Unanswered quotes: when to follow up and when to let go

On a Tuesday afternoon someone messages you on WhatsApp: "Hi, could you send me a quote for new flooring in the living room?" You ask a few questions, go round to measure up, put together a careful PDF and send it on Thursday. Friday: nothing. The following week: still nothing. And then the familiar doubts kick in. Should you chase, or will you come across as pushy? Have they already gone with someone else? How long do you keep that quote rattling around in your head?

This article is for owners whose business runs on quotes — renovations, installers, events, print shops, B2B services, repair workshops — and who have a folder full of proposals they never heard back about. By the end you'll have a concrete schedule for when to follow up, what to say each time, and a clear rule for closing the file without guilt.

Silence is rarely a "no"

Start by letting yourself off the hook: an unanswered quote seldom means the customer thought you were too expensive or didn't like you. The usual explanation is far more mundane. They opened it on their phone while doing something else, thought "I'll look at this properly later", and forgot. Or they need to run it past a business partner, a spouse or the building's managing agent, and that conversation hasn't happened yet. Or they're waiting on two other quotes so they can compare.

In all three cases, a well-judged reminder isn't an annoyance — it's a help. It puts your proposal back at the top of their screen right when they need to decide. What does annoy people is the badly judged reminder: "did you get a chance to look?" after 24 hours, the third identical message, or a surprise phone call in the middle of their working day.

So the question isn't whether to follow up. It's how, and how many times.

The schedule: four touches, then close it

There's no magic number that suits every business, but there is a structure that works well as a starting point. Stretch or squeeze the timings to match how quickly your customers decide: an urgent repair gets decided in hours, a kitchen refit in weeks.

1. Sending it (day 0). This is already part of the follow-up, even if it doesn't feel like it. Send the quote with two lines summarising what matters — what's included, the total price, how long it'll take — plus an expiry date. "Here's the quote: €2,340 including materials and labour, about four days' work. I'll hold this price until 15 November." The expiry date isn't a pressure tactic. It's useful information, and it gives you a natural reason to get back in touch.
2. First touch (day 2 or 3). Short and practical. Don't ask whether they've seen it; offer to answer questions. "Anything in the quote you'd like me to explain? Happy to go through it in five minutes on the phone."
3. Second touch (around day 7). Bring something new: an available start date, a cheaper option, a photo of a similar job. "Just so you know, I've got a slot the week of 3 November. And if you'd like to bring the price down, we could use laminate instead of engineered wood."
4. Final touch (a few days before it expires). Give them an easy way out — including saying no. "The quote runs out on Friday. If you've decided not to go ahead, no problem at all, just let me know and I'll close it. And if you need more time, I'm happy to extend it."

After that fourth message, you stop. There is no fifth. If there's no reply, the quote moves to "lost" on your list and you stop thinking about it.

What to say each time (and what not to)

The gap between a follow-up that works and one that grates comes down to three details.

Every message has to make sense on its own. The customer won't scroll back up to remember what you were talking about. Name the job in a few words: "the living room floor", "the 500 embossed business cards".

None of them should sound like a complaint. Drop the "since I haven't heard back…" and "still waiting on your reply". The customer doesn't owe you an answer, however much work you put into the proposal.

The last one asks for a yes or a no — not for a yes. This is the hardest part to write and the one that works best. When you explicitly give people permission to say no, many of them finally reply, either to turn it down or to tell you they're still keen but running late. Both answers are useful: the first clears your head, the second tells you exactly what to do next.

One note on the channel: if they asked for the quote on WhatsApp, follow up on WhatsApp. If they asked by email, use email. Switching channel halfway through ("I'll give you a ring about the quote") feels more intrusive than the reminder itself.

When to call it lost (and what to do with it)

A quote is lost once it's past its expiry date and the customer hasn't replied to any of the touches. It's also lost when they tell you they've gone with someone else, of course — that one's just easier to accept.

Calling it lost doesn't mean deleting it. It means two things:

• Take it off your to-do list. The most draining part of unanswered quotes isn't losing the sale; it's carrying twenty half-open conversations around in your head.
• Jot down why you think you lost it, even if it's a guess: price, timing, wrong fit, never heard a thing. After a few months, that column starts telling you things. If half your quotes go quiet after an hour-long site visit, it may be worth qualifying people better before you drive out to measure.

There's one exception that deserves an off-schedule message: seasonal work. If someone asked you in October for a price to repaint their front and never replied, messaging them in March with "shall we pick up the exterior painting now the weather's turning?" isn't chasing. It's good timing.

When NOT to use this schedule

The four-touch template is for the ordinary case. There are times to set it aside:

• Long-standing customers. For someone who books you every year, an automated sequence can feel cold. A personal call when it feels right will do more.
• Large amounts, or B2B with several decision-makers. On a project worth several thousand euros for another company, timelines stretch. The useful move is to ask outright — "When are you planning to make a decision?" — and space your touches around that date.
• "Just checking prices" quotes. If you can tell they were only shopping around, one or two touches are plenty. No need to spend the full schedule on someone who was never going to book.
• When they've already told you when they'll decide. If they say "I'll talk it over with my wife at the weekend", your first touch is Monday, not day 2.

Don't let follow-up depend on your memory

The schedule is simple. The hard part is sticking to it with fifteen open quotes, each at a different stage, while you're also doing the actual work. That's why most businesses manage the first touch, sometimes the second, and then lose track. Not for lack of effort — just because nobody is keeping count.

Keeping count is exactly the part you can hand off. A sales agent can log when each quote went out, draft the right message at the right moment using that quote's details, and leave it ready for you to approve with one tap. When the customer replies, it flags it and hands you the conversation; when the final touch goes unanswered, it marks the quote as lost and asks you why. You still decide what gets sent and to whom — it just makes sure none slip through.

If you've ever opened your quotes folder and had no idea which ones are still alive, have a look at how our sales agent works.