Follow up without nagging, and answer every reply properly

Most gigs don't come from the first email. They come from day seven, from the check on day eight, and from an email sent six months later that opens with "you said to try you again in September". And most bands who give up do it exactly there, between the first email and the first follow-up, in that seven-day silence where Callum is already proposing "a whole new visual identity". If you only read one chapter all the way through, make it this one.

Tuesday, 12:35. Priya sent twelve emails seven days ago. Nothing back, and Callum asks whether they should "do a punchier one". No. You bump the first one.

Day seven, you reply to your own email, same thread, three sentences. No reproach, no "I haven't heard back from you", no new essay. You bring the message back up, give the link again, ask the question again.

Hi Dave,

Just bumping this from last week in case it slid under the pile. The live video's here: [link]. Is April-May still open on your nights?

Cheers,
Priya Mistry, Wet Pavement, 07xxx xxx xxx

Day eight, for the ones that matter, the twenty-second check: a call to the bar if it's a venue, a message to the promoter's page (not their personal account) if it's a promoter. You're checking you've got the right address, not pleading your case.

Day twenty-one, a second follow-up, on one condition: you bring news. A confirmed date near them, a release, a BBC Introducing play. Without news, you're saying the same thing a third time, and it shows.

Then you stop. Two follow-ups, one check, and the silence becomes an answer: not right now. You note a fresh approach in four to six months, with a real reason, and you move to the next name. A fourth follow-up never changes the result. It just sours the contact for next time.

Three emails from a Leeds band, in Sam's inbox:

Day 5: Hi, I haven't had a response to my previous email so I'm just following up. We look forward to hearing from you.

Day 9: Hi, following up again as we need to lock in our tour dates ASAP. Please let us know either way.

Day 12: A simple no would do. Regards.

Three follow-ups in twelve days, three digs, no link. The email goes back up the pile, and so does the temperature.

Same week, Priya's second follow-up to Ash, who puts on a monthly night in Nottingham, day 21, with real news: Leeds has just confirmed Saturday 11 April.

Hi Ash,

One thing's changed since my last message: we've just confirmed the Crane in Leeds for Saturday 11 April. A Nottingham date on the Friday 10th or the Sunday 12th would make a weekend of it, and we'd push both together. If it's not the right time, just say and I'll come back for the autumn.

Cheers,
Priya Mistry, Wet Pavement, 07xxx xxx xxx

Ash replied the next day: "The 10th could work. How many of you?" Ash hadn't answered the first email or the first follow-up. The nearby date did the work.

Dave replies "yeah, send me dates". Sam: "programme's set, try me in September". A third: "bit small for us at the minute". Three moves, five minutes each.

The yes. Reply the same day, even without everything to hand. Three dates or periods, the tech spec as a link, and one question: "how do you usually work with a band our size, fixed fee, door split, petrol money?"

The not right now. The most valuable reply after the yes, and the worst used. Three lines: thanks, one question about when they look at submissions, and a note that you'll come back then. Then the date goes in the spreadsheet, and you keep your word.

Thanks Sam, September it is, noted. Between now and then we're playing Leeds on 11 April and the EP's out in May; I'll send that over and won't chase you otherwise. Enjoy the rest of the season.

The bit small, or not our thing. Thanks in two lines, without justifying yourself, and one question only: "is there a promoter or a venue round your way we'd be a better fit for?" The promoters in a city all know each other. With a name, your next email opens with "Sam suggested I write to you", and it gets read.

20 February, Sam: "Hi Priya, thanks for sending this over. The programme's set through to the summer and we look at the winter from September. Best of luck with it."

20 February, 4pm, Priya: the three lines above. In the spreadsheet: Nottingham, not right now, reminder 8 September. Callum would like to "nudge in May, to stay on the radar". No: she promised not to chase.

Subject: Wet Pavement: you said to try you again in September

Hi Sam,

You suggested in February that I come back in September for the winter programme. Since then: six dates in the spring, including the Crane in Leeds, 110 through the door in Sheffield in July, and the EP out in May. Updated live video: [link].

Would a local support or a First Thursday in January or February be possible?

Cheers,
Priya Mistry, Wet Pavement, 07xxx xxx xxx

9 September, Sam: "Yes, I remember. Thursday 4 February is open on First Thursdays, with a local opener. Does that work?"

What got the date wasn't the EP. It was the first line of the September email, and the silence kept between February and September.

"What's your fee?" A promoter who asks and gets a dodge files the email. A bare number without knowing their deal is Callum's gamble, opposite. In between: a conditional range, straight away.

Depends how your nights run. Usually either a fixed support fee, somewhere around £50 to £100 plus a couple of drinks when we've driven over, or a door split after sound if that's your model, as long as we know what comes off the top. Which is closest to how you do it?

The number shows you know what you're worth; the condition, that you can adapt.

"You'd need to shift 20 tickets", or "there's a small contribution towards costs". That's the risk moved onto you, not a date. At tier 1, once, to play to a room and film it, maybe. Beyond that you decline and leave the door open, like the exchange below.

The flat no. One line: "Thanks for taking the time to reply, all the best with it." Nothing else. In the spreadsheet: no, with the reason if they gave one.

Five replies arrive, one at a time, like notifications. For each one, three possible answers; only one opens something. The model replies can be copied: put them in your templates file so you can answer in two minutes when the day comes.

Thursday, day 10. Priya has sent 24 emails in two waves. Six replies: two yes, three not right now, one no. Callum reckons "it's not working". The spreadsheet says otherwise: eleven names are still waiting for their follow-up, five for their check.

Replies come in waves. Some within 48 hours, more after the follow-up, and stragglers up to six weeks later, often the funded venues, because Sam reads submissions on a Monday morning and decides at the programming meeting the month after. Don't judge a wave before three weeks, and never conclude "it's not working" from ten emails.

What counts is the number of names still waiting for an action from you. Not your mood that day.

Two follow-ups, one check, and silence becomes information. Every reply has its three-line answer, and the "not right now" has become a date in your calendar. That leaves the question that makes everyone stammer.