Follow-ups that stop when they should

What you will build

A Follow-up Desk for quotes you have sent: a simple list of open quotes, a short follow-up plan, a stop list that ends follow-ups the moment they should end, and two prompts. One prompt checks your list each morning and tells you who is due, who must stop and who to leave alone. The other drafts a single useful follow-up message. You read and send every message yourself, one at a time.

The aim is fewer, better follow-ups. Each one carries something new and useful, and none is sent to someone who said no.

Before you start

• A list of quotes you sent in the last few weeks. A spreadsheet, notebook or WhatsApp Business labels all work as a starting point.
• A few "useful things" you can share: photos of finished jobs you have permission to use, care tips, answers to common questions.
• Claude, ChatGPT or Gemini, any plan.
• WhatsApp Business on the business phone.
• About 30 minutes for setup, then a few minutes each morning.

How it works

Most follow-ups fail for one of two reasons. Either they never happen because nobody tracks them, or they happen badly: "any update?" three times, to someone who already said they booked elsewhere. This Desk fixes both. The list makes sure nobody is forgotten. The stop rules make sure nobody is chased.

The core idea is simple: a follow-up must carry something new and useful, or it waits. If you have nothing useful to add, silence is the better message. The AI helps you spot who is due and draft a message from your bank of useful things. It never decides to send, and it stops the moment a stop rule applies.

1. Build a simple follow-up list.
2. Write the follow-up plan.
3. Write the stop rules and the "never" list.
4. Build a bank of useful things to share.
5. Run the morning check.
6. Draft one useful follow-up at a time.
7. Send by hand, update the list and clean it weekly.

Step 1: Build a simple follow-up list

You need one place that shows every open quote. A Google Sheet is enough. Keep real names and numbers in your sheet, and use a separate label column for anything you paste into AI.

FOLLOW-UP LIST (columns)
label | job | date quote sent | last contact date | last contact by (us / customer) | status | next step date | notes
Status options: Quoted / Followed up once / Followed up twice / Replied / Won / Lost / Later / Stop

WhatsApp Business also lets you label chats, for example "Quoted" or "Needs follow-up". See How to use labels in the WhatsApp Help Center. Menus may move; check your app. The sheet is still useful because it shows dates at a glance.

Check

• Every quote sent in the last few weeks is on the list.
• Each row has a label you can paste safely into AI.
• "Last contact by" shows whether the customer has replied.

Step 2: Write the follow-up plan

Decide once how many follow-ups you send and when. Write it down so staff and the AI follow the same plan.

FOLLOW-UP PLAN: after a quote is sent
Day 2: one message with something new and useful. Never "any update?".
Day 7: one short, low-pressure check with an easy way to say no.
After Day 7: stop. Move the quote to "Later" and leave it alone.
Only one message per customer per day.
Only between [9am] and [8pm].
If the customer replies at any point, a person takes over the conversation and the plan ends.

Adjust the days to your business. A wedding caterer may wait longer between messages than a same-week repair service. What matters is that the plan has an end.

Check

• The plan has a clear last step, after which you stop.
• There is a daily limit and a time window.
• Any reply hands the conversation back to a person.

Step 3: Write the stop rules and the "never" list

Stop rules end the follow-up. The "never" list keeps every follow-up honest.

STOP IMMEDIATELY IF THE CUSTOMER:
- replies (a person takes over)
- says no, not now, later, already booked, not interested
- says stop, do not contact, or wrong number
- complains, asks for a refund, or sounds upset
- asks for a discount (owner decides, not the follow-up)

NEVER IN A FOLLOW-UP:
- a discount the owner did not approve
- a fake deadline ("price ends today") that is not true
- a claim you cannot show, like "many customers choose this"
- more than one message a day
- a message to anyone marked Stop, Lost or Won

When someone says stop or do not contact, mark the row "Stop" the same day and keep it that way. Respecting that request is basic courtesy, and under Malaysia's personal data law people have rights about how their details are used. This guide is a habit, not legal advice. If you are unsure of your obligations, ask a qualified adviser.

Check

• Every stop signal you have seen in real chats is on the list.
• Discount requests go to the owner.
• "Stop" rows can never receive another message.

Step 4: Build a bank of useful things to share

A good follow-up gives the customer a reason to reply. Write a short bank of things you can honestly share. The AI will only draw from this bank.

USEFUL THINGS BANK
Photos of finished jobs (permission given, no faces or house numbers): [describe each]
Answers to common questions: [e.g. how long installation takes, how to clean]
Care or preparation tips: [e.g. what to do before we come]
Real schedule news: [e.g. a real opening next week, only if true today]
Materials or samples: [e.g. new fabric samples in the shop this month]

Update the "real schedule news" line only when it is true. If there is no opening, leave it empty. An empty line is better than an invented one.

Check

• Every item in the bank is true today.
• Photos have permission and show nothing private.
• There is at least one useful thing for your most common job type.

Step 5: Run the morning check

Each morning, copy the anonymised columns of your follow-up list (label, job, dates, status, notes) and paste them into this prompt.

You are my Follow-up Desk. You prepare, I send.

Today is [date]. Using MY PLAN and MY STOP RULES, sort every row in MY LIST into:
1. DUE TODAY: which follow-up (Day 2 or Day 7) and why
2. STOP: rows where a stop rule applies, with the rule
3. WAIT: rows not due yet, with the next date
4. MOVE TO LATER: rows past the last step of the plan

Rules:
- If the customer was the last to reply, the row is not due. A person must read that chat.
- Never mark a Stop, Lost or Won row as due.
- If you are unsure about a row, put it under "Owner check" and explain.

