The Quote Follow‑Up
The quote they never answered is the hardest message to send.
You walked the job. You wrote it up that night. You sent the number.
Then nothing.
It’s been a week now, and every day you don’t write back makes it harder to.
That’s completely normal. Plenty of owners let the quiet ones go.
Because both choices feel wrong. Write again and you sound like you need the work. Say nothing and the job goes to whoever did write back.
So you open a message, type “just checking in,” delete it, and put the phone down.
They asked you for that quote. Following up isn’t chasing. It’s finishing what they asked you to start.
Give this instrument the basic facts — what the quote was for, when it went out, where the lead came from, and how you talk to this customer. It writes one short follow-up, email or text, in your voice.
It won’t touch your price, and it won’t make up a deadline. A discount sent into a silence tells the customer the first number wasn’t the real one.
What it does instead is give them an easy way to say yes, or no. Either answer beats wondering.
The instrument
Writing it the way you would
Your message
Questions owners ask before they run this
How do I write a quote follow-up email?
Keep it short and make it about the job. Name the quote so they know which one you mean, ask one easy question, and give them an easy way to say no.
A subject line that names the job does more than a clever one. Something like “The bookshelves either side of the fireplace” gets opened because they know at once what it is.
What it shouldn’t do is apologize for writing, offer a discount, or make up a deadline. Each of those tells the customer something you don’t mean.
How soon should you follow up after sending a quote?
About three days. Long enough that they’ve had a real chance to read it, soon enough that they still remember who you are.
If the lead came from a site like Thumbtack or Angi, sooner: the next day. Those leads often go to several businesses at once.
The exact day matters less than having one. The follow-up that never gets sent is the one waiting for the right moment.
How do I follow up on a quote without being pushy?
Ask once, plainly, and make “no” easy to say.
Pushy is a second question stacked on the first, a deadline that isn’t real, or a hint that they owe you an answer. Leave all three out and what’s left is a person asking a question they’re allowed to ask.
They asked you for the quote. Following up isn’t chasing. It’s finishing what they asked you to start.
Should I offer a discount to get them to say yes?
No. A discount sent into a silence tells the customer the first number wasn’t the real one, and they’ll remember that on the next quote too.
This instrument won’t write one, and it won’t make up a deadline either. If the quote really is good until a date, or you really can start a certain week, tell it and it says so once, as plain information.
What if they still don’t answer?
One message is the job.
If it isn’t, the silence is an answer for now. Let it go, and spend the time on the customers who are talking to you.
Is this free?
Yes. This instrument is free, doesn’t ask for your email and stores nothing you type. There’s nothing to buy on this page.
The paid version lives at dayfifteen.com, a sister company of mine. Instead of you coming here after every quote, it writes the follow-up for each one and emails it to you to send.
You give it the customer’s name, what the quote was for, when it went out, how you reach them and how you talk to them. It returns one message in your voice plus a short note on when to send it and what to adjust.
This instrument has a home of its own too. The same tool, same message, lives at dayfifteen.com — a sister company of mine — alongside a paid version that writes the follow-up for every quote you send and emails it to you each morning, ready to send from your own email. The free tool is free and stays free either way.
The next part is the remembering. One follow-up for every quote you send, in your voice, with your say-so before anything goes out. That’s the kind of small system I build for people. If you’d want yours run, leave an email and I’ll write back myself.
Got it. I’ll write back myself, usually within a day.
An instrument from Clickbridge — built to be borrowed.