You quoted the job Tuesday. It’s Friday. No reply. You’ve been flat out on site all week, and chasing it feels like nagging — so it sits there. Meanwhile, the customer got three quotes, and the tradie who followed up on day two is the one who got the job.
If that sounds familiar, this post is for you. Quote follow-up is the single easiest thing to automate in a trade business, and it’s usually the automation that pays for itself first.
Why quotes go cold (and why it’s not your fault)
Most tradies don’t lose quoted work because their price was wrong. They lose it because the customer heard nothing after the quote landed. People are busy, quotes get buried in inboxes, and silence reads as disinterest. The follow-up call you meant to make on smoko never happens — because you were up a ladder.
The fix isn’t discipline. It’s a system that follows up every quote, every time, without you thinking about it.
What automated quote follow-up looks like
A good quote follow-up automation watches your quoting software — ServiceM8, Tradify, simPRO, or even a spreadsheet — and runs a simple sequence:
- Day 2: a short, friendly text or email. “Hi Sarah, just checking the quote for the bathroom reno came through OK — any questions, sing out.”
- Day 5: a nudge with a reason to act. “We’re booking the next fortnight now — keen to lock you in if you’re ready.”
- Day 10: a polite last touch. “No stress either way — if the timing’s not right, we’ll leave it with you.”
The critical part: the sequence stops the moment the customer replies or accepts. Nobody gets a robot nudge after they’ve already said yes. Done properly, it reads like you sent every message yourself.
Why this beats “I’ll call them when I get a minute”
- It happens every time — not just the weeks you’re quiet.
- It’s consistent and polite — no awkward “just chasing that quote” calls.
- It’s fast — following up within 48 hours keeps you in the conversation while the job is still front of mind.
- It scales — ten quotes out or fifty, the system doesn’t care.
How to set it up
Under the hood, ours runs on n8n — an automation engine that connects to the job management and accounting software you already use. You don’t need to learn it. On our Pro plan, you tell us what should happen after a quote goes out, and we build and connect the sequence to your tools. Most quote follow-up automations are live within days, not weeks.
If you’d rather tinker yourself, our Essentials plan gives you a hosted n8n workspace and the same follow-up templates we use for every client.
The bottom line
Every quote you send already cost you time — the site visit, the measure-up, the pricing. Letting it die in silence is like walking off a job half-done. Automated follow-up is the cheapest way to win more of the work you’ve already quoted, and it runs while you’re on the tools.
See our plans or check out the other automations tradies grab first.