How to follow up on a quote without being pushy

You sent the quote, you got a polite nod, and then nothing. Days pass and you start to wonder if chasing will make you look desperate. It will not. A short, polite follow-up is what most customers expect, and plenty of jobs are lost to silence on both sides rather than to a competitor.

The trick is to chase on a plan, keep each message short, and always give the customer something useful rather than a nudge for its own sake. Here is the approach that works for a busy trade, and the exact words to use.

Why quotes go quiet

Most customers who go quiet have not gone away. They are waiting for a partner to come home, comparing one more quote, or simply busy. Some have decided against you and not told you. You cannot tell which from the silence, so treat every quiet quote the same way: a calm reminder, then a proper close.

When to follow up

Chasing too early feels pushy because the customer has not had time to decide. Leaving it weeks makes it easy for them to forget you entirely. A sequence that works well for trade quotes is 2, 5 and 10 days after you sent it:

• Day 2. A short note confirming the quote arrived. It catches customers who never saw the email and shows you are on the ball.
• Day 5. A second message that adds something: your earliest start date, a lead time, or an offer to talk it through.
• Day 10. A final, friendly close. Ask for a yes or no, and say you will leave them in peace either way.

Three touches is enough for most jobs. After a polite final message, stop. If the customer comes back a month later, they still can. For when to stretch to a fourth or fifth touch, and when to stop altogether, see how many times to follow up on an estimate.

The first message

Keep it to a few lines, name the job, and make it easy to reply. Say who you are, because the customer may not have your number saved. Sample:

The second and final messages

The second message earns its reply by giving the customer something new. The final one asks for a clear answer without pressure. Samples:

What to avoid

• Chasing with nothing new three times in one week. Space the touches out.
• Made-up urgency. Never say a price will rise unless it really will, and never say you have another customer waiting if you do not.
• Long emails. The customer reads them on a phone between things, so three short lines beat three paragraphs.
• Guilt lines such as “I never like to chase but”. It makes the moment awkward for both of you.

Keeping track without a spreadsheet

The hard part is not the words, it is remembering who is due a nudge on which day while you are on a job. A note on the fridge works until the week gets busy. If you want the reminder and the messages written for you, that is what DealUp does: you add each quote in seconds, it tells you who to chase every morning, and you send the message from your own phone. Free covers up to five live quotes, and Starter is £19 a month, so the plans are simple.

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