Demos. Webinars. Cold emails. Welcome sequences. Nurture sequences....

What do all of these have in common, Reader?

They all require follow-up.

I’ve been talking on LinkedIn this week about follow-up, and I want to go deeper here with you.

Most EdTech companies follow a 3-5 follow-up and then… crickets.

But district sales cycles aren’t 3 emails long. They’re 6, 12, even 18 months.

Which means, if you stop at 3, you’ve gone dark right when admins are still deciding.

What to send instead

First 2 weeks

• Quick wins that match their profile (case study)
• FAQs that handle objections
• A 90-sec demo clip

Quiet months

• Funding reminders
• Testing-season support
• A simple template or short thought-leadership note

When engagement stops​
Skip “just checking in.” Try:

• “What changed since we spoke?”
• “90-sec video on ?” (e.g., “90 seconds to stronger feedback loops”)

Create your own tagging system

Create a tagging system in your ESP, so you can send even more personalized and relevant emails based on what they engage with:

• [QW] Quick Win → share a fast result, template, or case study
• [OB] Objection→ address the reason admins stall or say no
• [SP] Social Proof → show how a peer district used your product
• [ED] Education → teach something useful (funding, compliance, literacy, etc.)
• [RB] Roadblock Remover → short video/email handling one big challenge
• [NR] Not-Ready→ keep warm during quiet months (“still here when ready”)

Sample 5-email follow-up sequence

• Email 1 → [QW] Case study or template
• Email 2 → [OB] “Too busy during testing season?” → workaround
• Email 3 → [SP] “# District Name teachers enrolled in our training”
• Email 4 → [ED] Funding source to use next semester
• Email 5 → [NR] “Let’s touch base at budget season” reminder

Then pace it weekly, biweekly, or monthly based on their engagement/tags.

If they engage with Quick Wins, feed them more Quick Wins, and so on.

It’s the long game. The brands who keep showing up (even lightly) are the ones who win budget when the timing finally is right.

Next week, we'll cover how to keep your emails out of......rhymes-with-ham jail.

And as always, I'm rooting for you, Kelly