Dear SaaStr: What’s the Best Way to Follow Up With a Prospect That Says “I’ll Get Back to You”
Let’s start with honesty: “I’ll get back to you” almost always means No — or at best, Not Now.
That’s not cynicism. That’s pattern recognition. If a prospect were genuinely excited to move forward, they wouldn’t be leaving the ball in your court. They’d be asking you for a next step.
So before we get into follow-up tactics, recalibrate your expectations. You’re not nurturing a hot deal. You’re either resuscitating a lukewarm one or — more often than you want to admit — running out the clock on a polite decline.
With that framing, here’s how to handle it.
The Most Important Move Happens Before You Hang Up
If a prospect says “I’ll get back to you” and you let that be the end of the call, you’ve already lost control of the deal.
The only acceptable response in the moment is to re-anchor on a specific next step: “Totally understand — how about I follow up with you Thursday at 2pm for 15 minutes to see where things stand?”
Not “sometime next week.” Not “I’ll send you an email.” A specific time. A specific ask.
If they agree, you have a meeting. If they deflect — “oh, I don’t know my schedule” — that tells you something important about where the deal actually is. Better to know now than after four unanswered follow-ups.
This one habit will save you more pipeline time than any follow-up cadence.
When You Do Follow Up, Make It Worth Opening
The most common follow-up email in B2B sales is some variation of: “Hi [Name], just wanted to check in and see if you had any updates!”
Don’t send that email. It signals that you have nothing new to offer and that your time isn’t worth much.
Every follow-up needs a reason to exist. That could be:
- A customer story that maps directly to a problem they mentioned
- A product update that addresses their specific objection
- A piece of data or market news that’s relevant to their situation
- A direct question that forces a yes or no
The frame isn’t “I’m following up.” The frame is “I thought of you because of X.” There’s a difference, and prospects feel it.
The Cadence That Actually Works
If you don’t get a response after the first follow-up, here’s a reasonable structure:
- Day 1–2: Follow up with a specific resource tied to something they said on the call
- Day 4–6: A short, direct check-in with a clear ask — are they still evaluating, or has something changed?
- Day 10–14: One more substantive touch — a case study, a new angle, a question about their timeline
- After that: Move to monthly or quarterly check-ins, and flag them for re-engagement in the next cycle
Four to six touches over three weeks is reasonable for a warm prospect. Beyond that, you’re signaling desperation more than value.
Urgency: Use It Honestly or Not At All
The classic “we have a promotion ending next week” move has a short shelf life. Prospects have heard it. If the urgency is real, use it. If it’s manufactured, skip it.
Real urgency looks like: your implementation slots are limited next quarter, a price increase is coming, or a feature they care about is shipping soon and they’d benefit from being part of the beta.
Fake urgency — “just wanted to catch you before the week ends” — doesn’t move deals forward. It just trains prospects to tune you out.
The Break-Up Email Actually Works
After three or four unanswered touches, send a break-up email. Something like:
“[Name] — I’ve reached out a few times and haven’t heard back, so I’m going to assume the timing isn’t right. I’ll stop following up. If anything changes, I’m easy to find.”
This works for two reasons. One, it’s respectful of their time. Two, it occasionally triggers a response from people who were genuinely busy and feel a small jolt of guilt at seeing you close the loop.
You’ll either re-open the conversation or get clean closure. Both outcomes are better than an indefinitely stalled deal clogging your pipeline.
The Real Issue Most Reps Avoid
“I’ll get back to you” is usually a symptom, not the problem. The problem is that something wasn’t resolved on the call — budget wasn’t confirmed, the champion doesn’t have internal buy-in, there’s a competing priority, or they’re not actually the decision-maker.
Before you plan your follow-up sequence, ask yourself: what was the unresolved question that left this deal in limbo?
If you can name it, address it directly in your first follow-up. If you can’t name it, your follow-up email should ask for it: “One thing I wanted to clarify — where does this initiative rank against your other Q2 priorities? That’ll help me make sure I’m being useful rather than just a recurring calendar item.”
That’s a question a confident salesperson asks. And it’s the kind of email that gets replies.
Most Won’t Come Back
Most deals that end in “I’ll get back to you” don’t come back. That’s the honest answer. Your job isn’t to will them back to life through sheer follow-up volume — it’s to give the ones that could close every reasonable opportunity to do so, qualify out the ones that won’t, and keep your pipeline moving.
Stay in touch. Add value each time. Know when to stop.
And next time, set the next step before you hang up.
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