How to Follow Up a Quote Without Being Pushy: UK Guide

Often it’s nothing personal. Citizens Advice tells homeowners to try to get written quotes from at least 3 different traders before choosing one, and to compare them. So a customer who goes quiet is quite possibly doing exactly what they’ve been told to do.

Another reason is that the customer simply forgot. People get busy. Your quote ended up under a pile of other emails.

That’s useful to know, because it changes how you write the follow-up. You’re not chasing a debt. You’re giving a busy person an easy way to answer.

There’s no official rule on this, so here’s what I’d do. Treat it as my opinion, not a law:

• A few days after sending, a short check-in.
• About a week later, a second message, ideally tied to something real, like the date the price is valid until.
• Then stop. A final, polite message that closes the loop, and then leave it.

Citizens Advice says a quote should include how long the price is valid. If yours does, you already have an honest reason to get in touch: “Your quote is valid until [date], so I wanted to check you’d got everything you needed.”

If you’ve not got a validity date on your quotes, my post on a free quote template shows what to put on them.

Keep it short, friendly and about them, not you. One question at the end, and make it easy to say no. Here are three you can copy and change. Put your own details in the square brackets.

Day 3: the check-in

About day 10: the one with a reason

The last one: closing the loop

Three things I’d avoid:

• Fake pressure. “Last chance” and “prices going up” wording makes people dig in. Only mention a deadline if it’s real.
• Surprise discounts. The AI Till’s guide on quotes makes the same point: only include a discount if you mean it, because it’s easy to send one by mistake. If you change the price, change the quote itself.
• A wall of text. If it can’t be read on a phone in 10 seconds, shorten it.

Email, text or WhatsApp? Use the same one you sent the quote on. If they’ve replied on WhatsApp before, carry on there.

You don’t need new software for this. Both Gmail and Outlook can do most of it.

Gmail nudges. Gmail Help says you may see suggestions at the top of your inbox for emails to reply to or follow up on. You can turn them on or off in Settings, under the General tab, next to “Nudges”. It also says conversation view needs to be on first. It’s a decent safety net, but it’s a prompt, not a promise.

Gmail schedule send. You can write the message now and have Gmail send it later. Google says scheduled emails may go out a few minutes after the time you pick, they send in the time zone you scheduled them in, and you can have up to 100 scheduled emails at once. If you cancel one, it turns back into a draft. A handy trick: write your day 10 message on the day you send the quote, and schedule it. Then if the customer replies in the meantime, cancel it.

Outlook. Microsoft’s support page says that in the new Outlook and Outlook on the web, you select the dropdown next to Send and choose Schedule send. The message stays in your Drafts folder until it’s due, and you can open it and select Cancel send if you change your mind. Microsoft says that option isn’t available for IMAP or POP accounts. In classic Outlook, you go to Message Options, then Delivery options, then tick “Do not deliver before”. Microsoft notes that Outlook needs to be online and connected for that one to work.

The old-fashioned way. A diary entry or phone reminder that says “chase [customer]” works just as well. The best system is the one you use.

It can help with the wording. The AI Till has a guide to AI quote and follow-up tools for trades, and a free quote follow-up generator if you’d rather not start from scratch. The guide includes a prompt for a polite follow-up after no reply, and its rule is the right one: never let the AI invent a price. If it suggests a figure you didn’t give it, delete it.

I also wrote about using ChatGPT to write a builder’s quote template if you want the quote itself to be less of a chore.

This is where people worry, so here’s what I know. The ICO, the UK’s data protection regulator, has rules on electronic mail marketing. Its guidance says you must not send marketing emails or texts to individuals without specific consent, with a limited exception for your own previous customers. It says that rule covers emails, texts, voice messages and social media direct messages.

My reading, and this isn’t legal advice, is that a polite reply about a quote someone asked you for is part of the conversation they started. It isn’t an advert. But keep it that way. Stick to their quote, don’t slip in offers for other services, and if they say no or ask you to stop, stop. The ICO’s page also says its guidance is under review following changes made by the Data (Use and Access) Act, so check the ICO’s own site if you’re unsure.

What about a newsletter for past customers?

Chasing a quote is one thing. Keeping in touch with people who’ve already used you is another. The ICO’s “soft opt-in” is for your own previous customers. It says they must have bought, or discussed buying, something similar from you, and you must have offered a clear chance to opt out when you collected their details and in every message. It does not apply to prospective customers.

If you do want to email past customers, perhaps a “winter servicing slots” note once or twice a year, you’d need a proper email tool with unsubscribe links. One option is GetResponse (affiliate link). GetResponse’s help pages say its automations can send an email, wait a set time, and then send a reminder to the people who haven’t opened it. By default that wait is 1 day, and you can change it.

To be clear, that’s for people who’ve agreed to hear from you. It’s not a way to chase individual quotes. For that, a short personal message from you will always beat an automated sequence. And only sign up if a mailing list is something you’ll actually use. A calendar reminder costs nothing.

If you’d like help with scheduled emails, a saved reply or a quote template, send me one techy thing that’s bugging you and I’ll sort it for free. It’s up to 30 minutes, done remotely, and there’s nothing to buy. I’m a local business owner based in Heywood, not an agency. Get in touch and tell me what’s stuck.

Thanks,
James Gonzo