How long should I wait before following up on a quote?
Follow up quickly, and keep following up until the customer gives you an answer, because silence is not a no. A homeowner who goes quiet after a quote is often busy or waiting to talk it over with someone at home. The company that checks back while the job is still on their mind gets the chance to answer whatever is holding them up. Waiting weeks to seem polite mostly hands that chance to someone else.
Why does a homeowner go quiet after getting a quote?
Many owners read silence as a polite no, and often it is something much smaller. The quote went into a kitchen drawer, the homeowner's week got away from them, and the job slid down a list that already had plenty on it. Sometimes they are waiting on a second price or on a spouse who has not looked at it yet, and sometimes they have a question about financing they did not want to ask on the spot.
The bigger the quote, the longer it tends to sit. An electrician's quote for a panel upgrade or a replacement quote for a new HVAC system can wait for weeks while the homeowner works out the money and the timing. Through those weeks the homeowner often has not chosen anyone yet, and the first company to check back is the one that gets to answer the question that stalled the decision.
Will following up on a quote make me look pushy?
A follow-up feels pushy when all it does is ask whether the customer is ready to buy. When it offers to answer a question or explain a line on the quote, it reads as good service, and it tells the homeowner that your company keeps track of its customers.
Think about the last time you were the customer and asked a few companies for a price. The one that called back to see if you had questions probably stuck in your mind, and it probably got the job.
What does an unanswered quote cost a home service business?
Say a fence company owner spends a Saturday morning measuring a backyard, walking the property line with the homeowner and talking through where the gate should go. He sends the quote that evening. The homeowner says it looks good and that they want to think it over. The next two weeks are full of installs, so nobody from the company calls back. A few weeks later the owner drives past the house and sees another company's posts going in.
The owner had already put a Saturday morning and an evening into that quote, and the only step that got skipped was the one that would have won the job. Add that up across every quote in a busy season and a real share of your work has walked out the door without anyone deciding to let it go.
When should I stop following up on a quote?
Stop when the customer gives you an answer. A yes books the job and a no lets you close the quote, and a kind question about what decided it can tell you something useful about your price or your timing. "Not right now" counts as an answer too, as long as someone writes down when the customer said to check back.
A customer who said no this year still owns a house in your service area that will need work again. Those people belong on the list of past contacts you stay in touch with, which is where Word of Mouth comes from.
What a fix looks like
In a business that has fixed this, the owner can open one list and see every quote still waiting on an answer, with the customer's name, the amount, and the date it went out. A reminder comes up on each open quote, so the follow-up calls go out in the busiest weeks of the season just as they do in the slow ones. When a customer says yes, the quote becomes a job, and when they say no or ask you to check back later, someone records it and the quote either closes or gets a date for the next call.
The Home Service Guild Marketing Operations System keeps that list and the reminders as part of following up on every inquiry and quote, and it connects to Housecall Pro if your quotes already go out from there.
Questions owners also ask
Should I follow up on a quote by phone, text, or email?
Start with the way the customer reached you, since that is the one they are comfortable with, and feel free to use more than one. Some homeowners never answer a call from a number they do not recognize but will reply to a text the same evening.
What if the customer already hired another company?
Then you have your answer and you can close the quote. Thank them, and keep them on the list of people you stay in touch with, because their house will need other work and the company they chose this time may not be the one they call next time.
Is it worth following up on a small quote?
Yes. A small job is often how a homeowner tries out a contractor before trusting them with a bigger one. The customer who had a good experience on a small repair already knows your work when the next project comes up.
How do I know how many of my quotes never got an answer?
If you cannot answer that from one list today, that is the first thing to fix. Quotes spread across a notebook and a few email inboxes cannot be counted, so nobody knows how many slipped away.
