# Quote Follow Up Sequences > Builds a follow-up system that chases every outstanding quote for a local service business - same-day speed-to-quote, a day 1/3/7/14 cadence mixing call, SMS, and email, the assumptive close, quote-expiry urgency, and win/loss logging, with copy-paste templates. Use when an owner says "customers ghost after I send the estimate", "how do I follow up on quotes without being annoying", "my close rate on written estimates is low", or "should quotes expire". Do NOT use for B2B sales-team follow-up cadences - use sales-followup-cadence instead. Do NOT use for reducing appointment no-shows before the visit happens - use no-show-reduction instead. - Skill: `skillmedev/quote-follow-up-sequences` (Agent Skill) - Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add skillmedev/quote-follow-up-sequences` - Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/skillmedev/quote-follow-up-sequences/raw - Safety review: pending - Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex - Category: Productivity - Author: SkillMedev (https://skillmd.com/u/skillmedev) - Updated: 2026-09-22 - Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/skillmedev/quote-follow-up-sequences --- # Quote Follow-Up Sequences An unanswered quote is not a no - most of the time it is a homeowner who got busy, and the contractor who follows up wins the job from the four who did not. The costly mistake this skill prevents is paying to generate a lead, paying a tech to drive out and diagnose, and then abandoning the quote after one email - burning the acquisition cost local-unit-economics already counted (about $119 per customer for Summit Plumbing, before the truck roll). This skill and no-show-reduction are the two revenue-protection systems in the pack: both defend money the lead spend has already paid for. Worked business throughout: Summit Plumbing, 4 techs, $450 average ticket, $75,000 a month. Roughly a third of Summit's work is quoted rather than fixed on the spot - call it 60 quotes a month. Moving the quote close rate from 45 percent to 55 percent is 6 extra jobs, about $2,700 a month, for the cost of some texts and calls. ## Operating procedure ### Step 1: Enforce the speed-to-quote rule - same day, always The quote goes out the same day as the visit, ideally from the driveway before the truck leaves. Every day of delay bleeds close rate: the homeowner is calling three plumbers, and the first credible written number anchors the comparison. If a quote genuinely needs supplier pricing, send a same-day placeholder ("You'll have the full written quote by tomorrow 5 pm") so the customer is never in silence. ### Step 2: Send quotes that can be said yes to The quote itself is follow-up infrastructure: an itemized written quote with a good/better/best option where honest (repair / repair plus prevention / replace), an expiry date 14 days out, and a one-tap way to accept (reply YES, click to approve, or click to call). The expiry date is what makes day-14 urgency honest later. Pricing structure itself is out of scope here - this skill chases the quote, whatever the number is. ### Step 3: Run the day 1/3/7/14 cadence Four touches, mixed channels, each with a different job. Log every touch. ``` DAY 1 (24h after sending) - SMS. Job: confirm receipt, invite questions. "Hi [FILL: name], [FILL: tech] from Summit Plumbing. Wanted to make sure the quote for [FILL: job] landed OK. Any questions, just reply here - happy to walk through it." DAY 3 - Phone call, the assumptive close. Job: schedule, not re-sell. Open by booking, not by asking for a decision: "Hi [FILL: name], it's [FILL: tech] from Summit Plumbing about the [FILL: job] quote. I've got [FILL: day] morning or [FILL: day] afternoon open this week - which works better for you?" If they hesitate, drop to discovery: "No problem - what's giving you pause? Price, timing, or still comparing?" Handle the real objection. Voicemail if no answer, then the same offer by SMS. DAY 7 - Email. Job: make forwarding easy (the spouse or landlord often decides). Subject: "Your Summit Plumbing quote for [FILL: job]" Body: quote attached again, 2-3 sentence recap of what's included, one relevant review quote, expiry date restated, click-to-approve link. DAY 14 - SMS, expiry urgency. Job: honest deadline, easy out. "Hi [FILL: name], [FILL: tech] from Summit Plumbing. Your quote for [FILL: job] expires [FILL: date] - after that I'd need to re-price materials. Want me to hold it and