Silence Isn't a Decision: A Dependable Chase Routine for Open Quotes

A quote leaves the building and then nothing happens. No acceptance, no refusal — merely a fortnight of quiet that hardens, without anyone having decided it, into lost work. In most small UK firms this is not a shortage of enthusiasm. It is a shortage of ownership. The quote was priced and sent; nobody was ever handed the follow-up.

The pattern repeats itself in trades, consultancies and professional services alike. The owner prices the job on a Sunday evening, sends it across, and returns to the work already on the books. By Thursday the enquiry has slipped below the fold of the inbox, and the customer — who was probably weighing up three firms — has gone with whichever one rang first.

Silence is rarely a refusal

Very few prospects draft a courteous no. More commonly the quote lands in a busy week, is mentally filed under 'think about it', and the moment is lost. Price matters, of course, but timing carries at least as much weight. The firm that makes contact at sensible intervals frequently wins work for which it was not the cheapest.

That is the whole case for a routine. Not persistence for its own sake, but a small number of well-timed, plainly worded contacts that make replying straightforward for the customer.

Begin with a log, not a reminder

A diary reminder that says 'chase quote' with no further detail is close to useless. What is needed is a single page — a spreadsheet will do — carrying a handful of columns:

• Reference and customer — a short identifier plus the name of the person who asked.
• Date issued and value — so the age and worth of the quote are visible at a glance.
• Scope in five words — enough to recall the job without opening the file.
• Owner — one named individual, never 'the office'.
• Next action date — the date on which the next contact falls due.
• Status — open, closed-won, closed-lost, or on hold until a stated month.

Fifteen or twenty lines will cover most small firms. The discipline lies not in the design but in the update: every contact made, every reply received and every status change is recorded the same day. A log that is a week stale is worse than none, because it invites false confidence.

Three contacts, fixed intervals

Consistency does the work here. Three contacts, spaced predictably, cover the ground without becoming a nuisance.

The first, at three to five working days. Short, warm and easy to answer. Its purpose is simply to confirm the quote arrived and to offer to talk it through.

The second, around day ten. This is where detail earns its place — a reminder of start dates, a note about availability, or an offer to adjust the scope if something in the specification was unclear. It gives the customer a reason to reply that is not simply politeness.

The third, at roughly three weeks. This one closes the loop. It states plainly that the firm will assume the job is not proceeding and will release the slot, while leaving the door open if circumstances change.

After that, the line moves to 'on hold' with a review date, and the chase stops. A routine that never ends is not a routine; it is a nagging habit.

Wording that does not sound like nagging

The tone should be that of a helpful supplier checking in, not a salesperson applying pressure. Three principles carry most of the weight.

1. Ask a question rather than demand a decision. 'Is there anything you'd like me to clarify?' invites a reply; 'please confirm by Friday' invites silence.
2. Give a practical reason for the contact. Availability, lead times or a change in specification all justify a message far better than the passage of time alone.
3. Keep it to a few lines. Long messages imply that a long reply is expected, and busy people defer those.

A workable first contact reads: Morning Sarah — just checking the quote for the rear extension reached you. Happy to talk through any of the figures if that's useful. No rush either way. It is short, it is courteous, and it is simple to answer.

Deciding which quotes merit the hardest chase

Not every open quote deserves equal attention, and treating them alike is how the routine collapses under its own weight. A few signals are worth weighing:

• Value relative to typical job size. A quote three times the usual ticket justifies a phone call rather than an email.
• Engagement during the enquiry. A customer who asked detailed questions, sent photographs or visited the premises has already invested time.
• Source of the enquiry. Referrals and repeat customers tend to convert at higher rates, and a slow reply from them is more often a timing problem than a pricing one.
• Timing signals. Words such as 'we're hoping to start before Easter' give a genuine reason to make contact sooner.
• How the quote was received. Total silence differs from 'leave it with me' — the latter is an invitation to return at a stated point.

Conversely, a quote that was requested speculatively, never acknowledged and sits well below the firm's minimum job size can go to 'on hold' after the first contact with a clear conscience.

One named owner, or none at all

The single most common reason follow-up fails is that responsibility is shared. When everybody is expected to chase, nobody does. Name one person — the owner, an office manager, or a virtual assistant working to a written brief — and let that person hold the log.

The owner's part should be limited to the conversations that genuinely need them: a call with a high-value prospect, a negotiation on scope, or a final decision on whether to hold a slot open. Administrative chasing is a poor use of a director's afternoon and an excellent use of delegated support.

What a virtual assistant can carry

Handing the routine across is straightforward provided three things are in place: read access to the quoting system or the folder where quotes are stored, a short written brief covering intervals and tone, and a clear escalation threshold — for example, anything above a stated value comes to the owner after the second contact rather than the third.

From there the assistant maintains the log, drafts and sends the three contacts, records replies, and books any resulting calls into the diary. The owner receives a brief weekly summary: what went out, what came back, what needs a decision.

A quarter-hour that pays for itself

None of this requires software, a sales pipeline or a change of process. It requires a page, three dates and a name. Set aside fifteen minutes each Friday to review the log, and the quotes that would otherwise have gone quiet are given a fair hearing — which is, after all, all that most of them need.