How to follow up on a quote: a two-week plan and four messages for trades

A kitchen fitter measures up a kitchen on a Thursday evening. He talks the couple through worktops, a corner unit and where the extractor can vent. On Sunday he spends three hours on the quote, with a drawing and two worktop options, and emails it on Monday morning. Then nothing happens. No reply, no question, no refusal.

Two weeks later he decides he was too expensive and moves on. What he doesn't know is that the couple had one question about the quartz upgrade and felt silly asking it. His quote sat in their inbox under two others. The firm that rang them on the Wednesday got the job.

Most quotes that go quiet are a decision the customer hasn't made yet, and a short follow-up at the right moment often gets it made. Below are the timing, the channel for each step and four messages you can adapt.

Why quotes go quiet

From your side, the quote is the end of the work. From the customer's side, it is the start of a decision they have to make on their own, usually with three quotes that are laid out differently and price different things. Here is what tends to be going on when you hear nothing:

• They have a question they feel awkward asking. What "making good" covers, whether the old boiler gets taken away, why one line costs more than they expected.
• The price is higher than they hoped, and they don't know whether it can move, so they say nothing.
• Life got in the way. A holiday, a partner who hasn't looked at it yet, a wait for a bonus or a remortgage.
• They can't compare your quote with the others because each firm describes the job differently.
• They have chosen someone else and would rather not tell you.

A follow-up helps with the first four. The fifth you want to know about as well, because a clear no frees up your diary and your head.

A follow-up timeline

Start before you send the quote. When you hand it over or email it, tell the customer when you will be in touch: "I'll give you a ring on Wednesday to go through it." Then the customer expects your call.

Day 2: the first check-in. Ask whether the quote arrived and whether anything is unclear. Nothing else. This is the message that catches the awkward question.

Day 7: something useful. Answer a question customers usually have at this stage, offer a second visit, or suggest a smaller first phase. Give the customer a reason to reply that helps them.

Day 14: close the file. Say you will assume the job is off or on hold, that either is fine, and that the door stays open.

Then stop. If the customer replies at any point, the sequence ends there, whatever the answer. A "no" means no further messages about that quote.

The gaps depend on the job. A broken boiler in November gets decided in days, so day 2 might be the same evening and day 14 might be day 5. A kitchen, a new roof or a rewire can take months, because people save up, wait for a season or need a partner to agree. For those, stretch the gaps and keep the number of messages the same.

Phone, email or text

Use the channel the customer used with you, and add a second one only when the first gets no answer.

Phone works best for the first check-in on larger jobs. You hear the hesitation in a voice, and you can answer a question about the corner unit in a minute. Ring at a time that suits a homeowner, early evening rather than mid-morning. If nobody picks up, keep the voicemail short and follow it with a text or email that says the same thing in writing.

Email suits anything with detail: a revised scope, a second worktop option, an answer to a technical question. Reply in the thread that holds the quote, so the customer has everything in one place. Put the job and the address in the subject line, for example "Your kitchen quote, 14 Elm Road". Leave the PDF out. They already have it.

Text is for short messages: did the quote arrive, can I ring you later. Only text a mobile number the customer gave you for this job, and keep it to two or three lines that read on a lock screen.

Four example messages

Adapt the names, the job and the details. Keep the length. Each one asks for something the customer can answer in a word.

1. The first check-in (day 2)

By email or text, after a call that went unanswered:

Hello Mrs Patel, did the quote for your kitchen come through all right? If any line is unclear, or you'd like to talk through the worktop options, I can explain it in five minutes on the phone. When suits you? Best wishes, Dan, Harbour Kitchens

2. Answering a price objection without dropping the price

When the customer says "it's more than we expected", the reflex is to knock something off. Don't do it in the first reply. A discount tells the customer the first figure was padded, and the next customer learns to wait for the second one. Find out what they compared it with, then change the scope rather than the rate.

Thanks for telling me, Mr Clarke, that helps. Could you tell me roughly where the other quotes came in and what they included? Some leave out the scaffold, the skip or the new felt, so the totals aren't always for the same job. If the budget is fixed, we can look at the scope instead. Reusing the sound ridge tiles and keeping the existing guttering would bring the price down, and I'm happy to price that as an option.

If you do end up moving on price, make it a decision you take after the conversation, not a reflex in the first message.

3. Offering a site visit or a smaller first phase (day 7)

Hello Mr and Mrs Okafor, I know a full rewire is a big decision. Two options in case they help. I can come back for twenty minutes and walk you through what needs doing now and what can wait. Or we can start with the consumer unit and the kitchen circuits this autumn and do the rest of the house next year. Would either of those be useful?

A smaller first phase only works if it is a real, safe piece of work on its own. Don't offer one that leaves the customer with half a job.

4. Closing the file (day 14)

Hello Mrs Patel, I haven't heard back about the kitchen, so I'll assume you've gone another way or put it on hold. Either is fine. The quote stands until the end of next month if you want to pick it up again, and you're welcome to ring me with any question. Thanks for having me round. Dan, Harbour Kitchens

This is the message customers are most likely to answer, because it lets them say "we're still thinking" or "we went with someone else" without any awkwardness. Only write a validity date that is actually on the quote.

What not to do

Pestering. Messages every other day, or calls from different numbers, tell the customer what working with you would feel like.

Fake deadlines. "This price is only valid until Friday" when it isn't will lose you the customer the moment they ask why. A real reason is different. If your supplier has said the material price holds until the end of the month, or your July is filling up, say that and say why it matters to them.

Guilt. "We still haven't heard back from you" reads as a complaint. The customer doesn't owe you a reply.

Sending the quote again. It becomes the fourth PDF in their inbox.

Selling something else. A follow-up that adds an offer on solar panels or a newsletter sign-up stops being a reply about their job.

That last point is also where the rules on messages change. In the UK and across the EU, as I understand it, following up a quote the customer asked for is generally treated as part of that enquiry. Marketing messages by email or text are a different matter. The UK's Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations and the EU's ePrivacy rules usually require consent for those. Keep the follow-up about the job they asked about, stop when they say no, and don't add their number to a marketing list without asking. I'm not a lawyer, and if you are unsure, ask one or your trade association.

Doing it by hand, and when it slips

With two quotes a week, this takes a diary and four saved templates. Send the quote, put three reminders in the calendar, done. The work per quote is small. The trouble is keeping it up. In the busy season, when there are twelve open quotes and you are on three sites, day 7 is the first thing that gets dropped, in exactly the weeks when customers are deciding.

Quotes also depend on what happens before them. A quote only exists if someone answered the first call. If calls ring out while you are up a ladder, a text that goes out automatically when you miss a call keeps the caller from ringing the next firm. Web enquiries need the same speed, and the piece on answering a weekend enquiry within minutes shows the reply and the follow-up rhythm that goes with it.

Our lead nurturing employee answers web enquiries within minutes, evenings and weekends included, and follows them up until the appointment is booked. For the price conversation itself, the sales coach role-plays objections like "it's more than we expected" with whoever quotes in your firm.

The kitchen fitter didn't lose that job on price. He put three hours into the quote and no time into asking whether the couple understood it. The other firm made one phone call.