Quote follow-up messages: what to send after a trade quote, and when to stop

A customer who goes quiet after a quote is often busy, waiting on other prices or stuck on one line they don't understand, rather than saying no. Three short quote follow-up messages, sent on a set timetable and stopped when the quote expires, usually get you a clear yes or no. Below are the messages to copy, when to send each one, and what to reply when the customer comes back with a question.

The messages work for plumbers, electricians, roofers, builders, joiners and heating engineers alike, and for a sole trader sending them from the van as much as for an office person sending them from a desk. For the quote itself, including what goes in it and the cancellation rules for work agreed in the customer's home, see how to write a quote for trade work and follow it up.

Why quotes go quiet after you send them

Silence after a quote feels like a no, so many tradespeople give a price and never mention it again. Others chase every day until the customer stops answering out of embarrassment. Neither gets you an answer.

A quote goes quiet for ordinary reasons. The customer is waiting for a second price before deciding. One person has read it and the other hasn't. There's a line they don't understand, such as a provisional sum or an exclusion, and they'd rather not ring to ask. Or the job has slipped down their list because nothing is leaking yet.

Each of those has a fix, and none of them needs pressure. A message the day after clears up whether the quote arrived and whether anything needs explaining. A follow-up about a week on gives the customer a reason to decide, such as a start date you can hold. A final message before the price expires closes the loop either way.

The other reason to follow up is information. A customer who says no and tells you why gives you something to work with on the next quote. One who never replies tells you nothing.

A follow-up timetable for every quote

How often you follow up a quote matters less than doing it on dates you've written down. The timetable below is a suggested starting point, not an industry rule. Adjust the gaps to the size of the job: a boiler swap might be decided in days, while an extension can take weeks.

1. When you send the quote: ask when they're hoping to decide, and write that date down.
2. The next working day: a short message to check it arrived and offer to explain anything.
3. About a week after sending, or the day after their decision date: ring first. If there's no answer, send the decision follow-up message.
4. A few days before the quote expires: the final message, which leaves the door open and asks for a reason if the answer is no.
5. After the expiry date: stop. Mark the quote closed with the reason, or "no response" if you never heard back.

Three messages and one call is enough. Anything more starts to feel like pressure, and the customer stops reading. If the customer gives you a date ("we'll decide after the weekend"), follow their date instead of yours.

Use the channel the customer used to reach you. If they texted or messaged you, follow up by text. If they emailed, reply on the same email thread so the quote is right there. If they rang, ring back for the decision follow-up and use a text for the shorter messages. Whichever you use, send each follow-up from the business number or address the quote came from, so it doesn't arrive from a stranger.

Write each date into the quote register the day you send the quote, so the follow-ups happen whether or not you remember. If the customer rings back while you're up a ladder, that missed call needs the same treatment as a new enquiry, so use the callback routine for missed calls rather than trusting memory.

Day-after message: check it arrived

This message has one job: to check the quote arrived. Emails land in spam, texts get buried under delivery updates, and a PDF sometimes won't open on an old phone. A customer who never received the quote can't say yes to it.

Keep it short, use the quote reference, and offer to explain. Don't ask for a decision yet.

The names in the example messages here are invented. Mr Hughes is a homeowner who has asked for a roof repair quote, and Kim runs a two-person roofing firm.

If the customer replies with a question, answer it the same day and note the answer on the quote record. Questions at this stage are good news: the customer is reading the quote properly.

Decision follow-up about a week later

Ring first. A call lets you hear the hesitation in "it's a bit more than we thought" and deal with it there and then, which a text never can. If they don't answer, leave a short voicemail and follow it with the message below, so they have something to reply to in their own time.

On the call, keep to three questions: did the quote make sense, is there anything you'd change, and when are they hoping to decide. Then stop and listen. If they raise a worry, write it down in their words, because your next message should answer that worry and nothing else.

If you reach voicemail, keep it short: your name, the business, the quote reference, and that you'll send a text so they can reply when it suits them. A short voicemail is easier to act on than a long one about the job.

The message gives them a reason to decide without pushing: a start date you can hold for a few days. Only offer a date you can keep. If you hold a slot for one customer, don't promise the same slot to another.

The question about pricing differently matters. A customer who thinks the quote is too high often won't say so. Inviting them to ask for a different option gives them an easy way to keep talking instead of going quiet.

If they tell you they're still comparing quotes, that's a fair answer. Ask when they expect to decide, put that date in the register, and follow up then.

Final message before the quote expires

A quote should say how long the price is valid for, so the customer knows when it ends. A few days before that date, send a final message. It reminds them of the deadline, makes it easy to say yes, and makes it just as easy to say no.

