions across channels and unify them in one timeline.
See buyer signals in real-time to act when their intent to purchase is high.
Sell without doing any admin work.
The result?
Deals moving smoother through your pipeline.
Higher conversion rates.
And a direct impact on your bottom line.
We're on a mission to make selling more intuitive and make your CRM work for you. We want you to be a part of it.
If selected, as an early adopter, you'll get:
Exclusive access to our private beta program
White-glove onboarding and support
Special pricing, locked in for life
A chance to shape the future of the product with your feedback
Join the waitlist today and be the first to experience the future of intuitive selling.
Your sellers (and your revenue) will thank you.