Quote Follow-Up Email Templates: 6 Emails for Trades and Service Businesses

You priced the job on Monday, sent the quote on Tuesday and it is now the following Thursday. Nothing. The customer who was keen on the phone has gone quiet and you have no idea whether they are getting other prices, waiting on a partner, went with the cheaper lad or simply have not opened the email. Most trades either chase too soft ("just checking in!") or do not chase at all and lose jobs they would have won with one more email. Here are six follow-ups, in the order they go out, written to get an answer without begging for one.

Why quotes go quiet

Almost never because the customer decided against you. In our experience it is one of four things: they are collecting other quotes and yours is sitting in the pile, they need to talk to someone else about the money, the job has slipped down their list or the email landed and was forgotten by lunchtime. Only the last one is fixed by "did you get my quote?". The other three need a reason to reply, which is what each email below gives them. Our guide to sending a quote by email covers how to write the quote itself so that fewer of them go quiet in the first place.

The timing

Four touches over two weeks, then one more six months later. Not three in one week, which reads as desperate. Not one in a month either, which reads as not bothered. If they reply at any point, the ladder stops and you deal with what they said. The replies to the two common answers, "too expensive" and "went with someone else", are emails 3 and 4.

1. Day 2: the check that asks one question

Two working days after the quote. Not "did you get it" but a real question about the job. Replying is then useful to them rather than a favour to you. Pick the one thing in the quote they are most likely to be unsure about.

The question does two jobs. It gets a reply and it tells you whether the quote matched what they wanted. A surprising number of lost quotes were priced for a different job to the one the customer had in mind.

2. Day 7: the nudge with a date

A week on. This one gives a real reason to decide now: a start slot that will go, a price that is only held for so long, materials with a lead time. It must be true. If you make up a slot and they ask for it, you have a problem.

3. When they say it is too expensive

The honest reply. Do not knock money off for nothing. That tells them the first price was padded and every future quote gets haggled. Instead offer a smaller scope at a smaller price. Or explain what the money buys and hold. Our guide to responding to a discount request goes deeper on this.

4. When they went with someone else

Short, gracious and open-ended. People change their mind, the other trade lets them down, their neighbour asks for a name. The email you send here decides whether you get the next call.

The last line is the one they remember. A useful tip for the competitor's job costs you nothing and marks you as the person who knew what they were doing.

5. The quote that is about to expire

Your quotes should carry a validity period. If they do, use the expiry as a natural last touch. State the date, say what happens after it and ask for a straight answer. Any of yes, no or not yet is a result.

6. Six months on: the win-back

Jobs that went quiet come back. The extension gets planning, the budget arrives, the cheap quote turned out to be cheap for a reason. One email six months on, with no reference to the silence, catches a surprising number of them.

The lines that lose the job

• "Just checking in." It asks nothing and offers nothing. The customer has to invent a reason to reply. They do not.
• "Did you get my quote?" They did. Asking makes them feel chased and gives them an easy "yes, still thinking" that ends the conversation.
• A discount nobody asked for. "I could do it for 200 less if that helps" tells them the price was soft. Offer a smaller job, not a smaller margin.
• Three emails in a week. Day 2, day 7, day 14. If they have not replied by then, the expiry email is the last touch until the win-back.

If the job gets the go-ahead and then grows on site, our guide to telling a customer the job will cost more than quoted covers that email. For getting money in before you start, see how to ask a client for a deposit.

Sending them from the van

The reason follow-ups do not go out is not that they are hard to write. It is that they are written at half seven at night after a day on site, when "just checking in" is all that comes out. ReciteMail is built for that moment. Snip the customer's email or your own quote off the screen, say "day 7 nudge, I have the week of the 26th free, need a yes by Friday the 16th to order the tray" and the follow-up comes back in your own words with the address and the dates in it. Read it, paste it, send it. It learns how you write from emails you have already sent, runs on your PC and never connects to your inbox. Nothing sends without you. This 40 second video shows the flow.

Common questions

How long should you wait before following up on a quote?

Two working days for the first follow-up, then a week, then two weeks. The first one should ask a real question about the job rather than whether they received it. After the third, send one email when the quote is about to expire and then leave it until a win-back six months later.

How do you follow up on a quote without being pushy?

Give them something each time: a clarification, a start date, a validity deadline. Pushy follow-ups ask for a decision and offer nothing. Useful ones make replying worth their while. Keep each email under 120 words and never send more than one in a week.

What do you say when a customer says your quote is too expensive?

Thank them for being direct, explain in one sentence where the money goes and offer a smaller scope at a lower price rather than the same job for less. Cutting the price for nothing tells them the original was padded.

Should you reply when a customer chooses another tradesperson?

Yes, briefly and warmly. Thank them for telling you, wish them well and leave the door open. If you can, add one useful tip about the job. The other trade may fall through and the customer will remember who was gracious.

How many times should you follow up on a quote?

Four times over about three weeks, then once more six months later. Day 2, day 7, day 14 and the expiry date. More than that in the same month reads as desperate and makes the customer less likely to call you for the next job.

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