[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":144},["ShallowReactive",2],{"lesson-/academy/account-executive/after-you-send-the-proposal":3},{"path":4,"data":5,"html":48,"toc":49,"prev":62,"next":68,"track":116},"/academy/account-executive/after-you-send-the-proposal",{"title":6,"description":7,"primaryQuery":8,"secondaryQueries":9,"module":13,"order":14,"tier":15,"intent":16,"asset":17,"publishedAt":20,"author":21,"reviewedAt":22,"relatedTool":23,"challenge":24,"exercise":45},"After You Send the Proposal: Follow-Through That Keeps the Deal Alive","A proposal doesn't sell itself — it dies in an inbox if you don't drive it. Agree on the next step and a review meeting before you send it, put a validity date on it, and follow up with purpose: confirm they got it, walk the committee through it, and push for a decision. The deal closes in the follow-through, not the send — and price pushback there is where negotiation begins.","what to do after you send a sales proposal",[10,11,12],"proposal follow up","how to follow up after a proposal","sales proposal next steps",3,4,"A","informational",{"type":18,"title":19},"roadmap","The post-proposal follow-through plan","2026-09-10","closers","2026-09-24",null,{"type":25,"id":26,"brief":27,"buckets":28,"items":31},"sort","ae-m3-l6-proposal-followup","Which of these keeps the deal moving after you send it?",[29,30],"Keep the deal moving","Kill your own momentum",[32,35,38,41,43],{"key":33,"text":34},0,"Follow up with purpose until you get a yes, a no, or a real reason",{"key":36,"text":37},1,"Drop the price the moment they hesitate, before they even ask",{"key":39,"text":40},2,"Walk your champion through it so they can answer questions cold",{"key":13,"text":42},"Agree on the review meeting and a decision date before you send",{"key":14,"text":44},"Send it and go quiet, waiting for them to come back",{"prompt":46,"successCriteria":47},"Classify each as momentum-keeping or momentum-killing, then write the next-step email you'd send 48 hours after a proposal.","You have a post-proposal plan — a pre-agreed review, a prepared champion, purposeful follow-up — that drives to a decision.","\u003Cp>Sending a \u003Ca href=\"/glossary/proposal/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">proposal\u003C/a> feels like the end of the work; it's actually the moment the real work begins. A proposal left to sit quietly does not get approved — it gets forgotten. The deal is closed in the \u003Ca href=\"/glossary/negotiation/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">follow-through\u003C/a>, not the send: whoever drives the proposal to a review, answers the questions, and pushes for a decision is the one who wins it.\u003C/p>\n\u003Ch2 id=\"set-up-the-close-before-you-send\">Set up the close before you send\u003C/h2>\n\u003Cp>The best follow-through starts before the proposal exists. Before you send it, agree with your \u003Ca href=\"/glossary/champion/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">champion\u003C/a> on the review meeting, who'll be there, and a decision date. Put a validity period on the proposal so it carries a clock. If you don't know when they'll decide, you've handed them a proposal with no next step and no urgency.\u003C/p>\n\u003Ch2 id=\"after-you-send-it\">After you send it\u003C/h2>\n\u003Cp>The first 48 hours set the tone. Confirm they received it and that it reflects the discovery. Walk your \u003Ca href=\"/glossary/champion/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">champion\u003C/a> through it so they can answer questions from the \u003Ca href=\"/glossary/buying-committee/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">committee\u003C/a> cold. Then follow up with purpose — not with "just checking in," but with a reason to talk: a question answered, a section clarified, a step forward. Each touch drives toward the decision date you set.\u003C/p>\n\u003Ch2 id=\"handling-the-stall-and-the-price-push\">Handling the stall and the price push\u003C/h2>\n\u003Cp>When the buyer goes quiet or hesitates, that's information, not a reason to discount. Ask what's holding it up — a concern in \u003Ca href=\"/glossary/procurement/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">procurement\u003C/a>, an \u003Ca href=\"/glossary/evaluation-criteria/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">evaluator\u003C/a> question, a \u003Ca href=\"/glossary/price-objection/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">price\u003C/a> they can't defend to their boss. If it's price, that's where you trade from the value you anchored — which is exactly the \u003Ca href=\"/glossary/negotiation/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">negotiation\u003C/a> the next module is built for.\u003C/p>\n\u003Ch2 id=\"start-here\">Start here\u003C/h2>\n\u003Cp>That's the end of this module: discovery became a demo, the demo became value, and the value became a proposal you're driving to a decision. The next module takes over at the hardest part of the AE job — starting with how to \u003Ca href=\"/academy/account-executive/prepare-for-the-sales-negotiation/\">prepare for the sales negotiation\u003C/a>, where you turn a deal they like into one you defend and sign.