Notes for owners · Industry playbooks
How warehouse providers follow up after a site visit
After a prospect walks your warehouse the sale is still open. Send a written costing for what they asked, name each person who decides and give them a reason to reply.
The GullySales team · Updated 6 Oct 2026 · 5 min read
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After a site visit, send a written costing for exactly what the prospect asked about, name the people who still have to say yes, and ask one question each time you write. The visit shows the buyer the floor. It does not close the deal, because the person who walked it will go back to a finance head, a founder or a plant manager who was not there. Your follow-up is what that person carries into the room, so write it for the person who did not come.
Who was not at the visit
An operations manager or a supply chain head usually walks the warehouse. The person who signs is someone else: the finance head, the founder, sometimes a procurement committee that meets once a fortnight. They will read what the visitor forwards and nothing else.
Ask before the visit ends, "Who else needs to see this before you can decide?" Write down the names and roles. Then address your follow-up to the visitor but written so that a stranger can read it cold: what was discussed, what the brand will store, what you will do, what it costs, what the first step is.
What the written costing should show
Buyers compare handling costs the way they compare freight, line by line. A single figure with a "plus taxes" and nothing underneath is the first thing a finance head sends back with questions.
| Line | What to state | The doubt it removes |
|---|---|---|
| Space | Pallet positions or square feet, and the unit you charge on | "Will we pay for empty racking?" |
| Inward handling | Charge per pallet, carton or unit, and who unloads | "Is unloading extra?" |
| Pick and dispatch | Charge per order or per line, with the cut-off time | "What time must the order be in?" |
| Value-added work | Labelling, kitting, repacking, stated separately | "Are those hidden charges?" |
| Minimum commitment | The volume or period you require, if any | "What if our volume drops?" |
| Exit | Notice period and how stock is released | "Can we leave without a fight?" |
| Liability | What you cover and what you do not | "Who pays for damage?" |
Label any worked example as an example and use the buyer's own order profile, which you took down at the visit. A worked example at their volume is easier to forward than a rate card.
The exit clause is the question nobody asks aloud
Switching a warehouse is painful. The buyer knows it, which is why a prospect who liked the floor still hesitates: he is afraid of being stuck. Bring the exit terms up before he asks. Say how stock is returned or moved, who pays for the move, and how a dispute over a count is settled.
A provider who raises it first looks confident. One who is asked about it in the third week looks as though he hoped it would not come up. Contract and liability terms differ by deal and change, so have your own lawyer review the wording.
A follow-up sequence that gives the buyer something each time
Do not write "just checking in". Each message should carry one new useful thing.
First, the costing, with a line about the SKUs and the first inward date the prospect mentioned. Second, the answer to a question they asked on the visit that you did not have at the time. Third, an introduction to a current customer who has agreed to take a call, if you have one. Fourth, a message tied to their date. Something like: "You said your current lease ends in a particular month. What do you need from us to move before then?"
Between messages, ring the person once. Warehousing buyers answer calls more readily than they answer a fourth email.
For example, a third-party warehouse near Hoskote visits with a mid-sized home-goods brand. The operations head asks about handling odd-sized cartons. The warehouse sends the costing the same day, then two days on sends a photograph of how a similar carton is racked and asks which of the brand's SKUs will go in first. The reply tells the provider that the deal is real, and what to price next.
Record the visit while it is fresh
The most common loss is not a better competitor. It is a deal that nobody owned after the visit. Write the visit notes into one place that day: who attended, what they asked, their lease or contract date, the volume they quoted, who else must approve, and the next action with a date. If the notes live in one person's memory, the proposal waits until that person has time.
What to do next
Take the last five site visits you hosted. For each, find the written costing, the names of the people who decide, the date the buyer needed space by and the last time anyone wrote to them. Whatever is missing, ask for it now, and put the deal in a list with a next action beside it.
The warehousing and fulfilment page sets out how enquiries are handled end to end, and the pages on CRM and the sales process cover how long deals are tracked. If you would like your own pipeline read, the free audit is a 90-minute call with a written, scored report afterwards.