If you're in B2B sales, you know most deals don’t close from a single email. The real work is in the follow-up—and doing it well (and consistently) is where most sales teams drop the ball. This guide is for sales reps, managers, or founders who want to stop letting good leads slip through the cracks and actually make automation work for you, not just create more noise. We’ll walk through step-by-step how to set up automated follow-up sequences using Vinna, minus the fluff or hype.
Why bother with automated follow-ups?
Let’s call it like it is: manually tracking who to follow up with and when is a pain, and it’s easy to mess up. Automated sequences let you:
- Stay top-of-mind with prospects (without nagging them every day)
- Save time and mental energy for real conversations
- Catch leads that would otherwise get lost
But—automation isn’t magic. Bad sequences just make you look like a robot. Good ones feel personal enough to get replies. The rest of this guide is about getting that balance right.
Step 1: Get your contacts organized
Before you even touch automation, make sure you know whom you’re following up with. If your Vinna account is a mess of half-imported CSVs and old test leads, clean that up first.
Pro tip: Segment your leads. At minimum, sort by: - Stage in your sales funnel (e.g., new inquiry, demo booked, proposal sent) - Industry or company size (if you need different messaging) - Priority (hot, warm, cold)
This will save you headaches later when you want to target the right people, not just blast everyone with the same stuff.
Step 2: Map out your follow-up sequence on paper
Skip the fancy tools for a minute. Grab a notepad (or a Google Doc) and outline what a great follow-up sequence looks like for your typical B2B lead. Think:
- How many touches? (3–7 is common)
- What channels? (Email, LinkedIn, phone?)
- Timing between steps? (2 days, 5 days, a week?)
- What’s the goal? (Book a call, get a reply, share info?)
Example sequence:
- Day 0: Initial outreach email
- Day 2: Quick LinkedIn connect
- Day 4: Follow-up email with a case study
- Day 7: Short voicemail (optional)
- Day 10: “Breakup” email (“Should I close your file?”)
Don’t overcomplicate it: You don’t need a 15-step sequence. Start simple. You can always tweak it later.
Step 3: Build your sequence in Vinna
Log into Vinna and head to the Sequences (sometimes called “Automations” or “Workflows”—Vinna keeps changing the labels, but the core idea is the same).
- Create a new sequence. Name it something clear, like “Demo No-Show Follow-Up” or “Inbound Lead Sequence.”
- Add your steps. For each step, choose:
- The action (send email, assign task, add to list, etc.)
- The timing (e.g., 2 days after previous step)
- Write your actual messages. Here’s where most people phone it in. Don’t use the stock templates unless you want to sound like every other salesperson.
- Personalize with merge fields ({{FirstName}}, {{Company}}, etc.)
- Keep it short and conversational. No “Hope this email finds you well.”
- Ask ONE clear question or call-to-action per email.
- Choose your triggers. Decide which contacts get enrolled. Is it everyone who fills out a website form? Just people marked “Qualified”? Be specific.
Watch out for:
- Overlapping sequences (don’t double-email people)
- Getting stuck fiddling with design instead of content
- “Set it and forget it” syndrome—automation needs oversight
Step 4: Test your sequence (seriously, do this)
Before you put real leads through your new automated sequence, test it on yourself and your team.
- Enroll your own email address
- Check for weird formatting, broken merge fields, or typos
- Make sure timing works as expected (Vinna sometimes glitches with time zones—don’t assume)
Pro tip: Ask a colleague to reply “unsubscribe” or similar to see how Vinna handles opt-outs. No one wants to be that spammy salesperson who can’t take a hint.
Step 5: Monitor, tweak, and avoid “set and forget” mode
Automation is not “install and walk away.” Set a calendar reminder to review your sequences every couple of weeks.
What to look for: - Are people replying? - Are you getting meetings booked? - Are there steps where everyone drops off?
What to ignore: - Vanity metrics (like open rates—they can be wildly inaccurate) - Chasing perfection (you’ll never write the “perfect” email)
If you’re not getting replies, rewrite your emails. Try a new subject line. Tweak the timing. Review sample replies—are you coming off as a spammer? Shorten your sequence if people never make it to the end.
Step 6: Use automation with real human follow-up
Automated follow-ups should tee you up for real conversations—they’re not a replacement for actually talking to people. Here’s what works:
- Use tasks/reminders in Vinna for “manual” steps (like a quick phone call)
- If someone replies, pause their automation. (Vinna can do this automatically if you set it up, but double-check it’s working.)
- Don’t be afraid to cut the sequence short if you get a real answer—no one likes getting “Just checking in!” emails after they’ve already replied.
What doesn’t work:
- Blindly running everyone through the same script
- Over-automating to the point your messages feel soulless
- Ignoring unsubscribes or “not interested” replies
Step 7: Scale up (carefully)
Once you have one sequence working and actually getting replies, you can scale up:
- Build different sequences for different lead types (e.g., cold vs. warm, by industry, etc.)
- Use A/B testing features in Vinna to try out new subject lines or approaches
- Train your team—but don’t just hand them a playbook and walk away. Review results together.
But: Don’t try to automate every possible scenario. Focus on the 80/20—what gets you most of the way there with the least headache.
Honest takes: What works, what doesn’t, and what to skip
- Personalization matters. Even with automation, tiny touches (like referencing a recent company announcement) make your messages stand out.
- Short and direct wins. Long, rambling emails get ignored.
- Follow-up frequency: More than once a week and you’re probably annoying people. Less than every 10 days and they forget you.
- Ignore “AI personalization” hype. Most of it is still too generic to be believable—write your own copy, or at least double-check any AI suggestions.
Keep it simple, iterate, and don’t overthink it
Automated follow-up is about being consistent, not perfect. Start with a basic sequence. See what actually gets replies. Tweak as you go. Don’t get distracted by every new feature—stick to what helps you have real conversations with real people. If you’re getting replies and booking meetings, you’re on the right track. If not, keep it simple and try again. That’s it.