A sale is not over when the quote goes out — that is when the real work starts. In many companies quotes are emailed and, if the customer does not answer, forgotten within days. At month-end the answer to “why are sales down?” is buried in quotes nobody followed up.
Here are seven steps to turn quote follow-up from a personal habit into a process the whole team runs.
1. Give every quote an owner
The answer to “who sent this quote?” should always be one name. A quote sent from a shared mailbox with no clear owner will most likely never be chased. Make the owner field mandatory and reassign quotes when a rep is away.
2. Set the follow-up date the day you send the quote
The follow-up date should be born with the quote. A simple rule works well:
| Quote type | First follow-up | Second follow-up |
|---|---|---|
| Small, standard products | after 2 business days | after 1 week |
| Medium, includes a project | after 3 business days | after 10 days |
| Large, several approvers | after 1 week | according to the customer’s decision timeline |
Put these dates on tasks linked to the quote, not just in a calendar — a task stays visible until it is done.
3. Get the price right when you quote
The worst follow-up call is the one where the customer says “this price was different last month”. Pulling prices from a current price book, enforcing discount limits while quoting and routing exceptions through approval removes most price arguments from the follow-up. (See what is CPQ?)
4. Use the expiry date
A quote’s validity date is not just a legal detail; it is a natural reason to call: “Our quote expires on Friday — shall we extend it for you?” is stronger than “we were waiting to hear from you”.
5. Put follow-up on a sequence
Instead of one “any news?” email, plan a short sequence: a brief email, a call a few days later, then something useful for the customer (for example a summary of a similar project). This planned sequence is called a sales cadence. With automated emails, respect the recipient’s consent and right to unsubscribe.
6. Record why quotes are lost
Every lost quote is a data point. Make choosing a reason from a fixed list — “price”, “went with a competitor”, “no budget”, “project postponed” — mandatory. Seeing after three months that half your losses share the same reason is the strongest argument for changing your pricing or scope.
7. Review the same report every week
Look at the same list every week:
- quotes expiring this week
- quotes untouched for more than 7 days
- quotes waiting for approval
- quotes won and lost last week, with reasons
When the report never changes shape, the team knows what will be discussed and comes prepared.
The cost of quotes nobody chases
Picture a team sending 40 quotes a month with an average value of 150,000 TRY. If only 10% of the quotes that were never followed up turned into sales, that is hundreds of thousands of lira of extra revenue a year. Run your own numbers with the Lost Quote Cost Calculator.
Start in a spreadsheet, then move to a system
In a small team these steps can start with a quote list in Excel — our free sales quote template is built for that. When quote volume grows and several people edit the same list, follow-up tasks, price books and loss reasons need to live in one system. See the full quote-to-order flow in CRModular on Quote Management and CPQ, and the wholesale scenario on CRM for Distributors and Wholesalers.