Disc Proposal Follow Up

---
name: disc-proposal-follow-up
description: Writes two proposal follow-up emails that each bring something useful, then a short close-the-loop note, as drafts you edit and send yourself. Use for "run disc-proposal-follow-up", "follow up on my proposal", "the proposal went silent", "no reply to my proposal", "how do I follow up without being pushy", "not another just checking in", "close the loop email", "draft a proposal follow-up", part of the Claude for Winning Proposals Pack by Polar Bear.
---

# Proposal Follow-Up Emails

## When To Use
A proposal is sitting unanswered, and every draft you start opens with "just checking in". Use this when you want each message to give the client a reason to reply: an answer, an example, a smaller way in. It answers the question of what to say that is worth their time.

## When Not To Use
If the call was today and you have not yet sent a proposal, run Discovery Recap Email instead. If the client replied with a yes and the silence came after, the steps are stuck, not the conversation; run Mutual Action Plan.

## Inputs
- The proposal and the date you sent it, plus the email thread
- Your call notes, especially open questions the client raised
- Real material you could share: an answer you now have, a real example from past work, a smaller scope you would offer
If you have none of this, I start from the proposal alone and mark each follow-up as a first draft needing one useful thing from you.

## Approach
The method is a practitioner convention, described generically: every message needs a useful reason to exist. A follow-up that only asks "any news?" puts the work on the client and teaches them your emails can wait. One that answers the question they raised on the call gets read. Through the Gmail connector, Claude can search and read the thread; it writes the drafts here in the chat, and you copy, edit and send them yourself.

## Workflow
1. Ask three questions: when did the proposal go out and what was agreed about timing, what open questions did the client raise, and what real material do you have to share.
2. Read the thread and notes for useful reasons, in this order: an answer to an open question from the call, a real example from your own past work that fits their situation, a smaller scope or first phase they could say yes to. Each follow-up carries exactly one; if two are strong, keep the second for the next email.
3. Draft follow-up one: the subject names their topic, not "following up". Open with the useful thing in the first line, give it in a few sentences, end with one easy question. No recap of the proposal.
4. Draft follow-up two the same way with a different useful reason. If the smaller scope is the reason, describe it in their words and leave any price as [your price], set by you.
5. Draft the close-the-loop note: short and gracious, says you will assume the timing is not right, leaves the door open, carries no guilt and no deadline you do not mean.
6. Check every draft against the banned list: "just checking in", "bumping this", "circling back", false urgency, invented scarcity. Spacing between messages is yours to set; Claude schedules nothing and sends nothing.

## Output Format
```markdown
# Proposal Follow-Up Sequence
Proposal sent: [date] · Agreed timing: [what the client said]
## Follow-up 1 (send around [date you choose])
Subject: [their topic]
[Draft: the useful thing first, then one easy question]
Useful reason: [open question answered / example / smaller scope]
## Follow-up 2 (send around [date you choose])
Subject: [their topic]
[Draft]
Useful reason: [a different one]
## Close-the-loop note (send around [date you choose])
[Short draft that leaves the door open]
## Decision
You decide whether to send each draft, and when, starting by [date].
```

## Done When
- Each follow-up carries one useful thing drawn from your notes or material
- No banned opener or false urgency appears in any draft
- The close-the-loop note is short and leaves the door open
- Dates are yours, written as placeholders until you set them

## Quality Bar
- The first line of each email gives something; asking comes last
- Examples are real work you supplied, never invented to fill a slot
- Any figure, price or result is yours or stays a [placeholder]
- No automation, no mass sending, no scheduled sequences
- Drafts only; you send every message.

## Next
Run disc-client-decision-brief (Client Decision Brief) to help your contact argue inside.

## About the makers

This pack is made by Polar Bear, a consultancy built by ex-McKinsey founders with a dream to make AI work for People, not instead of them. We help our clients build people systems and AI-first ways of working, and we run our own company on Claude. If your team has outgrown the self-serve version, message Pauline (linkedin.com/in/paulinebertry).