You priced the job on Tuesday. You sent the quote from the truck. Then you went back under the sink, and the quote went quiet.
Most contractors know the feeling. The customer did not say no. They did not say yes either. And by the time you remember to check, a week has gone by and they may have signed with whoever called them back first.
Following up feels pushy to a lot of tradespeople. It does not have to. Done right, a follow-up sounds like a helpful tradesman, not a salesman. Here is a simple plan you can run on every quote you send: five touches over ten days.
Why quotes go quiet
A customer who goes silent after a quote is rarely ignoring you on purpose. The usual reasons are ordinary ones:
- They never saw it. The email landed in spam or got buried under everything else.
- They have a question and are not sure it is worth bothering you with.
- They are comparing two or three quotes and the decision is sitting on a to-do list.
- The price is more than they expected and they do not know how to say so.
- Life got busy and the job is not urgent for them yet.
Every one of those is fixable with a short, friendly message. None of them is fixed by silence.
The rules for a follow-up that does not feel pushy
- Write it like you talk. First name, plain words, no exclamation marks, no sales language.
- Make every message about helping them. Answer a question, offer a time, offer a smaller option. Never just "checking in".
- Keep it short. They are reading it on a phone. Two or three sentences is plenty.
- Give them an easy reply. A yes, a no, or a question should each take ten seconds.
- Know when to stop. A clean close at the end is respectful, and it gives the customer an easy way to give you a straight answer.
The five-touch, ten-day quote follow-up
Here is the sequence, with a sample message for each step. Change the wording so it sounds like you. These are examples of the style, not scripts to copy word for word.
Day 1: did it come through?
The first job is to confirm the quote arrived. It is the easiest message to send and the easiest to forget.
Hi Sarah, it's Mike. Just making sure the quote for the bathroom reno came through okay. Let me know if you can't open it and I'll resend.
Day 3: any questions?
By now they have probably looked at it. This message opens the door for the question they were not sure how to ask.
Hi Sarah, Mike again. Any questions on the quote? Happy to walk through anything on it, even a quick call.
Day 6: want to get you on the schedule?
This is the first time you mention the calendar. It gives the customer a reason to decide: your schedule is real, and dates get taken.
Hi Sarah, I'm putting together the schedule for the next few weeks. Want me to pencil you in for the reno?
Day 8: a smaller option if budget is the issue
When someone goes quiet over price, they rarely say so. This message makes it easy to say, and it gives you a way to keep the job in a smaller form.
Hi Sarah, if the full scope is more than you wanted to spend, I can price a smaller version, like doing the vanity and plumbing now and the tile later. Want me to put that together?
Day 10: a clean close
The last message closes the loop so neither of you is left guessing. It is polite, it has no pressure in it, and it makes the next step easy: reply if you want to move forward.
Hi Sarah, I haven't heard back so I'll assume the timing isn't right and close the quote on my end. If anything changes, just text me and I'll pick it back up.
Whether they answer yes, no, or not now, you finish with an answer instead of a maybe.
Where this falls apart for most contractors
The plan itself is simple. The hard part is doing it. You are on a roof, in a crawl space, or driving between jobs. Day 3 and Day 8 land on a day you are slammed. You mean to send the message that night, and then you are at the kitchen table at 9 pm doing paperwork and it slips again.
That is why the follow-up works best when it runs on its own. If you already pay for a tool like Jobber or Housecall Pro, it may already have follow-up features built in. If nobody has set them up properly, or the default wording sounds nothing like you, they tend to get switched off.
What it looks like when it is set up for you
This is what The Lead Leak Fix does for Okanagan contractors. Darren spent 20 years on the tools as a Red Seal carpenter, quoting jobs and chasing them himself. Now he sets up this five-touch follow-up for tradespeople:
- He writes the messages in your words, and you approve every line before anything goes live.
- It runs by text and email on the schedule above, starting when you send the quote.
- It lives inside the tools you already pay for where possible, so you are not adding another subscription to manage.
- Business-hours rules and a contact exclusion list keep your regulars and suppliers from getting an automatic text.
The setup starts with a single 30-minute call. After that, the follow-up runs without you having to remember it.
Start with your next quote, even before you automate anything
You can try the sequence by hand this week. Put the five days in your phone calendar the next time you send a quote, and send the messages above in your own words. You will see which ones get replies. If you would rather not do it by hand, that is the point where automation makes sense.
If you want it handled, book a 30-minute setup call, or call or text Darren at +1 (236) 970-1265. You can also see how the missed-call text-back and quote follow-up work together on the Lead Leak Fix homepage.
