I’m going to describe an email and you tell me if you’ve sent it.

“Hi [name], just checking in to see if you’d had a chance to think about our conversation. Would love to find a time to catch up. Let me know!”

You have. I know you have. Because I’ve sent it too. And every single time, the same thing happened.

Nothing.

The “just checking in” email is the most sent and least effective message in education sales. It says nothing. It adds nothing. It gives the person on the other end absolutely no reason to reply. All it does is remind them you exist, which — if your last conversation was three weeks ago and you’ve gone silent since — isn’t the reminder you think it is.

Following up is not the problem. Most suppliers I work with know they need to follow up. The problem is how they do it.

Why schools go quiet

Before I get into the framework, you need to understand something about the person you’re following up with.

They’re not ignoring you because they don’t like you. They’re ignoring you because they have forty-seven other things to deal with today and your email is number forty-eight.

School leaders, heads of department, IT leads, business managers — these are people running on fumes for most of the academic year. They liked your demo. They probably do want to explore it further. But between Ofsted prep and a staffing crisis and a governor meeting on Thursday, your platform is not the thing keeping them awake at night.

That’s not a rejection. It’s a timing problem. And your follow-up strategy needs to account for it instead of pretending it doesn’t exist.

The difference between following up and chasing

Following up adds value. Chasing asks for something.

Every time you send a message that says “just checking in” or “following up on my last email” or “wanted to circle back,” you’re chasing. You’re asking the other person to do work — remember the conversation, find the time, make a decision — without giving them anything in return.

Following up properly means every touchpoint earns its place. You’re giving before you’re asking. You’re staying visible because you’re genuinely useful, not because you’re persistent.

The follow-up formula

Here’s what I use with the companies I work with. It’s not complicated. It just requires you to think about the other person more than you think about your pipeline.

Timing matters more than you think

When I was recording B2Education Unpacked, Laura McInerney from Teacher Tapp told me something that stuck. Teacher Tapp sends one push notification a day — at half past three. Not because that’s when teachers are free. Because that’s when the school day shifts and there’s a brief window before everything else kicks in.

Most education technology companies send emails on Tuesday mornings because some blog told them that’s when open rates are highest. But that’s B2B generic advice. Schools don’t work like SaaS companies.

Think about when your person actually has space to read. Early morning before registration. Half past three when the kids leave. Sunday evening when they’re planning the week. Catherine Lane from The Influence Crowd put it well — you need to understand what your audience is actually doing when they see your message. They’re probably having a cup of tea at the end of a long day, not sitting at a desk waiting for your email.

Send your follow-ups when the person can actually absorb them. Not when your CRM tells you to.

What to do when they genuinely go silent

Sometimes people don’t reply. Not after five touches. Not after ten. Not ever.

That’s information, not failure.

If someone has seen your name five times over three weeks and hasn’t responded, one of three things is true. They’re not interested. They’re not the right person. Or the timing is genuinely wrong and they’ll come back when it’s right.

In all three cases, sending email number six isn’t going to help. What helps is having enough pipeline that you’re not dependent on any single school saying yes. If you’re following up this aggressively because you need this deal, the problem isn’t your follow-up. It’s your pipeline.

The real formula

Add value. Respect their time. Make it easy to say yes and easy to say no. Then move on.

The suppliers who do this well don’t feel like salespeople to schools. They feel like someone worth keeping in touch with. And when the budget conversation comes around in September, those are the names on the shortlist.

Not because they chased the hardest. Because they showed up the best.