- Silence rarely means no. Usually the client is aligning internally, comparing offers or lacks urgency.
- Follow up on the day you agreed. Without an agreement, after a few working days, not weeks.
- No follow-up without added value. Instead of «Did you receive my proposal?», bring something: a relevant pointer, an invitation, an idea.
- After two emails without a reply, pick up the phone.
- The best follow-up happens before the proposal: with an agreed next step.
Why does the client go quiet after a proposal?
For your client, your proposal is one task among many. When they don't get back to you, it is usually for one of these reasons:
- They are aligning internally. In B2B sales, several people often decide. Your proposal is sitting with someone you have never met.
- They are collecting other offers. Many companies need several proposals before they are allowed to decide.
- Urgency is missing. The problem is real, but not pressing enough to be solved now.
- An objection hasn't been voiced. The price, trust, a colleague who is against it. Instead of saying so, they stay silent.
None of this is a no. But each reason calls for a different response.
When should you follow up?
Ideally on the day you agreed in the meeting. Then your call is not chasing, it is keeping an appointment.
If there was no agreement, don't wait for weeks out of politeness. Waiting too long signals that the deal doesn't matter much to you. Get in touch after a few working days, friendly and specific.
If two emails go unanswered, call. On the phone, one sentence tells you what three emails don't: whether the project is still alive, where it is stuck and who is slowing it down.
How do you follow up without begging?
Your client knows they still owe you an answer. «Did you receive my proposal?» only reminds them of it, and it can be answered with yes. Then the conversation is over.
So the rule is: no follow-up without added value. Bring something to every contact that helps the client, even before they have decided:
- an invitation, for example to a webinar or an event that fits their topic
- a pointer to something relevant: an article, a change in their industry, an experience from a similar project
- an idea that makes their project better or simpler
The added value opens the conversation. If you then ask a question, make it one of these three:
«Who else is looking at the proposal, and how can I support you in aligning internally?»
«If you had to decide today, what would still speak against it?»
«Is the project still on, or shall we close it for the moment?»
The third option feels bold. That is exactly why it often gets you an honest answer. A clear no is worth more than three months of maybe.
What should you have settled before the proposal?
Most proposals don't fail on content but on what wasn't settled beforehand. Three questions belong before every proposal:
- Who decides, and who has a say?
- By when does a decision have to be made, and why then?
- What happens after the proposal, and when do we talk about it?
If you can't answer one of them, the proposal is too early. A proposal without an agreed next step is a hope, not a sales opportunity. How to build a proposal is covered in Writing a proposal.
When do you let a deal go?
When you have followed up twice by email and called once, asked the way-out question and still hear nothing. Then close the deal for yourself and tell the client too: friendly, without reproach, with the door open. Surprisingly often, that is exactly when someone gets back to you.
A lot of time is lost by keeping a deal in the pipeline for months although you know deep down it won't come. That time is missing for the clients who really want.
A deal has stalled? Bring it along.
20 minutes, specific and free. We look at what will trigger the next step.