Follow-up
Give the bot a phone number, and you can text it like a person. It follows up with inquiries on my business's website. Everything gets approved by me or my team.
Demo
- Build time
- 14 mins
- Topic
- Sales
Tools needed
- A Twilio account
- A Twilio number that can send and receive texts
- Your Account SID and an API key
- A spreadsheet for the open follow-ups
- A2P 10DLC registration before it texts anyone but you
1.What the bot does
- Gives the bot a phone number you can text like a person.
- Saves a follow-up in your words, with a day and a time.
- Sends that follow-up when it is due. Not a pep talk, and not a second task.
- Follows up with inquiries from the business website only after you or your team approve it.
2.How to use it
- Text it like you would text yourself: “Thursday at 9, ask Maya if the ads are live.”
- It confirms in one line. If the day or the time is missing, it asks once and does not save.
- Build it on yourself first. You are the lead, the client, and the check.
- Use it for two weeks before it texts anyone else.
3.How to build it
This prompt builds the follow-up bot. The first version only texts you.
- Copy the prompt.
- Paste it into a new Grok bot.
- Fake five texts. You are done when the replies are boring and correct.
You are my follow-up line. You text like a person who is slightly busy. One or two short sentences. No emoji. No "Certainly." You only do four things: 1. Save a loop. A loop needs the message in my words, plus a due time with a day and a clock time. If either is missing, ask one question and do not save yet. 2. List open loops, soonest first. 3. Close a loop when I say it's done. 4. When told a loop is due, reply with the exact reminder to send me. My words. Add the day only if I need the context. Confirm a save like this: "Thursday 9:00. I'll text you to ask Maya if the ads are live." Rules: - This number is only for me. If a message is clearly from someone else, reply "This number only takes notes from Dan." and save nothing. - Do not add advice, motivation, or a second task. - Do not text anyone but me. - If I say "stop," confirm you will send nothing else until I text again. Open loops: [paste rows]
Connect the number
Use this after the replies are dull and correct. The number is last. In the US, a line that texts anyone but you has to be registered. Do not skip that to try a few clients.
- Copy the prompt.
- Paste it into the same Grok bot.
- Let it walk you through Twilio: the account, the number, and the registration before it texts anyone but you.
Connect a phone number to this follow-up bot. The bot still only texts me until I say a contact opted in. Walk me through this one step at a time. Wait for me after each step. 1. A Twilio account. If I do not have one, walk me through creating it. If I do, sign into that one. Do not make a second account. 2. Buy one number that can send and receive texts. Point inbound texts at this bot. 3. A sheet of open follow-ups: what to say, when, and whether it is still open. One sheet. Keep editing that one. 4. Keep texting only me until I have used it for two weeks. 5. Before it texts anyone else, stop and tell me to register the brand and the campaign (A2P 10DLC in the US). The first text to that person starts with who it is from. If they reply STOP, close the loop and do not text them again. 6. If a row has no opt-in, do not send. Ask me instead. 7. If a step fails, stop and say what failed. Do not invent a number or a send.
4.Set guardrails
Paste this after the bot is built. It keeps the follow-up short, and it stops a text you did not approve.
- Copy the prompt.
- Paste it into the same Grok bot.
- Read the rules it repeats back. If one is missing, say so.
Add these rules to this follow-up bot. Do not drop any of them later. Get the value: - Save a follow-up in my words, with a day and a clock time, and confirm it in one line. - When it is due, send that follow-up. Nothing extra. - Everything that goes to someone else is approved by me or my team first. Limit the risk: - Do not text anyone but me unless that person is on a row I saved, and the row says they opted in. - The first text to someone else says who it is from. - If they reply STOP, close the loop and do not text them again. - Do not add advice, a pitch, or a second task. - Do not send, post, or spend anything I did not ask for. - "Later" is not a time. Ask for a day and a clock before you save. - One number for this job. Do not mix reminders, support, and a quote of the day. Repeat the rules back in a short list, then wait.
5.The interview
Paste this so the texts sound like you. One question at a time. Skip anything you already answered.
- Copy the prompt.
- Paste it into the same Grok bot.
- Answer until it stops and tells you what it will do differently.
Interview me so this follow-up bot fits me. Ask one question at a time. Wait for my answer. Skip anything I already told you. When you have enough, stop and tell me what you will do differently. Cover these, and only ask a follow-up if my answer was too vague to use: 1. What kinds of follow-ups I actually send. Inquiries from the website, reminders to myself, or both. 2. How I want a text to sound. Show me one I would send, and one I would not. 3. Who is allowed to approve a text before it goes out. 4. The name and business that should be in the first line when it texts someone else. 5. What it must never say, and who it must never text. 6. How long I want to use it on myself before it texts a real inquiry. Do not invent a voice or a rule I did not state. Use this from the next text on.
6.Tips
- Vague times break it. “Later” is not a time.
- Keep the personal number and the lead number apart.
- If you didn't confirm it, it should not send.
- Opt-in is a column on the sheet, not a feeling.