How to Follow Up on a Quote Without Being Pushy

Make the quote firstDownload the quote follow-up scripts and tracker (PDF)

Why quotes go quiet

You did the visit, wrote the quote, sent it the same day, and then nothing. It is tempting to read silence as a no. Usually it is not. The client is busy, is waiting for a second quote, needs to ask a partner, or has a question they have not got round to asking. A follow-up is not pressure; it is the easiest way for them to answer.

Speed matters at both ends. In a widely cited Harvard Business Review study, The Short Life of Online Sales Leads, the authors found that most companies were not responding to leads nearly fast enough. The same logic applies after the quote: the client's interest is highest in the first days, and a polite check-in while it is still fresh does more than a long email three weeks later.

The fix is a schedule, set when you send the quote, so following up stops depending on whether you remember or feel awkward about it.

A four-touch schedule tied to your dates

Every quote already has two dates on it: the day you sent it and the day the price stops holding. The schedule hangs off those two dates, so you can put it in your calendar in under a minute.

1. Send the quote with a clear next step

The follow-up starts in the first email. End it with one question the client can answer in a word ("Which start week suits you?") and the valid-until date. Build the PDF in the free estimate maker so the date and a signature line are printed on it.

2. Check in after two or three days

One job: make sure it arrived and makes sense. Quotes do land in spam folders, and a client who did not understand one line will often say nothing rather than ask. Keep it to two sentences.

3. Add something useful at about a week

Do not write "just following up". Remove a reason to wait instead: answer the question clients usually ask about this kind of job, offer a smaller version at a lower price, or confirm the start date you could offer. This is the message that most often gets a reply, because it gives the client something to respond to.

4. Nudge before the valid-until date

Three to five days before the date, remind them the price holds until then and offer to keep the slot. A date is a reason to decide that is not invented by you; it was on the quote from the start. Our guide to valid-until dates explains how to set one you can stand behind.

5. Close the loop

Just after the date, send a short note saying you are closing the quote and that you will happily re-price if they come back. This often gets the clearest answer of all, yes or no, and a no with a reason ("we went with someone cheaper") is useful information for the next quote.

Phone, text or email?

Use the channel the client used with you. If they found you through a form and have only ever emailed, email. If they called and you met on site, a short text or call for the check-in is natural, with the quote itself always in writing.

Write the follow-ups when you send the quote rather than on the day. Gmail can schedule an email to send later, so you can queue the check-in at the same time as the quote and cancel it if the client replies first. If you schedule ahead, check before each one goes out that the client has not already answered; a "just checking in" after they said yes looks careless.

Keep each message short enough to read on a phone, and never send the quote again unprompted. Link to it or offer to resend it.

What not to write in a follow-up

• "Just following up." It asks the client to do the work of remembering what you are following up on. Name the job and the quote number.
• A discount nobody asked for. Cutting the price in the second message teaches the client that waiting pays. Offer a smaller scope instead, at your normal margin.
• Invented urgency. "Only two slots left this month" works once, and only if it is true. The valid-until date is real urgency you already have.
• Guilt. "I haven't heard back" reads as a complaint. Ask a question instead.
• Several questions in one message. One question gets an answer; three get put off until later.

When to stop, and what to automate

Four touches, then stop. More than that and the follow-up becomes the reason they do not reply. If the client says no, thank them and ask, once, what decided it. If they say not yet, ask when to check back and put that date in your calendar instead of the schedule.

The bookkeeping is the tedious part: which quotes are open, which have been answered, which dates are coming up. The tracker in the PDF handles it on paper. In the Fynl portal the quote goes out as a link the client can accept or decline, with a reason if they decline. One automatic reminder email goes to clients who have not answered after a number of days you choose, but only while the quote is still valid, and an accepted quote marks the lead as won and becomes an invoice. The video above shows the quotes screen. You still write the "something useful" message yourself, because that is the one that needs your knowledge of the job.

Before any of this, the quote has to be clear. If a client has to ask what a line means, the follow-up turns into an explanation. Our step-by-step estimate guide covers writing lines that do not need one.

The estimate maker is one of several no-sign-up tools on our free tools page, alongside the invoice generator and a QR code generator for your quotes and flyers.

Questions people also ask

Sources

• Harvard Business Review — The Short Life of Online Sales Leads
• Gmail Help — Schedule emails to send