You spend 45 minutes putting together a detailed quote. You send it. Then... nothing. The customer doesn't reply, you get busy with the next job, and two weeks later you've completely forgotten about it.
Sound familiar? You're not alone — and the numbers back it up.
The Follow-Up Gap Is Costing You Real Money
After analysing thousands of quotes sent through WinYourQuote, we found that 73% of quotes sent by Australian trade businesses receive zero follow-up after the initial send. Not one text. Not one call. Nothing.
Here's why that hurts more than you think:
- The average trade quote is worth $2,400
- The average conversion rate with a follow-up is 34% higher than without
- Most customers who don't reply aren't lost — they're just busy, distracted, or waiting for you to show you care
That means for every 10 quotes you send without following up, you're potentially leaving $8,000+ on the table. Every month.
Why Tradespeople Don't Follow Up
It's not laziness. It's a systems problem.
You're doing everything manually. When you're on-site, you're focused on the job in front of you — not the quote you sent three days ago. By the time you get home, you've forgotten which quotes are outstanding, who you sent them to, and when.
There's no trigger to remind you. Email inboxes are chaotic. Quotes get buried. Without a system that tells you "hey, this person hasn't replied in 48 hours," it's nearly impossible to stay on top of follow-ups consistently.
It feels awkward. A lot of tradies worry that following up seems pushy or desperate. In reality, customers appreciate it — it signals professionalism and genuine interest in their project.
What the Data Shows About Follow-Up Timing
Not all follow-ups are equal. Based on our data, here's what works:
48 hours after sending the quote is the sweet spot for a first follow-up. Response rates drop significantly after 72 hours.
SMS outperforms email for tradespeople. Text messages have a 98% open rate; emails average around 20%. Customers read texts within 3 minutes on average.
One well-timed follow-up can recover 1 in 4 "lost" quotes. Customers who hadn't replied within 3 days — and were assumed lost — converted at 24% when sent a simple, friendly SMS follow-up.
The Fix: Make Follow-Up Automatic
The simplest solution is to remove the human memory element entirely.
A good follow-up system should:
- Track every quote you send — so nothing falls through the cracks
- Send a follow-up automatically at the right time (48 hours is the sweet spot)
- Use your words — the message should sound like you, not a robot
- Stop automatically if the customer replies or you mark the job as won/lost
This is exactly what WinYourQuote does. You send a quote like you normally would — whether that's by email, via your quoting software, or as a PDF — and WinYourQuote handles the follow-up sequence in the background. If the customer replies, WinYourQuote stops. If they don't, it sends a second nudge at day 5.
A Simple Template to Start With Today
Even without software, you can start following up manually with this template:
"Hi [Name], just checking in on the quote I sent through for [job type]. Happy to answer any questions or adjust anything if needed — just let me know. Cheers, [Your name]"
That's it. Short, friendly, no pressure. Send it 48 hours after the quote goes out.
The Bottom Line
The trade businesses winning the most jobs aren't necessarily the cheapest or the fastest. They're the ones who stay top of mind. One follow-up message — sent at the right time — is often the difference between winning a $3,000 job and losing it to someone who just happened to check in.
Stop leaving 73% of your follow-ups to chance.
