From the book · Unleash Your Business With AI
Chapter 8: The follow-up gets the order
The 3 prompts from Chapter 8, ready to copy, with the chapter's mistakes to avoid and three tasks for this week.
Touches 1 to 4 in one sitting
[Paste your business note from Chapter 5] Situation: we sent a quotation to a [customer type] for [products and quantity] on [day]. They have not replied. True things that might help them decide: [for example, new stock has arrived; we can split the delivery; dispatch slots before Diwali are filling] Task: write four follow-up messages for WhatsApp. 1. Touch 1: confirm they received the quotation and offer to answer questions. 2. Touch 2: share one useful piece of information from the list above. 3. Touch 3: ask a direct, polite question about where they stand. 4. Touch 4: close the loop respectfully. Ask whether we should keep the quotation open or close it for now, and make "not now" easy to say. Rules: each message under 50 words, with a different opening line. Do not write "just following up" or "checking in". Use only the facts I have given. Do not mention any price, discount or delivery date that is not written above. No false urgency such as "only today" or "last chance".
What you should get back: four short messages, each different in purpose, that a salesperson can paste into the chat on the right day after adding the customer's name.
Check: every claim in the messages is true today, not just on the day you drafted them. Stock that had arrived may have sold. Re-read each one on the day it is sent.
That's the first one
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- When the customer has said something
- Touch 5: a real reason to write again
- Mistakes to avoid
- Do this week
When the customer has said something
[Paste your business note from Chapter 5] The customer's last message, with personal details removed: "[paste the message]" The one useful thing I want to share: [for example, the answer to their question, a stock update, a delivery slot, a photo I will attach] Task: write a short, polite WhatsApp follow-up in our tone. Acknowledge what they said, share the one useful thing and end with one easy question. Under 50 words. Use only what I have written here. Do not add any offer, discount, price or date of your own. Do not put pressure on the customer.
What you should get back: one message that sounds like a reply to this customer, not a reminder sent to everyone.
Check: if the customer raised price, this prompt must not answer it with a concession. Price objections are handled in Chapter 10, and the terms are your decision.
Touch 5: a real reason to write again
[Paste your business note from Chapter 5] This customer enquired around [month] about [product] and then went quiet. What is new since then: [a new range, new stock, a new service, a season approaching; only what is true] Offer, if any: [the offer, or "none"] Task: write 3 short messages to restart the conversation, each from a different angle: 1. Something new. 2. A useful idea for their business, based only on the facts above. 3. A simple question. Under 50 words each. Do not refer to their silence. No guilt, no pressure and no discount unless I have written one above. Do not invent any news about our business.
What you should get back: three options. Pick one, edit it and send it. Keep the other two for the next season.
Mistakes to avoid
- Sending "just following up". If you cannot name the one useful thing in the message, do not send it yet.
- Inventing urgency. "Last few pieces" when the godown is full is a lie the customer will remember.
- Letting the discount do the follow-up. A price cut offered into silence teaches the customer to stay silent next time.
- Leaving the schedule to memory. If the next action date is not in the log, there is no schedule.
- Sending a stale draft. Messages drafted on day one must be re-read on the day they go out.
- Continuing after "no". A clear refusal ends the sequence. Record the reason and move on.
Do this week
- In the enquiry log, list every quotation sent in the last 30 days that has had no reply, and give each one a touch number and a next action date.
- Write the five-touch schedule with the days that suit your trade, and share it with everyone who sends quotations.
- Take one open quotation, run the four-message prompt with one true, useful thing, and send today's touch after reading it.