Write the Follow-Up
Use this skill when
The next email has to go out and it has been rewritten three times already.
Follow-ups fail for a boring reason: they contain no new information. The recipient has nothing to react to, so reacting costs them effort with no return, so they do not. Everything below exists to give them something worth answering.
For a thread that has already gone silent for weeks, use ghosted-after-the-demo first to work out why, then come back here to write it.
Required input
- What happened: the call, the proposal, the event, the last message.
- The thread so far, if there is one.
- Who you are writing to and what they can actually decide.
Useful:
- what they said they cared about, in their words
- what was agreed as the next step and who owned it
- any deadline that is genuinely real
- how formal their own messages are
Analysis workflow
- Find the new information. Something must have changed since the last message: an answer to their question, a relevant example, a piece of thinking they have not seen. If nothing has changed, that is the finding, and the honest options are to create something worth sending or to wait.
- Establish what you are actually asking for. One thing. A meeting, an answer, an introduction, or permission to close the file.
- Match the length to the stage. After a first call, short. After a proposal, short. Nobody has ever complained that a follow-up was too brief.
- Mirror their register. If their emails are four words and no greeting, a three-paragraph message reads as a mismatch and slows the reply.
- Write it, then cut the first sentence. It is almost always throat-clearing, and the second sentence is usually the real opening.
- Check the ask is answerable in one line. If replying requires them to think, schedule or consult someone, the reply rate drops by an order of magnitude.
- Offer the exit. A message that makes it easy to say no gets more replies than one that only permits yes, and a clear no is worth more than another week of silence.
Decision rules
- No message without new information. This is the rule that fixes most follow-up problems on its own.
- One ask per message.
- Never invent urgency. A deadline that is not real gets discovered, and it costs the relationship more than the deal is worth.
- Do not apologise for following up. It signals that the message is an imposition, which invites the recipient to treat it as one.
- If the honest content of the message is "I want an update", write the closing message instead and let them reopen it.
Output format
The message
Ready to send, subject line included.
Why it is built this way
Three lines: what the new information is, what the single ask is, and what the exit is.
The shorter version
Always provide it. Roughly half the length. In practice it is the one that gets used.
If you get no reply
What the next message is and when, or a plain recommendation to stop.
Practical example
After a proposal sent nine days ago with no response, to a head of operations who writes in short, unpunctuated lines.
There is no new information yet, so the skill says so and creates some: a one-line answer to the integration question they raised on the call and which the proposal did not address directly.
The message is four lines. It leads with the integration answer, not with the proposal. The ask is whether that was the blocker. The exit is an offer to close the file if the timing has moved. The shorter version is two lines and drops the greeting to match their register.
Guardrails
- Do not send anything. Produce the text.
- Do not fabricate case studies, customer names, results or deadlines to create urgency.
- Do not write a message whose only content is a request for a status update.
- Do not stack multiple asks and call it giving options.
- Do not claim a reply rate. The message removes friction; it does not create intent.
1---2name: write-the-follow-up3description: Writes the next email after a call, a proposal, an event or a stalled thread, using what was actually said rather than a template. Use when someone has rewritten the same message four times, or when follow-ups all sound like checking in.4---56# Write the Follow-Up78## Use this skill when910The next email has to go out and it has been rewritten three times already.1112Follow-ups fail for a boring reason: they contain no new information. The recipient has nothing to react to, so reacting costs them effort with no return, so they do not. Everything below exists to give them something worth answering.1314For a thread that has already gone silent for weeks, use `ghosted-after-the-demo` first to work out why, then come back here to write it.1516## Required input1718- What happened: the call, the proposal, the event, the last message.19- The thread so far, if there is one.20- Who you are writing to and what they can actually decide.2122Useful:2324- what they said they cared about, in their words25- what was agreed as the next step and who owned it26- any deadline that is genuinely real27- how formal their own messages are2829## Analysis workflow30311. Find the new information. Something must have changed since the last message: an answer to their question, a relevant example, a piece of thinking they have not seen. If nothing has changed, that is the finding, and the honest options are to create something worth sending or to wait.322. Establish what you are actually asking for. One thing. A meeting, an answer, an introduction, or permission to close the file.333. Match the length to the stage. After a first call, short. After a proposal, short. Nobody has ever complained that a follow-up was too brief.344. Mirror their register. If their emails are four words and no greeting, a three-paragraph message reads as a mismatch and slows the reply.355. Write it, then cut the first sentence. It is almost always throat-clearing, and the second sentence is usually the real opening.366. Check the ask is answerable in one line. If replying requires them to think, schedule or consult someone, the reply rate drops by an order of magnitude.377. Offer the exit. A message that makes it easy to say no gets more replies than one that only permits yes, and a clear no is worth more than another week of silence.3839## Decision rules4041- No message without new information. This is the rule that fixes most follow-up problems on its own.42- One ask per message.43- Never invent urgency. A deadline that is not real gets discovered, and it costs the relationship more than the deal is worth.44- Do not apologise for following up. It signals that the message is an imposition, which invites the recipient to treat it as one.45- If the honest content of the message is "I want an update", write the closing message instead and let them reopen it.4647## Output format4849### The message5051Ready to send, subject line included.5253### Why it is built this way5455Three lines: what the new information is, what the single ask is, and what the exit is.5657### The shorter version5859Always provide it. Roughly half the length. In practice it is the one that gets used.6061### If you get no reply6263What the next message is and when, or a plain recommendation to stop.6465## Practical example6667After a proposal sent nine days ago with no response, to a head of operations who writes in short, unpunctuated lines.6869There is no new information yet, so the skill says so and creates some: a one-line answer to the integration question they raised on the call and which the proposal did not address directly.7071The message is four lines. It leads with the integration answer, not with the proposal. The ask is whether that was the blocker. The exit is an offer to close the file if the timing has moved. The shorter version is two lines and drops the greeting to match their register.7273## Guardrails7475- Do not send anything. Produce the text.76- Do not fabricate case studies, customer names, results or deadlines to create urgency.77- Do not write a message whose only content is a request for a status update.78- Do not stack multiple asks and call it giving options.79- Do not claim a reply rate. The message removes friction; it does not create intent.
mardab96