Guide
When should you follow up on a quote?
Short answer
For most routine jobs, follow up two to four days after sending the quote, then once more about a week later. For larger planned projects, allow a week or more and space follow-ups around the customer’s timeline. If the customer gives you a decision date, follow up just after it. Treat these as starting points, not rules.
A simple timing framework
The right time to follow up depends less on a magic number of days than on how the customer is deciding. Three questions get you most of the way: how big is the decision, how soon does the customer need the work, and have they told you when they will decide?
| Situation | First follow-up | Next follow-up | When to stop |
|---|---|---|---|
| Routine small job (a repair, a one-off clean, a handful of odd jobs) | 2–4 days after sending | About a week after the first | After two or three unanswered follow-ups, send a close-the-loop message |
| Urgent or time-sensitive work (the customer needs it done soon) | Within a day or two | A few days later, offering a specific date | Once the date they needed has passed |
| Larger planned project (a renovation, an installation, a garden build) | About a week after sending, or after any site visit or call | Every one to three weeks, tied to the customer’s plans | When they decide, or after a close-the-loop message once their own timeline has passed |
| The customer named a decision date | The working day after that date | Agree a new date if they need longer | When they decide, or when the quote’s valid-until date passes and they have not replied |
These are not industry statistics or rules. They are sensible defaults that leave the customer time to read the quote without letting it go cold. If your customers usually decide on the same day, follow up sooner; if your work is seasonal, follow the season.
Routine small jobs: follow up within days
For small, routine work, customers often book whichever business confirms first, and they forget quotes quickly. A follow-up a few days after sending is usually welcome, and a second about a week later is reasonable if you have not heard back.
Example: an oven and carpet clean
A cleaning business quotes on a Monday for a clean the customer wants within a fortnight. With no reply by Wednesday, the owner follows up offering two possible dates. The following Tuesday, with still no reply, they send a final message and close the quote. See how this fits cleaning businesses.
Larger planned projects: follow the customer’s timeline
Bigger jobs involve more people and more thinking: partners, budgets, other quotes, sometimes a mortgage or a rebate. Following up every few days feels like pressure. Instead, follow up once after the customer has had time to read the quote properly, then space later follow-ups around what they have told you.
Example: a heat pump installation
An HVAC business sends a heat pump estimate after a survey. A week later the owner calls; the customer is checking a rebate and expects an answer within three weeks. The next follow-up is set for three weeks’ time, not next Monday. See HVAC businesses and landscapers for similar long decisions.
When the customer gives you a decision date
A decision date is the most useful thing a customer can tell you. Write it down and follow up just after it, not before. Checking in earlier suggests you did not listen; leaving it a fortnight suggests you have lost interest.
Example: a bathroom after payday
A plumber quotes a new bathroom suite. The customer says they will confirm after payday on the 28th. The plumber sets the follow-up for the 29th, and in the meantime checks that the quote’s valid-until date covers it. More for plumbers.
How many times should you follow up?
Two or three follow-ups without a reply is a reasonable point to stop for most quotes. After that, send a polite close-the-loop message that makes it easy to come back later, and record the quote as closed. The quote follow-up email templates include one.
Conversations are different from silence. If the customer is replying and asking questions, keep going: answer, agree the next step and follow up when you said you would. The full process is in how to follow up on a quote.
Timing mistakes to avoid
Mistake: Following up the same day on a large project.
Instead: Give the customer time to read the quote and talk it over.
Mistake: Waiting a month on a small, urgent job.
Instead: Follow up within days; by then the customer has booked someone else.
Mistake: Chasing before the decision date the customer gave you.
Instead: Follow up the day after it.
Mistake: Letting the quote expire without noticing.
Instead: Check the valid-until date when you set follow-ups for long decisions.
Mistake: One timing rule for every job.
Instead: Set each quote’s follow-up date from what you know about that customer.
Setting follow-up timing in QuoteFollow
How timing works in QuoteFollow
- Your business has a default follow-up delay, three days unless you change it in Settings, and new quotes start with a follow-up date from it. Change the date on any quote to match the customer.
- When the date arrives, you and your team get an email reminder at your business’s reminder hour, and the follow-up shows as due, then overdue, on the dashboard.
- After you follow up, mark it done, or set a new follow-up date for the next check-in. Further follow-ups are dates you choose, not an automatic sequence.
- If you switch on the optional automatic customer follow-up, a customer you emailed the quote to gets one short email: on the follow-up date if you choose that date for it, otherwise three days after the quote email. It is off by default, and moving the date moves that one email rather than adding another.
- Each quote has a valid-until date. Once it passes, the quote shows as expired, and you change the date before emailing it again.