Separate activity from progress
A proposal has been sent, the demo went well, and the buyer has gone quiet. It is tempting to treat this as a follow-up problem. Sometimes it is. But another "just checking in" does not tell you whether the buyer is busy, unconvinced or unable to get a decision made.
Start with the last thing the buyer actually committed to. Did they agree to involve finance, test a requirement or review the proposal on a particular date? Or did you send something and hope? A seller action can be useful without being evidence that the buyer is moving.
Find the missing decision
Review three questions with the deal owner. Does the original reason to change still hold? Who needs to agree? What is preventing the next decision? Use the buyer's words where you have them. Mark the gaps where you do not. "They love us" is a pleasant sentiment, but an awkward forecast methodology.
Send a message that makes a reply useful: "When we spoke, the aim was to resolve X before Y. Is that still a priority? If so, would it help to work through the open questions with the people who need to sign it off?" Use only details the buyer has actually shared.
Give the deal an honest status
If the issue is unresolved risk, agree what evidence would address it. If ownership is unclear, ask your contact how decisions like this get made and whether an introduction makes sense. Avoid going around them simply because the CRM is getting impatient.
If the priority has moved, agree when and why to reconnect. If there is no credible next step, take the deal out of the current forecast. You can keep the relationship warm without keeping an imaginary close date alive. The point of the review is to decide where to spend attention, including when to stop spending it.