I manage a software service with my team, handling both development and sales to client companies. I’d like to share an experience I had last year.

I successfully closed a deal with a new client. They were very positive about our service, and the contract had already been signed. However, I lost the client due to an absurd mistake, resulting in financial loss.

Once the contract was signed, I mentally filed the matter away as "done." I was busy developing new features at the time and focused more on coding than sales; since the client didn't reach out, I assumed everything was going smoothly.

The problem lay in the ambiguous position of the client's point of contact. API integration required approval from their IT team; a request had been submitted, but the IT team was slow to act. From the contact person's perspective, this was an internal company matter—not something to discuss with a vendor. Yet, had I known the situation, I could have resolved it by sending security documentation or contacting their IT team directly.

Consequently, the implementation was delayed, and the contract faded from both my memory and theirs. I only realized what had happened when I noticed the contract was missing while reconciling quarterly sales figures. Had I simply sent a quick email to the contact person, the contract might still be active today.

After that, I decided I needed a way to handle follow-ups after closing a deal, so I looked for such a feature in HubSpot, the CRM we were using. While the feature existed, it was only available in the Professional plan. We were on the Starter plan, and we couldn't justify paying an extra $80 per user just for that "cadence" feature.

So, I built a custom cadence tool myself. It connects our existing CRM with our email system; once a deal is marked as "won," it automatically generates CRM tasks and sends emails on scheduled dates—both after the deal closes and before the contract expires. Curious if it would be useful to others, I asked five acquaintances who work in sales to give it a try.

For some, it wasn't necessary because the CRM they were already using offered "cadence" features even in their low-cost plans. However, those in a similar situation to mine found it quite useful.

If you’re in a similar position and would like to try it out, please leave a comment.

I’ll send you the link if you do. It hasn't officially launched yet, so I'm currently collecting names for the waitlist.