The hidden cost of quotes nobody follows up

A quote that gets no answer feels like nothing happened. There's no argument, no lost tender and no awkward call, just a document going out and silence coming back. Because nothing visibly went wrong, it hardly ever gets counted as a loss.

But by the time a quote leaves your business, you've already paid for it. Someone took the enquiry, asked the questions, maybe went out to site, worked out quantities, checked lead times with a supplier, priced it and wrote it up. On a technical job that can be a day of a skilled person's time. When the quote then dies of neglect, all of that is spent and none of it comes back.

Put a number on it

Do this once, roughly. Take a typical quote and add up the hours that went into it, from the first conversation to the write-up, and multiply by what those people cost you an hour. Whatever the figure is, write it down, because it's the cost of every quote that goes nowhere.

Then look at last year. How many quotes went out, and how many got a clear yes or no? The ones in between, the ones that just faded, each carry that cost. Send two hundred quotes a year with fifty that simply went quiet, and you've spent fifty days of skilled work on documents nobody chased.

That's the hidden cost. It never shows up in a report, because you can't see a sale that didn't happen.

Why quotes go quiet

Silence isn't always a no. There are a few more ordinary reasons, and each needs a different response.

Often the timing just isn't right yet. They're waiting on budget, the project hasn't been funded, or the old machine has another six months in it. Your quote was useful and it's sitting in a folder, waiting for a date you don't know about. That one has its own article.

Sometimes the decision has moved to someone else. The person who asked for the quote handed it to an operations manager or a financial controller who's never heard of you and has questions nobody's answering.

Sometimes they're comparing, and yours is the hardest quote to compare. If a competitor shows a price per unit and you show a total with different inclusions, your quote can end up in the "deal with it later" pile.

And sometimes it really is lost. They went with someone else or the project died. That's worth knowing too, so you can stop spending time on it and maybe learn why.

Follow-up worth receiving

Nobody wants to be the supplier sending "just checking in" every week, and that instinct is right. Chasing for the sake of it makes you look like you need the work.

Good follow-up has a reason. When you send the quote, ask when they expect to decide and who else is involved, then follow up around that date rather than on a schedule you made up. If something's changed, like a lead time, a stock arrival or a price rise at the end of the month, that's a real reason to get in touch. Offering to walk the financial controller through the quote in ten minutes is useful. Sending the same PDF again isn't.

It also has an end. After two or three tries with no reply, send a short, polite note saying you'll assume the project has moved on and the quote stands if it comes back. That can get an answer when nothing else did. If it doesn't, close it as lost, with "no decision" as the reason, and move on.

Keep a register

None of this works if quotes only live in someone's sent folder. At the very least you need a list: who it was for, what it was worth, when it went out, when they said they'd decide, and where it's at. A spreadsheet will do to start. A CRM does it better, because it reminds someone on the right date without anyone having to remember.

Once you've got the list, the number to watch is how many quotes end in "no decision". If it's high, your problem is follow-up. That's one of the cheaper problems to fix, because the expensive part, producing the quote, is already paid for.

How we help with this: CRM and follow-up →