Why per trade
The first and third messages are close to universal — a check-in and a graceful close work the same way whatever you do. The middle one is not, and it is the one that decides whether the sequence feels like service or like pestering.
Message two has to give the customer something new, and what counts as new depends entirely on the trade. For a roofer it is that the other quotes probably exclude the felt. For a landscaper it is that planting now establishes better than planting in July. Those are not interchangeable sentences and no generic template contains either.
Every message, by trade
Five trades in English, a general Spanish set, the wider spacing for building work, and the five rules that matter more than any of the wording.
# Quote follow-up messages, by trade and by day
Three messages per quote. Day 3, day 10, day 21. Then stop.
Replace {NAME}, {JOB}, {DATE}, {PRICE} and {WEEK}. Keep them short — these are
read on a phone, standing up, between other things.
---
## Electrical — domestic
**Day 3**
> Hi {NAME}, sent that quote over on {DATE} for the {JOB}. Any questions on it?
> Happy to talk through what's in the price if that helps.
**Day 10**quote-follow-up-messages.md · markdown · 3.9 kB
- 1.Rewrite the first line in your own voice before using any of them. The rest can stand; the greeting is where a template gives itself away.
- 2.Fill in the day-10 message with your own version of the useful fact. If you cannot think of one for your trade, that is worth ten minutes — it is the highest-value sentence in the sequence.
- 3.Set a reminder for day 21 today, for the oldest open quote you have. That single message, sent once, is usually enough to convince someone that the rest is worth doing.
- 4.Do not send all three to a customer who replied to the first. Obvious, and the most common way this goes wrong when done by hand.
What changes between trades
Same three-message shape, three things that move.
| Trade | Spacing | The useful fact in message two | Typical decision maker |
|---|---|---|---|
| Electrical, domestic | 3 / 10 / 21 | Availability, and what is in the price | One homeowner, quick |
| Plumbing and heating | 3 / 10 / 21 | Seasonal pricing on boiler work | One homeowner, urgent or not at all |
| Roofing | 3 / 10 / 21 | What competing quotes usually exclude | Homeowner, often with an insurer involved |
| Landscaping | 3 / 10 / 21 | Planting season, and scope that can be trimmed | Household decision, discretionary |
| Building, extensions | 7 / 21 / 45 | Material price movement | Two people, and probably a lender |
The builder's row is the one people get wrong most often. A three-day follow-up on a thirty-thousand-pound quote arrives before the customer has finished reading it, and it reads as anxiety rather than as service.
Before you send these to anyone
Five checks, none of which take longer than a minute.
- Send one to yourself firstYou will find that the placeholder did not fill, or your name renders as your business's legal entity, or the message arrives from a number nobody recognises.
- Check the quote reference is a job description, not a number"The consumer unit" is remembered. "Quote 1042" is filed, and filing is the opposite of what you want.
- Make sure replies reach youHalf the value of message one is the reply. A send-only setup converts a conversation into an announcement.
- Decide your stop rule before you startReply stops it. Won stops it. Twenty-one days stops it. Written down, so it is not a decision you make while tired.
- Read message three out loudIt is the one people soften until it stops working. If it does not clearly give the customer permission to say no, it is not doing its job.
Questions
Should these go by text or email?
Can I use the same three messages for every job?
Is it rude to follow up on a quote a customer asked for?
What if the customer replies just to say no?
Tell me when this exists
In the context field: your trade, and whether you follow up at all today.