MY PLAN:
[paste]

MY STOP RULES:
[paste]

MY LIST:
[paste anonymised rows]

This is a sorting job. It does not draft messages yet. You glance at the result, correct anything wrong, and move to Step 6 only for the rows that are due.

Check

• Rows where the customer replied last are not marked due.
• Stop rows are listed with the rule that stopped them.
• The number of rows in equals the number of rows out.

Step 6: Draft one useful follow-up at a time

For each row that is due, draft one message. Include the conversation so far, with names and numbers removed, so the AI can pick something relevant.

Draft one WhatsApp follow-up for this quote.

It must include one new, useful thing from MY USEFUL THINGS BANK that fits this customer's job.
Under 50 words, in the customer's language, friendly, no pressure.
No discount, no deadline, no claims about other customers.
If this is the Day 7 message, include an easy way to say no, e.g. "If you have decided on another option, no problem, just let me know."
If nothing in the bank is useful for this customer, reply only: WAIT: nothing useful to add.

MY USEFUL THINGS BANK:
[paste]

QUOTE AND CONVERSATION SO FAR (anonymised):
[paste]

"WAIT: nothing useful to add" is a valid answer. When you get it, do not force a message. Improve your bank instead.

Check

• The draft contains one specific useful thing from the bank.
• The Day 7 draft makes it easy to say no.
• No discount, deadline or unprovable claim appears.

Step 7: Send by hand, update the list and clean it weekly

Read the draft, edit it so it sounds like you, and send it yourself from the business phone, one customer at a time. Do not paste AI drafts into broadcast lists or bulk senders. A follow-up is a personal message.

Straight after sending, update the row: last contact date, status, next step date. Once a week, clean the list:

WEEKLY CLEAN (Friday)
- Move rows past the last step to "Later".
- Confirm every "Stop" row is still marked Stop.
- Check which useful things got replies and which did not. Add or remove items in the bank.
- Save the plan, stop rules, bank and prompts as a dated known-good copy if anything changed.

Check

• Every message was read, edited and sent by a person.
• The list was updated on the same day as each send.
• A dated known-good copy of the plan and prompts exists.

Worked example

This example is made up for teaching. The shop, customers and messages are not real.

A curtain and blinds shop in Ipoh sends quotes after measuring windows. Its follow-up list had nine open quotes. On Tuesday morning the owner pasted the anonymised rows into the morning check.

The Desk returned:

• DUE TODAY: Customer C, Day 2 (quote sent Sunday, no reply). Customer F, Day 7.
• STOP: Customer D. Last message from the customer said "Sudah ambil kedai lain, terima kasih." Rule: already booked.
• WAIT: five rows not due yet.
• Owner check: Customer H replied last night with a question about motorised blinds. Not due. A person must read the chat.

The owner answered Customer H personally. For Customer C (roller blinds for a living room, asked earlier whether they block afternoon sun), the draft was:

Hi, just sharing one thing that might help: the blackout fabric we quoted blocks most of the afternoon sun, and we have a sample in the shop if you want to see it in daylight. Any questions, just WhatsApp me.

The owner checked it against the bank ("blackout sample available in shop this month") and sent it. For Customer F, the Day 7 draft included "Kalau dah pilih pilihan lain, tak apa, beritahu saja ya." The owner sent it and later that day Customer F replied "Next year baru renovate." The row moved to Later.

On the first run, one draft for Customer F said "Harga ini sah sampai hujung minggu sahaja." That deadline was not true. The owner marked the draft broken, added "no deadline unless the quote rules state one" to the never list, re-ran, and saved the new known-good copy.

Common mistakes and fixes

• Follow-ups say "any update?" → require one item from the useful things bank, and accept "WAIT" when there is nothing useful.
• Someone who said no gets another message → add their exact words to the stop rules and mark the row "Stop" the same day.
• The AI marks a row due even though the customer replied → include "last contact by" in the list and the rule that customer replies go to a person.
• Invented urgency creeps in → put fake deadlines and unapproved discounts on the never list and test with a past quote.
• Follow-ups go out in bulk → send one by one from the business phone. No broadcast lists for quote follow-ups.
• The list goes stale → update each row right after sending and clean it every Friday.
• Photos of customers' homes are shared without permission → only use photos with permission and nothing that shows faces or house numbers.

Take it further

• Connect it to triage: the "Existing quote" category in The Lead Triage Desk: sort every new enquiry and draft replies you approve feeds this list.
• Project: keep the plan, stop rules and useful things bank as files in your business Project. See Set up a Claude Project as your business brain.
• Weekly habit: the Friday clean is where the Desk gets better. Notice which useful things get replies and add more like them.
• Related: Turn a customer message into a draft quote, Check the AI's answer before a customer sees it and The five things AI should never do without you.

Quick checklist

• One list of open quotes, with safe labels.
• A follow-up plan with a clear last step.
• Stop rules for replies, no, later, complaints and "do not contact".
• A never list: no fake deadlines, no unapproved discounts, one message a day.
• A useful things bank that is true today.
• Morning check sorts due, stop, wait and later.
• Every message drafted singly and sent by a person.
• List updated after every send and cleaned weekly.