How to Follow Up on a Quote to Win More Business
Picture this: the perfect lead comes in, you send them a detailed quote, confident you’ll hear back soon, but they never respond. Sound familiar?
It happens to every service provider, and even though it may seem like your cue to move on, failing to follow up on a quote is a missed opportunity.
As long as you approach it in the right way, following up on quotes is an ideal way to win clients over, boost profits, and keep cash flow steady. Learn how, why, and when to do it to make the most of your efforts in this guide.
Learn how to follow up with a customer on a quote:
Why quote follow-ups are important
Just because a potential customer didn’t respond to your quote doesn’t mean they aren’t interested in doing business with you.
They may have forgotten to respond, or even missed your email altogether. Maybe they just need some clarification about the job before moving forward.
Whatever the reason for the lack of response, a simple quote follow-up helps to:
- Remind clients about your initial quote, prompting them to respond
- Keep the lines of communication open between you and the client
- Show clients that you’re organized and professional
- Give potential customers a chance to ask questions
- Encourage clients to move forward with a job
And, when a quote follow-up turns into a job, it generates profit, making it a valuable and simple strategy for getting more business.
Best practices for quote follow-ups
When you’re following up with a customer on a quote request, you can increase your chances of getting a positive response back by:
- Keeping follow-ups short. Follow-up emails, phone calls, or text messages don’t need to be long or overly detailed. Keep them short and straightforward, with a clear next step.
- Including contact details. Not all customers like to communicate in the same ways, and if they have questions about the job, or need clarification, it’s good practice to offer them different options for getting in touch. Include your email address, phone number, website, and whether or not they can send you a text to make it easy for them to contact you.
- Making your reminder emails professional. If sending an email or text, check your spelling, include branding if you can (like a logo, your business name, and a link to your website), and use professional language.
- Following up in a timely manner. The best time to follow up on a quote is 2-3 days after the initial email. If you follow up too early, you may come off as pushy or impatient. But if you follow up too late, you risk losing your customer to another business.
3 ways to follow up on quotes
How you choose to follow up with a customer depends on their preferred method of communication and how you sent the initial quote, but they’re typically done via email, phone call, or text message—and each comes with its own benefits.
1. Quote follow-up emails
Email is the most common way to communicate with clients, and you can do it manually or automate the process.
Manual emails mean it’ll be on you to write, customize, and send each email individually. While this is manageable when you only have a few clients or leads to follow up with, it gets more time consuming as your client list grows.
It also means there’s a greater chance for human error, like putting in the wrong client’s name, referencing the wrong amount, or sending a quote too early or too late.
READ MORE: Quote Follow-Up Email Templates to Help You Seal the Deal
Automated emails use software to take that work off your plate. For example, using Jobber, you can choose the timeframe of your message, what you want it to say, and who to send it to, then leave it to run on autopilot.
If a client hasn’t responded to a quote email you sent within the time limit you set (say, three days), an email will automatically be sent to them including the follow-up message you wrote and any customization you want to include, like their first name or a catchy subject line.
What’s cool [with automated follow-ups] is it opens up the opportunity for discussion.
You let them know “hey that quote is waiting for you” and that gives you the opportunity to see if there’s any friction points that they’re feeling or something that they’re uncertain about.
“If you follow-up immediately with a customer, say, ‘Hey, how did we do? Are you happy? If you’re not, we’re willing to make you happy.’”
Following up means that John knows how pleased his customers are with a quote or a job, and it helps him understand how well his team is really doing on the jobsite and with his customers.
It’s the secret sauce behind his record-breaking year for revenue and profit.
2. Quote follow-up text messages
If you know a client prefers to communicate via text message, then giving them that option will help you to close more deals. After all, the easier it is for a customer to get in touch, the more likely they are to reach out.
As with emails, when it comes to following up via text, you have two options: manual and automated.
Manual text messages aren’t any different than when you text a friend or family member. It will be on you to write, customize, and send each text individually—being mindful of what time of day you send them so you don’t disturb clients too early in the day or too late at night.
Automated text messages work the same way as automated emails. You write a draft, set a timeframe, and choose your customizations, then client relationship management (CRM) software does the rest.
Using software like Jobber, you can have a two-way text conversation with your client, keeping track of all incoming and outgoing messages in one place to ensure no one gets left on read.
3. Quote follow-up phone calls
While some clients like email and text communication because of the convenience and ease, others prefer talking on the phone because it offers a more personal experience.
But follow up calls are time consuming, hard to track, and inconvenient, especially since they need to be made during work hours and they can’t be automated.
Plus, unless you record them, you can’t refer back to them for important information.
For these reasons, it’s recommended you only use follow-up calls with clients who can’t or prefer not to communicate via email or text.
Automating quote follow-ups
Before you jump in and start following up on quotes, you need a way to organize them so you don’t end up contacting the wrong clients, sending too many messages, or following up too early or too late.
You can do this manually by tracking quotes and their progress yourself by making a spreadsheet that documents who you contacted, when and how you reached out, and whether or not you’ve heard back. This should also include follow-up dates and reminders to keep you on the ball.
But that means staying on top of quotes and running your business at the same time, which isn’t always easy and opens you up to human error and missed opportunities.
The more reliable option is to use CRM software to handle these tasks for you. To get the most bang for your buck, look for CRM software that:
- Organizes all of your customer information in one place
- Keeps track of past quotes, jobs, visits, invoices, and billing history
- Includes a search feature so you can easily find and pull up customer accounts
- Allows you to attach notes and files to client accounts
- Helps you to manage leads and act on leads faster
Some CRMs, like Jobber, also double as field management software, helping you to do things like book jobs, send quotes and invoices, track time on a job, and document expenses.
When to follow up on a quote
Follow-ups are part of your overall communication strategy with clients, which may look something like this:
On site or virtual estimate ➡️ Quote ➡️ Contract ➡️ Invoice ➡️ Payment
Quote follow-ups take place between the quote and contract, and are only necessary if a client hasn’t responded within 2-3 days of receiving the quote.
If you still don’t hear back from them after sending a follow-up, you can try again in a few days. However, if they don’t respond after your second quote follow-up, it may be time to move on.
Pro Tip: Quote follow-ups aren’t the only types of reminders you can send out. You may need to nudge clients to make payments, approve additional expenses, or answer questions you have about a job. While they may not be part of your standard workflow, follow-ups are an important part of keeping your business running smoothly.
READ MORE: How to write a great customer service follow up email
Is following up on quotes worth it?
Following up on quotes may seem like a lot of work if you’re approaching the task manually, which takes away from the value it brings.
But when done right, following up on quotes is a low-effort strategy for growing your business and increasing profit.
By automating the process, you can save yourself time, money, and effort on top of boosting the number of jobs you book.
Originally published in October 2021. Last updated on June 26, 2024.