The Problem
Deals were dying between proposal and signature.
A professional services firm with 12 consultants and a €3.8M pipeline had a follow-up problem they couldn't name. Proposals went out. Then silence. Reps assumed "no news is good news" until deals were marked lost six weeks later.
The CRM showed 66% of proposals received a follow-up within 7 days. The other 34% simply vanished. No call, no email, no note. The firm was losing €220K annually to proposals that should have closed but were forgotten.
The Signal
The pipeline looked healthy. The close rate told a different story.
During the Revenue Leak Audit, we traced 50 proposals through their full lifecycle. The signal was brutal: 34% of proposals never received a second touch. Of the 66% that did, the average follow-up was 9 days after sending — long after the prospect had moved on.
- →No automated follow-up sequence after proposal send
- →Reps relied on memory and calendar reminders
- →No escalation when a proposal sat unchased for > 5 days
- →CRM stages were updated manually, often days late
- →No visibility into which proposals were at risk of stalling
The Evidence
34%
Proposals with zero follow-up
Lost to silence, not to competition
9d
Average follow-up delay
Industry benchmark: 24–48 hours
66%
Follow-up rate
Should be 95%+ for qualified proposals
€220K
Estimated annual leak
Lost deals + extended sales cycles
The Intervention
Build the system. Fix the leak.
Proposal send trigger
Every proposal sent automatically triggers a 5-touch follow-up sequence. Day 1: confirmation. Day 3: value reminder. Day 7: social proof. Day 14: direct ask. Day 21: final nudge. Each touch is personalised to the prospect and proposal context.
Stalled deal alerts
If a proposal sits without a logged touch for 5 days, the system alerts the rep, their manager, and the CRM. No deal goes cold without someone knowing. The alert includes the last touch, the prospect engagement score, and a suggested next action.
Manager escalation
Deals stalled for 10 days are automatically escalated to the sales director with a one-line summary and recommended intervention. The director can reassign, coach, or personally intervene — but they cannot not know.
CRM auto-progression
Proposal stages update automatically based on follow-up activity. Reps spend zero time on stage management. Managers see real pipeline health, not optimistic manual updates.
The Result
Numbers that speak.
Follow-up rate
First follow-up
Proposal-to-close
Pipeline contribution
"We thought our close rate was low because our pricing was wrong. Turns out we were just forgetting to follow up. The system Colin built didn't just remind us — it made follow-up impossible to forget."
— Managing Director, Professional Services Firm
The Ritual
Systems run. Humans decide.
The automated sequence handles the rhythm of follow-up. But human judgment remains at the critical points: when to personalise, when to escalate, and when to walk away.
Every Monday, the sales director reviews the weekly ritual: proposal health, stalled deal alerts, and rep performance. The system ensures nothing is forgotten. The human ensures nothing is robotic.
The weekly ritual is simple but non-negotiable:
- 01Review proposal health dashboard (target: 95% follow-up rate)
- 02Flag any proposal stalled > 5 days without human touch
- 03Check auto-sequence quality score (human reviews flagged items)
- 04Adjust sequence timing if seasonal patterns change
Start Here
Find out if your instinct is right.
You already know where the leak is. Let's prove it — and build the system that fixes it.
5 questions. 2 minutes. No commitment.