Verified against ChatGPT · 2026-07-27
Build a follow-up cadence that never repeats "just checking in"
Turn one open item from a sales call into a multi-touch, multi-channel cadence where every touch adds a new piece of value, ending in an explicit break-up message instead of silence.
The prompt
Ready to copy — highlighted parts are example details you can swap.
I need a follow-up cadence after a demo where they said budget approval was pending with Sarah Lindqvist at Northbridge Analytics. Deal stage: post-demo, awaiting internal budget sign-off. What's still open/unresolved: whether the CFO has actually seen the proposal yet. Channels I can use: email, LinkedIn, phone. Build a 5-touch cadence over 3 weeks, mixing the channels listed. For every touch, give me: - Day number (relative to today) - Channel - The ONE new piece of value, information, or reason to reply it adds — no touch may just restate the last one or say "following up" / "just checking in" / "wanted to bump this" - The exact message or call talking point, ready to send/say The last touch must be an explicit break-up message: state plainly that you'll stop reaching out, and give them one easy way to restart contact later, without guilt-tripping them. After the cadence, tell me which single touch is most likely to actually get a response given whether the CFO has actually seen the proposal yet, and why the others are more likely to be ignored.
Customize the highlighted detailsoptional — the prompt above already works
Why this works
Banning "just checking in" and "bumping this" is grounded in a well-documented pattern in outbound sales: near-zero-value bump messages consistently get the lowest reply rates of any touch in a cadence because they ask for the prospect's time without offering anything new. Requiring one new piece of value per touch forces the model to justify why each touch deserves to exist rather than generating five variations of the same nudge. The mandatory break-up message is a standard cadence-design principle for a specific reason: sequences that end with an explicit exit message reliably out-reply ones that just trail off, because stating "I'll stop reaching out" triggers a reply from prospects who don't want to be dropped but hadn't gotten around to responding.
What you get back
Day 12 — LinkedIn: "Sarah — I'll stop following up on this one for now. If the timing shifts on your end, just reply here and I'll pick it back up — no explanation needed." Most likely to land: Day 3 email, since it offers the ROI one-pager the CFO would actually need to sign off, not a status check.
Verified against
ChatGPT GPT-5.1 · 2026-07-27
Claude Sonnet 4.5 · 2026-07-28
Changelog
- 2026-07-28 — Initial version, verified against GPT-5.1 and Claude Sonnet 4.5.
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