You sent the quote, and then nothing. Following up feels pushy, so it waits, and the job quietly goes to someone else. Put in when you sent it to get three follow-up dates and the message to send on each one, ready to copy. Free, and no signup needed.
Is this you?
If two or more sound familiar, the problem is probably not your price. The quote was left to speak for itself. The planner below gives it three follow-ups, with dates and words.
These boxes are filled in with an example quote, not a real one. Replace them with your own.
Want to keep this? Email the result to yourself.
One email, just this result. No account needed.
The timings are a practical rule of thumb, not research: about 2 days, 7 days and 14 days after sending, moved off weekends. Change any date to suit the client you know. Nothing you type here is saved or sent anywhere unless you choose to email the plan to yourself.
Silence after a quote rarely means no. The client is usually weighing two or three quotes, waiting on a partner or a manager, working out how to pay for it, or simply busy. Meanwhile the owner treats sending the quote as the end of the job, when for the client it is the start of a decision.
From our invoice data: About 46% of quotes and estimates are never marked accepted or declined, while only 0.2% are formally declined (1,121 estimates, 43 businesses). Silence is far more common than a no.
Source: Billbooks invoice data, 8,483 invoices from 112 small businesses, September 2024 to September 2026 (aggregate only, figures shown only where 25+ businesses contribute). See the invoice payment study
Every quote takes time: a site visit, measuring up, pricing materials, writing it out. A quote that is never followed up throws that time away, and it does so quietly, because nobody tells you they chose someone else. You also lose the information: without an answer you cannot tell whether your price was high, your timing was wrong or the client just forgot. As an illustration only: an owner who sends ten quotes a month at $2,000 each, and wins one more of them a month by following up, adds $24,000 of work a year without finding a single new lead.
The planner counts from the day you sent the quote and places three messages, each with a different job.
Follow-up 1 = sent date + 2 days: check it arrived and offer to answer questions Follow-up 2 = sent date + 7 days: add something useful, such as an option or a clarification Follow-up 3 = sent date + 14 days: close the loop and make a no easy A date that lands on a Saturday or Sunday moves to the Monday With a deadline: follow-up 3 moves to 2 days before it (back to Friday if that is a weekend), and the others are spaced out betweenThese timings are a practical rule of thumb, not research. They leave enough gap that each message does not crowd the last, and they end the chase within about two weeks, while the client still remembers the quote. If the deadline is too close for three messages, the planner gives two, or one, and says so.
The suggested expiry date is a week after the last follow-up, or the day before your deadline if you set one. The smaller first step is suggested on quotes of $2,500 or more, again a rule of thumb: above that, many clients find a first stage easier to agree to than the whole job.
Client, value, date sent, and the date of the next follow-up. A notebook or a spreadsheet is enough. Anything older than a month with no reply gets a close-the-loop message today.
The moment a quote goes out, add the first follow-up date. A reminder you set now is a message you will actually send.
A line such as "valid until" gives the client a reason to decide and protects you from being held to an old price months later.
A smaller first stage, or a version without the extras, gives a hesitant client something to say yes to without you cutting your price.
The fix is a habit, set at the moment you send: every quote goes out with an expiry date, and its first follow-up date goes into your calendar before you move on. Keep one list of open quotes, look at it once a week, and count how many turn into work, so you know your own win rate and can see it improve. A spreadsheet is enough for all of it. If you quote in Billbooks, a quote can carry an expiry date and an automatic follow-up that nudges the client every 7, 15, 30 or 45 days until they approve, decline or the quote expires, and the client can approve or decline from the link without creating an account.
Build a clear, itemized quote with a valid-until date in a couple of minutes, and download it as a PDF to send.
Make a free quoteFree · No signup
Not sure your price is the problem? What should I charge? compares your rate with the market and your own break-even rate.
No tool matches that yet. See every free tool, or use the Ask a question button to tell us what you need.
Noticed this page loading quicker? You are not imagining it. Billbooks now runs on a global edge network, so this page and your invoices, estimates and clients are all served from close to wherever you are.