Asking why someone said no can feel awkward. Most customers are happy to give a one-line answer if you ask politely and make it clear you won't argue.

After this message, stop. If the quote expires with no reply, close it as "no response". If they come back a month later, re-check the price before you confirm it, because materials and your diary will have moved on.

When the answer is yes, confirm it in writing with the agreed start date, any deposit and the payment terms the quote set out. The guide to invoicing and payment terms for trade work covers what to agree before you start. The accepted quote then becomes the brief for the visit, and our job sheet template for trade visits picks up from there.

Replies for price, timing and other quotes

Most follow-up conversations come back to the same few objections. These replies keep the conversation going without cutting your price on the spot or knocking a competitor.

When the answer is about price, look at the scope first. A cheaper price for the same work teaches the customer that your first figure wasn't real. A smaller job, a later start or a different material is a better offer to make. The Quotes hub covers that conversation in more detail.

If a customer chooses someone else, thank them and ask if you can keep their details for any future work. Then record their answer.

When a follow-up becomes a marketing message

A follow-up about a quote the customer asked for is part of dealing with their enquiry. The ICO, which regulates marketing by email and text, says its definition of direct marketing doesn't cover messages sent for administrative or customer service purposes, which it calls service messages. It also says that if you include promotional content in a service message, the message counts as direct marketing.

In practice, keep every follow-up about the quote and nothing else. Adding a line such as "we're also doing a deal on gutter clearing this month" turns it into a marketing message, with a different set of rules.

Those rules are stricter. The ICO's guidance on electronic mail marketing says you must not send marketing emails or texts to individuals without specific consent, and that sole traders and some partnerships count as individuals for these rules. So a builder you quoted for as a sole trader is covered in the same way as a homeowner.

There is one exception, often called the soft opt-in, set out in regulation 22 of the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations. It only applies when you got the person's details during a sale or negotiations for a sale, the marketing is only for your own similar products or services, and you offered a simple, free way to opt out when you collected the details and in every message since.

So if you'd like to send past customers a reminder about annual servicing or a seasonal job later on, decide that before you take their details. Tell them then how to opt out, and include an opt-out in every message. If you didn't, ask for their consent before you send anything promotional.

The ICO says its guidance on electronic mail marketing is under review following the Data (Use and Access) Act, so check the links above before you rely on them.

This is not legal advice. It summarises the ICO guidance and the regulation linked above. The ICO guidance doesn't set different rules for England, Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland.

Landlords, letting agents and business customers

Follow-ups to a landlord, a letting agent or a business customer work differently from a homeowner, because the person you speak to often isn't the person who decides.

A letting agent may need the landlord's approval before saying yes, and the landlord may be abroad or slow to answer. When you send the quote, ask who approves it and how long that usually takes. Then follow up on that timetable, not a week by default.

Business customers often have a purchase order process. A "yes" by phone isn't an order until the purchase order arrives, so your follow-up may need to ask for the order number rather than the decision. Ask what they need from you, such as a revised quote on their template or your insurance details, and send it the same day.

Keep the tone the same as with a homeowner: short, polite and about the quote. Agents and facilities managers deal with a lot of contractors, and the one who makes their job easy tends to get the next one.

Log every follow-up in your quote register

A follow-up timetable only works if someone can see what's due today. Our quote tracker spreadsheet for trades gives you the columns, the headings to copy and formulas that flag the follow-ups due today. After each message, write what you sent, what came back and the next date. When a quote closes, write the reason.

After a few months, the closed reasons tell you more than any sales tip. If most say "chose someone cheaper", look at your pricing or how you explain it. If most say "no response", look at how quickly the quote went out and whether the first follow-up happened. If most say "timing", your diary may be the problem rather than your quotes.

Many quoting and job apps can send follow-up messages automatically. That can work well, but read the messages they send before you switch them on. Check they use your wording, stop when a quote is accepted or declined, and contain no offers. Test the timing on one of your own quotes first. The guide to choosing job management software for a trade business covers how to test features like this on a trial before you pay.

If the customer has a question you can't answer by message, ring them. A two-minute call often settles what three texts can't.

Send today's follow-ups before your first job

Open your quote register, or the list of quotes in your phone, and find every quote sent in the last fortnight with no reply. Send the message that fits where each one is in the timetable, and write the next date against it. It takes ten minutes, and by the end of the week you'll know which of those quotes are real work.

Check your software, then book the job in

Free tool

Trade business software checklist: know what you need before you book a demo

List what a quoting or job app has to do before you trust it with your follow-ups.

Read next

How to record trade jobs on site so the office can invoice without ringing you

Picks up once the quote is accepted, from the brief to what to record on site and when to invoice.