How to follow up when someone has gone quiet
They were interested. Then nothing — a week, then two. You have already sent one follow-up and it went nowhere.
The follow-up that gets ignored
Short, polite, and completely unanswerable. It is the most-sent business message in the world and it has close to no reply rate.
Hi Marta, just following up on my email from a couple of weeks ago to see if you'd had a chance to look at it. I know things get busy! Let me know if you have any questions or if there's anything else you need from me. Looking forward to hearing from you.
“just following up … to see if you'd had a chance”
Contains no new information, so replying costs them more effort than not replying. Silence is the cheaper option and it stays that way until you change the maths.
“I know things get busy!”
Intended as generous, read as a nudge about the delay. It draws attention to the thing that already makes replying awkward.
“Let me know if you have any questions”
This hands them an open-ended task with no deadline. Open-ended tasks with no deadline are exactly what goes unactioned.
“Looking forward to hearing from you”
Leaves the next move entirely with them and signals you will keep waiting. Nothing here creates a reason to answer this week rather than never.
Silence usually isn't rejection, and it isn't about you
The most common reason for no reply is that answering requires a decision they have not made yet, often because it depends on someone else. Your message is not being weighed and rejected; it is sitting behind something. That matters, because it means the fix is not more persuasion — it is lowering the cost of a reply until it drops below the cost of continuing to ignore it.
The single most effective device is an explicit exit. Telling someone they can reply “not now” and you will stop consistently gets more responses than pressure, because it converts a hard message into a one-word one. Many of those replies are no, which is itself worth having: a no lets you stop spending attention on it.
The other half is removing the ambiguity about what happens next. If you say what you will do — close the file, follow up once in the spring, hold the slot until Friday — silence stops being a decision they have to make. That is often what unsticks it, because the thing keeping them quiet was never the offer.
Two messages, and knowing which one you're on
First follow-up: add something. Second: offer the exit. Third: close it. There is no fourth.
01First follow-up — give it a reason to exist
Hi Marta — one update since I wrote: we've had a slot open up in March, which I'd otherwise have expected to be full. If that changes anything on your side, happy to talk this week. If not, no problem at all.
Why it works: New information makes the message legitimate rather than a nudge. The scarcity is real and stated flatly, not manufactured.
02Second follow-up — make “no” cheap
Hi Marta — following up on the proposal from the 12th. No pressure at all: if the timing isn't right, just reply “not now” and I'll stop chasing. If it is, I have space to start in March.
Why it works: The exit is explicit and the reply is one word long. This is the version that produces answers, including useful negative ones.
03The close — leave nothing awkward behind
Hi Marta — I'll assume this isn't the right moment and leave it there, so it stops sitting in your inbox. If it comes back around later, you know where to find me. Good luck with the rest of the quarter.
Why it works: Ends the thread on your terms without a trace of resentment. Sent well, this is the message that most often gets a reply — because it is the first one that asks nothing.
The questions that come next
How long should I wait between follow-ups?
Long enough that the gap is not the message. Roughly a week after the first, two after the second. Following up faster does not increase the reply rate; it mostly increases the chance of being filed as a nuisance.
Should I move to another channel?
One channel change is reasonable — an email thread that has gone quiet is fair to raise once in person or on a call. Chasing the same person across email, phone and LinkedIn in one week reads as pressure regardless of how each message is worded.
Is it worth saying I'll close the file?
Yes, when it is true. Stated as a fact it gives a clear deadline and often produces the reply. Stated as a bluff you do not follow through on, it teaches them that your deadlines mean nothing.