How to follow up a quote without being a pest

When and how to follow up a tray and canopy quote: a simple schedule, something useful to send each time, three templates, and when to stop.

You sent the quote a fortnight ago: an alloy tray and canopy on a new dual cab, laid out the way the customer asked. They were keen at the counter. Since then, nothing. You don't want to nag, so you leave it, and the job goes to the shop that did ring. Knowing how to follow up a quote without being a pest mostly comes down to deciding the dates before you need them.

The short version: send a thank-you the day the quote goes out, check in a few days later, and check in once more before it expires. Bring something useful each time, not "just checking in". After the last one, tell them you're taking it off your list, and do.

Why a tray and canopy quote goes quiet

A tray and canopy isn't an impulse buy. DW Customs, for one, says most of its tray and canopy builds range from $20,000 to $35,000. At that money people take their time, and silence after a quote usually has a reason behind it:

• Someone else signs off. The person at the counter isn't always the one signing off. A partner or the boss may not have seen the quote yet.
• The money isn't sorted. They're waiting on finance, or on a word with the accountant.
• The ute isn't here yet. A new vehicle on order can be weeks or months away, and it's hard to commit to a build for a ute with no delivery date.
• They're comparing. Yours may be one of several quotes, and the others take time to arrive too.

None of those is a no. Each one is a reason to wait, and each tells you what a useful follow-up looks like. So find out which it is. When you hand over the quote, ask: "Does anyone else need to see this, and when's the ute due?"

How to follow up a quote: set the dates when you send it

Pick the follow-up dates on the day the quote goes out, not when you happen to remember. This is the schedule I'd start from. It comes from practice, not from a study, so stretch it when your lead times are long.

Two rules keep it from turning into nagging. If the customer gives you a date ("the ute lands in March"), use theirs and drop yours. And if they reply, the schedule stops and the conversation takes over.

Use the channel they used. Someone who texted you probably wants a text back, not a three-paragraph email.

The schedule only works if the dates are written down. Keep a list of open quotes in a spreadsheet or the job software you already use, one row per quote: customer and vehicle, total inc. GST, date sent, valid until, next follow-up date, and what's holding it up. Ten minutes at the same time each week is enough to see who's due a message. If your quotes don't carry an expiry date yet, add one; How to improve your quoting process covers what else belongs on the template.

Bring something useful every time

"Just checking in" asks the customer to do something and gives them nothing. Each follow-up should carry one thing they didn't have before. On a tray and canopy, there's always something:

• A lead-time update. If your next free fit-out slot has moved, say so. It's news, and it helps them plan around the ute.
• A photo of a similar build. Same vehicle, same canopy, ideally loaded up and in use. It shows what they're paying for better than a line on a quote does.
• The payload answer. For a heavy build, send the estimated payload: the vehicle's payload from published figures, minus the estimated build weight, minus people and gear. Customers ask it sooner or later, and it's a better conversation before the build than after. Final weights get confirmed at fit-out.
• An answer you owed them. Where the reverse sensors go, or whether the spare still fits. If you said "I'll find out", the follow-up is when you tell them.

Quote follow-up templates for SMS and email

Keep them short, write them the way you'd talk, and put your name on them. Two of these are texts and one is a quote follow-up email. Swap in your own details.

A few days after the quote, by SMS

Hi Sam, it's Mick about the tray and canopy for your Hilux. Here's a photo of one we finished last week with the same canopy and drawers, so you can see the door height on the ute. Any questions, give me a ring.

About a week before it expires, by email. Subject: "Your Hilux tray and canopy quote, valid until 14 November".

Hi Sam, a quick note that your quote is valid until 14 November. Our next free fit-out slot is now the second week of December, so if you'd like it done before the Christmas break, we'd need to lock it in by then. If the ute's delivery date has moved or you've changed your mind on anything, tell me and I'll update the quote to suit. Cheers, Mick

After it expires, by SMS or email

Hi Sam, it's Mick. Your tray and canopy quote has now expired, so I'll take it off my list. No problem at all if you've gone another way or the timing's wrong. If you want it re-quoted down the track, reply to this and I'll update it.

When to stop, and how to sign off

After that last message, stop. Following up on a quote three or four times over its life is reasonable. A text every few days until they answer is how you become the pest.

The closing message is the easiest one to skip. It tells the customer you won't keep chasing, which makes it easy for them to reply, and sometimes that's the message that gets an answer: the ute's been delayed, or they went elsewhere and will tell you why.

If they did go elsewhere, thank them and ask one question: what decided it? Price, lead time, a door style you don't make, a mate's recommendation. Note the answer against the quote on your list. After a few months the reasons start to repeat, and that tells you what to fix first.

Don't argue with a no, and don't drop the price in the same breath. A discount offered after "we went with someone else" tells the customer the first price wasn't your real one.

Talk to Ben if you'd like every open quote and its next follow-up date in one place.