Tracking and following up on a sales proposal: You send a PDF.
Then you see nothing.
By Nicolas Delignières · The PDF is gone. Your inbox stays silent. You can’t tell whether your offer is waiting its turn, circulating internally or raising a concern.
Seller side · inbox
ACME proposal.pdf · sent
AttachmentNo reply received
Client side · one possible scenario
None of this is visible to you.
Seller side · inbox
ACME proposal.pdf · sent
AttachmentNo reply received
Client side · one possible scenario
None of this is visible to you.
Seller side · inbox
ACME proposal.pdf · sent
AttachmentNo reply received
Have you had a chance to look at our proposal?
Client side · one possible scenario
Licenses for 8 users, onboarding included
€552 / month excl. VAT · billed monthlyWhat do you follow up on?
Fictional case · ACME Consulting
A silent inbox doesn’t tell you what’s happening to your proposal.
Pick up the thread.
To know what to bring.
A proposal viewed through a link, in a tool with detailed tracking, gives you visibility into how it is read: return visits, the passages viewed and newly identified readers.
Let’s take the same situation with a proposal viewed online: this time, Sophie invites Jean, who gets his own access.
Another format · online viewing
“Opened” doesn’t tell you what deserves your attention.
A proposal viewed through a link, in a tool with detailed tracking, gives you visibility into how it is read: return visits, the passages viewed and newly identified readers.
A counter alone
3 opens
Another format · online viewing
Jean views the investment, then comes back to it.
You already know Jean is involved in approving the budget.
Jean’s first read
Jean goes back to Investment
Fictional case · ACME Consulting
A follow-up angle emerges: help Sophie defend the project’s value.
One possible scenario · budget approval
Your proposal is circulating.
Give it what it needs to convince without you.
Jean wasn’t part of your conversations. Sophie has to present the project to him. Your next follow-up can already give her the arguments to pass along.
Ask where the decision stands.
Give her what she needs to prepare it.
Put the value next to the investment.
Prepared follow-up · Gaëlle → Sophie
To help you present the project to Jean, here is a summary that links the budget to your team’s goals: the preparation time to win back, the closing rate and the quality of your proposals. You can forward it to him directly. If it helps, we can also go over these points together.
Jean views the investment, then comes back to it.
You already know Jean is involved in approving the budget.A summary to forward
Target goals
Preparation per month, per salesperson
Minimum closing rate to get back to
Make proposal quality consistent
Licenses for 8 users · onboarding included
€552 / month excl. VATBilled monthlyRead the full summary
Your situation. Proposals that take too long to prepare, practices scattered between Paris and Lyon and a closing rate that is slipping.
The answer. Prepare personalized proposals from the qualification, share best practices and use reading signals to follow up.
The goals. Go from 16 to 8 hours of preparation per month, per salesperson, get back to at least a 35% closing rate and make quality consistent.
The commitment. Licenses for all 8 users, onboarding included: €552 / month excl. VAT, billed monthly.
The decision needed. Approve the investment and plan the kickoff.
Fictional case · ACME Consulting
Your contact gets help for their internal discussion, not one more request for news.
Another possible scenario · implementation
Don’t wait for the question
to make implementation concrete.
Sophie is going back over the approach and the schedule. She hasn’t asked you anything. You already have what it takes to help her picture the kickoff.
Seller side
Sophie goes back to Methodology
Sophie views Timeline & Next Steps
Prepared follow-up · Gaëlle → Sophie
I’m attaching a sheet on how onboarding works: the seniors’ role, your coordination and how the team gets up to speed. It also includes feedback from a consulting firm on what made implementation easier. You can share it with the people who will be involved in the kickoff.
From the pilot on your own deals to the team getting up to speed.
Start with the seniors Work on their real deals and collect their feedback during the pilot.
Prepare with Sophie Coordinate the feedback and prepare to bring both offices on board.
Support the team After approvals and signature, support everyone as they use it on their own proposals.
What made implementation easier
The pilot on our own deals made the onboarding concrete. Feedback from the first users helped us prepare for the rest of the team.
Comparable consulting firm · fictional testimonial for illustration.
Fictional case · ACME Consulting
A good follow-up moves the thinking forward even before you get a reply.
Another possible scenario · activity picks up again
You had written the deal off.
The client reopens the file.
You’d stopped expecting an answer. Then the proposal is viewed again. The silence goes on, but the moment has changed.
The deal drops off your radar.
After a first read, your messages go unanswered. Activity stops.
Still no reply received
Time passes. The counter never goes back down.
I’d stopped counting on this deal.
Seller side
No activity recorded
First view
Fictional dates to illustrate the break and the resumed reading.
The topic is back on screen.
Sophie reopens the proposal and views the solution, then the next steps. She still hasn’t replied.
Still no reply received
Recent activity puts the deal back on your radar.
Seller side
Sophie reopens the proposal
Sections viewed
Approach & SolutionTimeline & Next StepsFictional dates to illustrate the break and the resumed reading.
The file is reopening.
Time to get back in touch.
Call opener prepared · Gaëlle → Sophie
Hi Sophie, I’m calling to pick up the conversation about sales proposals. We had left off on your goal of giving time back to client work and converting better.
Where do things stand today?
Fictional case · ACME Consulting
Tracking also helps you choose where to put your sales energy back.
