A schedule you use for every quote
Pick one schedule and use it every time, so follow-up doesn’t depend on anyone’s memory:
Same day: confirm it arrived
Quotes can land in spam folders. A short text saying it’s been sent can save a week of silence.
Day 2: offer to answer questions
Often the hesitation is a question the customer hasn’t asked yet.
Day 5: make deciding easy
Offer the next step, a time, or a smaller option.
Day 14: close the loop
Say you’ll stop following up. Some customers reply only to this last message.
Same day
Hi Karen, it's Tom from [Business]. Your quote for the water heater is in your email. Let me know if it didn't come through.
Day 2
Hi Karen, any questions about the water heater quote? Happy to walk through the options by phone.
Day 5
Hi Karen, if you'd like to go ahead, we have Tuesday or Thursday morning open next week. Want me to hold one?
Day 14
Hi Karen, I won't keep following up on the water heater quote. If anything changes, reply here and we'll pick it up.
What to say
- Name the job. “Your water heater quote” is easier to answer than “following up on your estimate”.
- Ask one question per message, one the customer can answer in a word.
- Offer options when you have them: repair or replace, good or better, a date this week or next.
- Give a deadline only if it’s real, such as the date the price stops being valid.
- Send it from a person. A first name and the same number every time reads better than a no-reply address.
When to stop
Stop as soon as the customer replies, books or says no. Four messages over two weeks is plenty. Keep every message about the quote they asked for. Offers for other services are marketing, which has its own consent rules (see Can you text a customer who called you?).
When a quote is lost, note why if you know: price, timing, went with someone else, didn’t answer. After a season you’ll see a pattern you can do something about.
Adjust for the size of the job
A repair is usually decided within a day or two, so the whole schedule can shrink to a week. Replacements, new systems and roofs take longer: there are financing decisions, second quotes, and for storm damage, insurance adjusters. Stretch the gaps for those, and use the day 5 message to ask what they’re waiting on.
How we handle it
Quote follow-up is an add-on: open quotes get a follow-up on day 2 and day 5, written with you, and it stops as soon as the customer replies.