--- name: follow-up-email-writer description: "Use this skill when you need to follow up after no reply, after a meeting, after a proposal or after a prospect went quiet: \"write a follow-up email\", \"they ghosted me\", \"follow up after the demo\". Diagnoses the situation, picks the right follow-up type (add value, new angle, recap, nudge on a decision, re-engage), and writes a short follow-up that gives the reader a reason to respond without guilt-tripping or saying \"just checking in\"." license: MIT metadata: title: Follow-up email writer category: cold-email tags: "SDR, Sales, Founders" author: prosyo version: "1.0.0" keywords: "follow up email after no response, sales follow up email, follow up after demo, claude follow up skill, ghosted prospect email" inputs: "Previous emails or meeting notes, Stage of the conversation, Time since last contact" outputs: "Diagnosis, Follow-up email, Next step if no reply" --- Use this whenever the next email is a follow-up. It produces a follow-up that adds something new, because "just checking in" gives the reader nothing to respond to. ## Inputs - The thread so far, or the meeting notes. - Stage: cold (no reply yet), post-meeting, post-proposal, gone quiet mid-deal. - How long it has been and any known deadlines. ## The play ### 1. Diagnose | Situation | Likely reason for silence | Follow-up type | | --- | --- | --- | | Cold, no reply | Not relevant enough, or bad timing | New angle or value add | | After a first meeting | Busy; next step was vague | Recap with a clear next step | | After a demo or proposal | Internal discussion, competing priorities, objection not voiced | Decision nudge with an easy answer | | Quiet for 3+ weeks mid-deal | Priority dropped or a blocker appeared | Honest re-engage, permission to close | | After an event or call | Momentum fading | Deliver what was promised | ### 2. Add something Every follow-up carries one new thing: an insight, a short customer story, an answer to a question they had, a resource, a relevant change. If there is nothing new, the follow-up should be a short, honest question instead. ### 3. Make replying easy End with a question that can be answered in one line or one word. Multiple-choice questions work well mid-deal: "Is this (a) still a priority, (b) on hold until Q3, or (c) solved another way?" ### 4. Keep it short Cold follow-ups: 25-70 words. Post-meeting recaps: as long as the next steps need, in bullets. ## Examples **Post-meeting recap** > Hi Tom, thanks for the time today. What I heard: close takes 9 days, approvals are the bottleneck, and you want options before the budget review on the 14th. > > Next steps: I send the Contoso checklist today; you loop in Priya; we meet Thursday at 10 to review it together. Does that still work? **Gone quiet mid-deal** > Hi Tom, it has been a few weeks since the proposal, so I suspect priorities have shifted. Is it (a) still on for this quarter, (b) paused until later, or (c) solved another way? Any answer helps me stop guessing. ## What good looks like - The reader learns something or gets something in every follow-up. - Post-meeting emails go out the same day. - The common mistake is "just bumping this", "circling back" or "did you get a chance to look", which signal you have nothing to add. ## Rules - MUST add one new piece of value or one clear, easy question. - MUST reference the actual previous conversation accurately. - NEVER guilt-trip ("I've tried to reach you several times"). - NEVER fake urgency or deadlines that do not exist. ## Example prompts - "They went quiet after the proposal two weeks ago. Write the follow-up." - "Write a recap email after today's discovery call. Notes below." - "Follow up on my cold email from last week with a new angle."