Epilogue · once the deal is agreed
When the decision is made
The decision is made.
Time to sign.
The client finds the proposal, its scope and its price. They can sign it right there, without printing or sending the document back.
In this example, Sophie and Jean approved the project after the pilot.
Illustrative walkthrough · no real signature
Ready to sign
Proposal scope
Licenses for 8 users, onboarding included
€552 / month excl. VAT · billed monthly
1 · Identity & signature
- Full name
- Sophie Martin
- Job title
- Sales director
- Company
- ACME Consulting
- Work email
- sophie@acme.example
Sophie Martin
Fictional data · no email sent
2 · Email verification
sophie@acme.example
In Cuevr, the signer receives a code by email to confirm their identity. Here is that step, with a fictional code.
Illustration code · already filled in
Agreement confirmed · illustration
Sophie finds the accepted proposal, with her signature.
Sophie Martin
Signed by Sophie MartinSimulation complete. No signature or personal data was saved.
Tracking and following up on a sales proposal:
the essentials.
Tracking isn’t there to reassure you. A proposal that is read but unsigned always hides an objection. Tracking won’t tell you which one; it helps you find the right angle and the right moment to follow up, without ever showing that you’re watching. Doing nothing already means losing.
Track how things change, don’t collect opens
Many brief opens don’t mean a section was read. Look at what has changed since your last conversation: a new read, a return to a section, a newly identified reader, a break or a resumption. A cumulative counter keeps old opens even when activity stops. A score that ignores recency can hide that shift. Cross-check this tracking with the known stakes and the next steps you agreed on to split your attention across your deals.
Passages read, re-read or left aside
Look at how reading is spread across context, solution, methodology and investment. Then go back to the real conversations: did the document make the answer clear? Where did you have to add an explanation? Use this feedback to rework the proposal and how you prepare the next ones.
Help your contact defend the project
Your proposal circulates among people who weren’t part of your conversations. Give your contact a summary that links situation, answer, goals and investment. Receiving access isn’t reading: look at who receives the proposal, then at what each person actually views.
Bring an answer before they ask the question
Choose content that helps move things forward: a case for the value, the onboarding approach, implementation steps or comparable customer feedback. Make that help available in your follow-up. The prospect should be able to use it and pass it on without first booking a meeting.
Follow up without showing you’re watching
Tracking prepares your follow-up; it doesn’t justify it. Never write “I saw you re-read the investment”: it’s intrusive and damages the relationship. Your message starts from what you know about the project and how this kind of decision gets made. It should seem to come from your expertise, not from your screen.
Three follow-ups to adapt
When the investment is back at the center
“Thinking back on our conversation, I could have spelled out the project’s value using your own figures. Would you like us to go over that point together?”
When the project has to convince people internally
“I imagine you’ll have to present this project to other people. I’ve prepared a summary you can pass along to them. If any questions remain, I’m also happy to answer them directly.”
When the silence sets in
“I imagine other priorities have come ahead of this project. If it’s no longer relevant, tell me frankly: we’ll talk again when the timing is better.”
When should you follow up on a sales proposal?
Reading that resumes after a long period of inactivity puts a deal back on your priority list. Prepare a call that starts from the stakes you already know. If a follow-up date was explicitly agreed, stick to it. Reading events inform this choice; they don’t replace the commitments you made to your contact.
Make room for a straight answer
When messages go unanswered, ask whether the project is moving forward, needs to be postponed or is no longer relevant. Avoid stacking up generic follow-ups. The goal is to learn the next step, not to get one more open. The third message above gives an example.
Let the client speak up too
If the format allows it, a question or comment directly on a section makes the exchange easier. But your tracking stays useful even when no question reaches you: you can prepare help without waiting for a message.
Make the agreement concrete
The client should find the document they are accepting, what is included and the price that goes with it. Make the signing action clear, then confirm the agreement and what comes next. The signature ends this stage of the decision; onboarding opens the collaboration.
Improve the next proposal too.
Match the passages viewed to the conversations that followed. Which explanation did you have to repeat? Which proof did you add? Build those answers into your next proposals and how you prepare them.
If you had to clarify roles at kickoff during your conversations, make them clearer in the next proposal.
Tracking is also a mirror of your discovery: if the client lingers on the context, check that they truly recognize themselves in it.
Frequently asked questions
How many times should you follow up on a sales proposal?
There’s no right number. A follow-up has to bring something: an answer, help defending the project, a useful resource. When messages go unanswered, ask frankly whether the project is moving forward, needs to be postponed or is no longer relevant. You’ll find sample emails in our article on follow-up emails.
Should you tell the client you saw they read the proposal?
No. Tracking prepares your follow-up; it doesn’t justify it. Your message starts from what you know about the project and how this kind of decision gets made, not from what you saw on screen.
How do you get a proposal signed online?
Put the signature at the end of the proposal, where the client finds what they are accepting: the scope, the price and the terms. Make the action clear, then confirm the agreement and what comes next.
Sources and method
The ACME case, the messages, the dates and the readings are fictional, as is the consulting firm’s testimonial.
A recorded read shows that a section was viewed, not what the reader thinks of it. A reader’s name only appears if it is known, for example when they received their own access.
The scenarios are alternatives, not steps in a single story. The epilogue’s signature is a simulation: nothing is sent or saved.