Chasing a quote you sent — how long to wait, and when to let it go
A quote you sent is not a job. It is a decision that sits in someone else’s inbox, and it has a shelf life. Put an expiry date on it. Chase on a schedule, not on a feeling. Close it out when the date passes, so your pipeline stays honest.
A quote you send is a decision, not a job. It has a shelf life. Give it an expiry date. Then chase on a fixed schedule. Send a delivery check at about three days and a decision ask at about a week. Send one last note at the expiry date, then stop. Close a lapsed quote out. Track your win rate, and plan against pipeline times win rate, never the raw total.
You send a quote, and then nothing happens. There is no reply and no rejection, just quiet. Most advice about quoting stops at the number and the wording. Almost none of it covers the days after you press send. Those days are when many jobs are won or lost.
A quote is a decision, not a job
A sent quote is not booked work. It is a decision you have handed to someone else. Right now it sits in their inbox next to a dozen other things. Silence almost never means "no." It usually means "not decided yet." The client may be busy. They may still compare options. They may wait for a nudge to look at it again.
Read it that way, and a follow-up stops being an imposition. You are not pestering someone for an answer. You are giving an open decision a reason to get made.
Why a quote goes stale
A quote runs on two clocks, and they do not tick at the same speed. Your price goes stale as material costs move and your diary fills up around the date you had in mind. The client's attention goes stale faster. The longer a quote sits unanswered, the easier it is to forget. It also gets harder to pick back up without feeling awkward on either side.
Treat both clocks as real. You will rarely want to honor a quote happily in month three, at your current diary and material costs. Plan for the more common case instead.
Put an expiry date on it before you send it
State a validity date on every quote, from the first send. This one line does most of the work in this guide. It protects your price from a client who comes back months later and expects an old number. It also turns your next follow-up into a stated fact. It is no longer a favor you ask for. You told them a date was coming, so mentioning it again keeps your own word.
Chase on a schedule, not on a feeling
Decide the cadence when you send the quote, not on the day you happen to remember it. A fixed schedule beats "I'll follow up when it feels right." A busy week always wins that argument. Then the quote just ages.
- About three days in: a delivery check. Confirm that the quote arrived and did not land in a spam folder. Keep it light. This is a delivery check, not a sales push.
- About a week in: a decision ask. Ask directly if the client wants to go ahead. Give them an easy way to say "not right now" without it feeling awkward.
- On the expiry date: one last note. Say that the validity date of the quote has arrived. Say that you are happy to re-quote if the job is still live.
- After that: stop. A fourth message after the expiry date reads as pressure, not as organization.
The wording for each message is already written in the quote follow-up scripts. They include the delivery check and the week-later nudge. They also say what to answer if you lose the job to a cheaper bid. This guide explains when to send each one. The templates give you the words.
Close the quote out — this is the step most advice skips
A quote you never mark lost is not a hopeful sign. It is a number in your pipeline that makes your workload look bigger than it is. It also changes how you price the next job. You start to assume that work is coming that may never arrive.
Once the expiry date passes with no answer, close the quote out. Mark it lost if the client told you they went elsewhere. Mark it expired if you do not know. Either way, take it off your open pipeline. If the client comes back later, give them a fresh quote at your current price. Do not reopen the old one.
Read your win rate honestly
Your win rate is the share of quotes that turn into jobs. It shows which problem you have, and it is not always the one you assume.
A very high win rate feels like good news. More often it means your price is too low, since almost anyone says yes to a bargain. A very low win rate at a price you believe is fair points elsewhere. It usually points at the quote document itself, not at your pricing or your follow-up habits. A client may push back on the number itself. That is a separate talk, and holding your price covers it. This guide covers what happens before that talk starts.
Plan against pipeline times win rate, not the pipeline total
Some people add up every open quote and call the sum their pipeline. That makes you feel busier than you are. Not every quote turns into a job, and your win rate says roughly how many will. Multiply the pipeline total by your win rate. Plan your diary and your cash flow against that smaller number, not the total sitting in quotes.
The free quote pipeline check takes up to six open quotes and your usual validity window. It gives back each quote's age and whether it is due a chase. It lists the chases oldest first. It also shows your win rate and pipeline times win rate, which is the number worth planning against.
When the client does say yes, read when the client says yes for what to do next.
Common questions
How long should I wait before chasing a quote?
Send a delivery check at about three days. A quote can land in a spam folder or get lost under other messages. Ask for a decision at about a week. Set both dates on the day you send the quote. Do not wait until the silence starts to bother you.
How many times should I follow up on a quote?
Send two follow-ups after the quote. Send a delivery check at about three days. Send a decision ask at about a week. Send one last note on the expiry date, then stop. Messages spaced out like this read as organized, not pushy.
What happens when a quote expires with no answer?
Close it out. Mark it lost or mark it expired, and take it off your open pipeline. A client can still come back later. Then you re-quote at your current price. Do not honor a number that has gone stale.
What does my win rate actually tell me?
A very high win rate usually means your price is too low. It does not mean your quotes are persuasive, because almost everyone says yes to a bargain. A very low win rate at a fair price usually means the quote document is not doing its job.
Want a quote that’s gone quiet to actually show up somewhere?
BizBinder does not chase a client for you. It does not decide when to give up on a quote. Those calls stay yours. It holds the job at the quote stage. When the date passes, it shows the job as overdue on the page you land on for the week. A stalled quote then shows up on its own, not only in your memory.
You are on the list.
A person reads every request. You will hear from us within one business day.
- 01 A person reads your note — not a queue.
- 02 You get an invite as spots open.
- 03 Your admin starts filing itself.
The free library is open while you wait. Nothing in it needs an account.
- guide How to price a job so the number holds up The quote works only if its number works. Start with the price, then write it up.
- tool Free Quote & Estimate Generator Fill in your business and client details. Add line items, mark any as optional, and set a deposit. A clean quote builds as you type. Turn it into an invoice with one click.
- tool Quote & invoice terms builder Tick the clauses that fit the job and fill in your numbers once. You get a plain-English terms block. Copy it, print it, or send it into the quote generator.