Chasing a quote you sent — how long to wait, and when to let it go

You send a quote, and then nothing happens. No reply, no rejection, just quiet. Most advice about quoting stops at the number and the wording. Almost none of it covers what to do in the days after you press send, which is exactly when a fair number of jobs are actually 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, and right now it is sitting in their inbox next to a dozen other things competing for their attention. Silence almost never means "no." It usually means "not decided yet," because the client is busy, is still comparing options, or is simply waiting for a nudge to actually 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 a decision that is still open 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 own 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 entirely, and the harder it becomes to pick back up without feeling awkward on either side.

Treat both clocks as real. A quote you would still honor happily in month three, at your current diary and current material costs, is rare. Plan for the more common case instead.

Put an expiry date on it before you send it

State a validity date on every quote, right from the first send. This single line does most of the work in this guide. It protects your price from a client who comes back months later expecting an old number. It also turns your next follow-up into a stated fact instead of a favor you are asking for — you told them a date was coming, so mentioning it again is simply keeping 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," because a busy week always wins that argument and the quote just quietly ages instead.

• About three days in — a delivery check. Confirm the quote actually 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 whether the client wants to go ahead, and give them an easy way to say "not right now" without it feeling awkward.
• On the expiry date — one last note. Mention that the quote's validity date has arrived, and that you are happy to re-quote if the job is still live.
• After that — stop. A fourth message past the expiry date reads as pressure, not as organization.

The wording for each of these messages, including the delivery check, the week-later nudge, and what to say if you lose the job to a cheaper bid, is already written in the quote follow-up scripts. This guide is the decision behind when to send each one — the templates are the words themselves.

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 sitting in your pipeline that makes your workload look bigger than it actually is, and it quietly changes how you price the next job — you start assuming 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, or mark it expired if you genuinely do not know. Either way, take it off your open pipeline. If the client comes back later, that is a fresh quote at your current price, not a reopened old one.

Read your win rate honestly

Your win rate — the share of quotes that turn into jobs — tells you which problem you actually have, and it is not always the one you assume.

A very high win rate feels like good news. It is more often a sign that your price is too low, since almost anyone says yes to a bargain. A very low win rate at a price you genuinely believe is fair points somewhere else entirely — usually at the quote document itself, not at your pricing or your follow-up habits. If a client is pushing back on the number specifically, that is a separate conversation covered in holding your price; this guide is about what happens before that conversation even starts.

Plan against pipeline times win rate, not the pipeline total

Adding up every open quote and calling that your pipeline is a common way to feel busier than you actually are. Not every quote turns into a job — your own win rate says roughly how many will. Multiply the pipeline total by your win rate, and plan your diary and your cash flow against that smaller number instead of the total sitting in quotes.

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 an actual decision at about a week. Both dates are easier to keep if you set them the day you send the quote, not once the silence starts to bother you.

How many times should I follow up on a quote?

Two follow-ups after the quote itself: a delivery check at about three days, and a decision ask at about a week. Send one last note on the expiry date, then stop. Three messages spaced out like this reads 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 — you simply re-quote at your current price instead of honoring a number that has already gone stale.

What does my win rate actually tell me?

A very high win rate usually means your price is too low, not that your quotes are especially persuasive — almost everyone would say yes to a bargain. A very low win rate at a price you believe is fair usually means the quote document itself is not doing its job.