Automated follow up emails close the gap between "we sent the proposal" and "we heard back", which is where most stalled deals in a service business quietly die. When a prospect goes silent, a well-timed follow up that stops the moment they reply recovers deals your team would otherwise forget. This article answers a narrow question: how to automate the follow up after a specific sales event, such as a call or a proposal, on the levelpartner.ai platform, and how to make sure it stops when a human conversation starts.
The follow up problem in a growing firm
Ask any sales lead where deals go missing and the answer is rarely the first call. It is the week after. The proposal goes out, the prospect says they will review it, and then nothing. The salesperson means to chase but has twelve other deals and a forecast meeting.
An automated follow up does not replace the salesperson. It makes sure that every quiet prospect gets a polite, specific nudge on day three and day eight, so the salesperson only needs to step in when someone responds or when the sequence ends without a reply.
How it works on the platform
The follow up is a workflow attached to a pipeline stage. When an opportunity moves into a stage such as "Proposal sent", the workflow starts. It waits, sends an email, waits again and checks whether the contact has replied. If they have, the workflow stops and the salesperson takes over. If not, it sends the next message.
The key setting is the stop condition. A follow up that keeps sending after the prospect replied makes your firm look careless. On the platform you can set the workflow to end when the contact replies, and add a goal so that moving the opportunity to a later stage removes them too.
Before you start
- A pipeline in Opportunities with clearly named stages, including one that marks a proposal or quote as sent.
- An agreed number of follow ups and the gap between them. Two or three is usually enough.
- Copy for each email, written in the salesperson's voice.
- Each salesperson's mailbox connected, if follow ups should come from their own address.
How to set it up
- Go to Automation, then Workflows, then + Create Workflow.
- Choose Start from scratch.
- Add the Pipeline Stage Changed trigger.
- Set In Pipeline and Pipeline Stage to your Proposal sent stage.
- Add a Wait of three days.
- Add Send Email with your first follow-up, then Save Action.
- Add a five-day Wait and the second follow-up email.
- Add one more Wait, then a task for the owner to call.
- In the Settings tab, tick Stop on Response.
- Click Test Workflow, choose a dummy contact and click Run Test.
- Switch to Publish and click Save.
Writing follow ups that do not sound automated
Each follow up should add something. The first can answer a question prospects usually ask at this point: timelines, what happens after they sign, who will be their contact. The second can share a short, relevant example of similar work. Neither should say "just checking in".
Keep them short. Three or four sentences, one question, signed by the salesperson. If you want ready-made wording for the post-call message, our guide to the sales follow up email has examples.
Suppose the negotiators currently chase about half their outstanding valuation proposals within a week. With the workflow live, every proposal would get a follow up on day three and day eight, and the negotiator a call task on day twelve. If the extra follow ups won three more instructions a month, at an assumed fee of a few thousand pounds each, the set-up cost would be recovered quickly. The fee and the uplift are illustrative assumptions.
What it replaces
It replaces the follow up habit that lives in each salesperson's head. That habit varies by person, by week and by mood. The workflow makes the minimum standard the same for everyone, and the best salespeople still add their own personal touches on top.
It also replaces the spreadsheet of "people to chase" that someone updates on Fridays. The pipeline is now the chase list.
The time it takes each week
The workflow runs itself. The time cost is in reviewing replies and acting on the call tasks it creates, which is work your team should be doing anyway. Once a month, the sales lead should look at how many prospects reached the end of the sequence without replying, and whether the wording needs a refresh.
The mistake most people make
Forgetting the stop condition, or relying on salespeople to remove contacts by hand. Within a week, someone receives a "did you get a chance to look?" email the day after signing. Always set the reply stop and the stage goal before publishing.
When not to use it
Do not automate follow ups on very large, complex deals where each message needs to reference the latest conversation. A six-figure consulting engagement with five stakeholders needs a person writing each email. Use a task reminder instead, so the salesperson is prompted but writes the message.
For a longer series that continues after the sales conversation ends, see automated email sequences and how to space them. For the bigger picture of which follow ups belong in a sales process, read these sales email sequence examples.
Troubleshooting
The workflow kept sending after the prospect replied. The reply came from a different email address, or the reply was sent to a mailbox not connected to the platform. Connect the salesperson's mailbox and add the alternate address to the contact.
Follow ups sent at 2am. Add a time window to the wait steps so emails only go out during working hours in the contact's time zone.
Opportunities moved backwards and restarted the workflow. Set the workflow so a contact can only enter once per opportunity.
Salespeople complain the emails do not sound like them. Let each salesperson edit their own version and branch the workflow by opportunity owner.
Frequently asked questions
How many follow up emails should I send?
Two automated emails followed by a call task is a sensible default for a service business. More than three starts to feel like pressure rather than service.
Should follow ups come from the salesperson or a company address?
From the salesperson. The prospect met a person, and a follow up from that person continues the conversation they already had.
Can the follow up switch to SMS if email gets no response?
Yes. Add an SMS step on the no-reply branch. Keep SMS for prospects who have agreed to be contacted that way and keep the message brief.
What happens to prospects who never reply?
Move them to a later nurture stage at the end of the workflow. They are not lost, just not ready, and a slower monthly email keeps your firm in view.