get you on the schedule? If you've gone another way, no hard feelings - a quick 'no thanks' and I'll close the file." ``` The day-3 assumptive close carries the sequence: it skips "have you decided?" - which invites "not yet" - and offers two concrete slots, which converts the passive maybe into a scheduling decision. ### Step 4: Honor the expiry, gracefully The urgency only works if it is real: after the expiry date, re-quoting is a fresh quote (materials and schedule genuinely move). But never punish a customer who calls on day 16 - honor the price once, note it, and keep the expiry credible for the file, not hostile to the person. ### Step 5: Log every win and loss One line per closed quote: won or lost, and if lost, why - price, went with competitor, DIY, postponed, ghosted. Review monthly. The pattern tells you what to fix: mostly "price" losses point at quote structure or targeting; mostly "ghosted" means the cadence is not being executed; "postponed" is a 90-day re-contact list, which is free pipeline. ### Step 6: Close the loop monthly with the economics Report the quote close rate into local-unit-economics as part of the blended close rate. If the written-quote close rate is under 50 percent after a full month of executed cadence, the leak has moved upstream - price, offer, or lead quality - and more follow-up will not fix it. ## Inputs to elicit Collect: quotes sent per month, current quote close rate (label a guess as a guess - most owners have never measured it), average quoted amount, who sends quotes and from what tool, and whether SMS is available from the business number. Defaults: 14-day expiry, cadence 1/3/7/14, tech's name on every message (people hire the person they met, not the company). ## Concrete thresholds - Speed-to-quote: same day, target under 4 hours from visit. - Cadence: exactly four touches over 14 days; more than five in two weeks tips into pestering for residential work. - Quote close rate floor: 50 percent on written residential quotes; under 40 percent after a month of executed cadence means the problem is upstream. - Expiry: 14 days standard; 7 for volatile-material jobs. - Response time to a customer reply: under 15 minutes during business hours - a reply is the hottest signal in this pipeline. ## Worked artifact: Summit's month, before and after ``` BEFORE (one email, no cadence) AFTER (full cadence, 1 month) Quotes sent: 60 Quotes sent: 60 Close rate: 45% Close rate: 55% Jobs won: 27 Jobs won: 33 Quoted revenue won: $12,150 Quoted revenue won: $14,850 Delta: +$2,700/mo, ~$32k/yr Loss log (after): price 9, competitor 6, postponed 7, ghosted 5 Action from log: 7 postponed -> 90-day re-contact list; ghosted down from 18 -> cadence is working ``` ## Deliverable A ready-to-run follow-up kit: the four templates above with fields filled for the business, the assumptive-close call script, the expiry policy in one sentence, a win/loss log (spreadsheet columns: date, job, amount, outcome, reason), and the monthly close-rate line that feeds local-unit-economics. ## Do NOT - Do not wait for the customer to "think it over" without a scheduled next touch - silence is where paid-for quotes go to die. - Do not open follow-up 2 with "have you had a chance to decide?" - it invites "not yet". Offer two slots instead. - Do not fake urgency with a fake expiry, or extend a "firm" expiry three times; customers smell it and it poisons trust. - Do not discount just to end the silence - an unprompted price cut teaches customers that ghosting earns discounts. Diagnose the objection first. - Do not keep chasing past a clear no; log the reason and move on. The cadence targets silence, not refusal. ## Quality bar - Every open quote has its next touch dated and assigned - zero quotes in limbo. - Templates carry the tech's real name and the job specifics, never "Dear valued customer." - The day-14 message contains a genuine expiry and an easy out. - The loss log has a reason for every loss, and the monthly review names one action taken. ## Escalation and routing For quotes that die at the visit itself (customer balks at the number in person), the fix is quote presentation and pricing, not follow-up - consider pricing-strategy for structure. Appointment no-shows before the quote visit belong to no-show-reduction. B2B pipeline cadences belong to sales-followup-cadence. Feed the measured close rate back into local-unit-economics monthly, and hand every won customer's five-star moment to review-engine.