\u003C/p>\n",[50,53,56,59],{"id":51,"text":52},"set-up-the-close-before-you-send","Set up the close before you send",{"id":54,"text":55},"after-you-send-it","After you send it",{"id":57,"text":58},"handling-the-stall-and-the-price-push","Handling the stall and the price push",{"id":60,"text":61},"start-here","Start here",{"path":63,"title":64,"description":65,"module":13,"order":13,"kind":66,"practiceCall":23,"core":67},"/academy/account-executive/write-a-sales-proposal","Write a Sales Proposal the Buyer Can Defend","A sales proposal's real job is to let the buyer say yes and defend it internally. Write it from their discovery: restate the problem and the agreed outcomes, the solution that delivers them, the value and business case, the terms and price, and a clear next step. It should read like a plan the champion wrote — so anyone in the committee can approve it without you in the room.","order",true,{"path":69,"title":70,"description":71,"module":14,"order":36,"kind":66,"practiceCall":72,"core":67},"/academy/account-executive/prepare-for-the-sales-negotiation","Prepare for the Sales Negotiation: Value, Leverage, and Your Walk-Away","A sales negotiation is won before you sit down. Prepare the numbers you'll defend, your leverage and the buyer's alternatives, the things you can trade that cost you little, and your walk-away price — the line below which the deal isn't worth it. Walking in knowing your value and your floor is what lets you hold both without losing the deal.",{"persona":73,"industry":74,"objection":75,"difficulty":76,"goal":77,"difficultyOptions":78,"deal":80,"voice":67,"assessment":115},"ae_economic_buyer","saas","no-budget","standard","When Marcus says there's no budget, re-anchor price to the value you proved and trade — hold your margin and agree terms without folding.",[76,79],"brutal",{"company":81,"product":82,"valueProp":83,"buyer":84,"benefits":85,"downsides":89,"features":93,"battlecards":99,"pricing":112,"competitors":113,"proof":114},"Northwind","a revenue platform that unifies pipeline, forecast and call activity in one view","sales leaders forecast with confidence and stop chasing reps for updates","the VP of Sales (the economic buyer who owns the number)",[86,87,88],"forecast accuracy without chasing reps for updates","pipeline, calls and forecast in one view","rep-level coaching from real call data",[90,91,92],"a real implementation — weeks, not days","needs clean CRM data to work","priced for mid-market and up",[94,95,96,97,98],"unified pipeline, forecast and call activity in one view","forecast roll-ups by rep, team and segment","call recording and transcription with deal-level notes","two-way CRM sync (Salesforce / HubSpot)","rep-level coaching scorecards from real calls",[100,104,108],{"competitor":101,"weWin":102,"theyWin":103},"Clari","call-level coaching data Clari does not surface, and a mid-market rollout your RevOps lead can run without a services contract","deeper forecast AI, an enterprise base your board has heard of, and a renewal already in motion",{"competitor":105,"weWin":106,"theyWin":107},"the CRM's built-in dashboards","real call data and coaching, not pipeline fields a rep can shade","already paid for, zero new vendor, and no security review",{"competitor":109,"weWin":110,"theyWin":111},"doing nothing until next quarter","board pressure does not wait for the budget window — a pilot inside this quarter gives the CFO a number to argue with","no risk, no procurement, and the miss may have been seasonal","annual contract from ~$30k, tiered by seats","Clari and their existing CRM dashboards","a 300-rep org cut forecast error from 18% to 6%",false,{"slug":117,"title":118,"shortTitle":119,"crumb":119,"path":120,"positioning":121,"totalLessons":122,"modules":123},"account-executive","Certified Account Executive (CAE)","Account Executive Certification","/academy/account-executive","The free certification for the promotion from SDR — learning to run the full deal, from discovery and demo to negotiation and the close. The AE is the closer.",27,[124,127,130,133,137,140],{"id":36,"name":125,"lessonCount":14,"description":126},"The Promotion: SDR to AE","What changes when you move from booking meetings to owning a book and a revenue quota — and why the AE is the closer — 4 core lessons.",{"id":39,"name":128,"lessonCount":14,"description":129},"Discovery at AE Depth","Full discovery and multi-stakeholder qualification — the pain, the money, the people and the path to yes — 4 lessons.",{"id":13,"name":131,"lessonCount":14,"description":132},"Demo, Value and the Proposal","Turn discovery into a demo and proposal the buyer can defend internally — 4 lessons.",{"id":14,"name":134,"lessonCount":135,"description":136},"Negotiation and the Close",5,"Price, concessions and the final objections — then the ask. The AE is the closer — 5 lessons.",{"id":135,"name":138,"lessonCount":14,"description":139},"Pipeline, Forecast and Quota","Run a real book: honest pipeline, forecasting, and hitting a revenue quota — 4 lessons.",{"id":141,"name":142,"lessonCount":141,"description":143},6,"Getting Hired as an AE","Land the AE job — resume, interview answers, comp plan, and the certification assessment — 6 lessons.",1792888517316]