A folder full of quotes nobody rang about
The counter and the quote desk send out dozens of quotes a week. A roofing contractor asks for a price on a re-roof. A developer wants a schedule priced for twelve plots. A homeowner wants a price for a garden wall. The quote goes out by email. Then the phone rings, the next customer is at the counter, and the quote is never mentioned again unless the customer comes back.
At the end of the month, someone pulls a report of open quotes. It is long, it is out of date, and nobody knows which ones were won, which were lost and which the customer is still thinking about.
Why follow-up does not happen
Branch staff are not lazy about this. The follow-up simply has no home. Your merchant system records the quote, but it rarely prompts anyone to act on it, and there is nowhere quick to record what the customer said.
- Quotes are created by whoever is free, so ownership is unclear.
- There is no reminder at the point a quote should be chased.
- When a quote converts, it is not always linked to the order, so the win is invisible.
- Lost reasons are never recorded, so pricing and range decisions are made on gut feel.
- External reps and branch staff each assume the other is chasing.
What the silence costs
A quote that is not chased is often a sale that goes to whoever did chase. Beyond lost orders, you lose the information: whether you are being beaten on price, on lead time or on service. Without it, every pricing conversation at the branch is anecdote.
It also skews how effort is spent. Quote desks put hours into large schedules that may already be lost, while smaller quotes that would convert with one phone call are left alone. Without a record of outcomes, nobody can tell which kind of work pays back.
A follow-up routine built on your quotes
- Open quotes are read from your merchant system each day, with the customer, value, branch and who raised them.
- Each quote gets an owner by rules you choose, such as the person who raised it, the account's rep, or the branch sales lead for anything above a value.
- Reminders go to the owner at the intervals you set, by email or Teams, with the quote and the customer's number.
- The owner logs the outcome in a couple of taps: still deciding, won, lost with a reason, or needs a revised price.
- When an order is raised for the same customer with matching lines, the quote is marked converted automatically.
- A weekly report shows open quotes by value, conversion by branch and the lost reasons that keep coming up.
| Lost reason | What it tells you |
|---|---|
| Beaten on price | Which products and customers are price sensitive |
| Lead time | Which lines need better stock or supplier options |
| Customer went quiet | Follow-up came too late |
| Job cancelled or delayed | Worth a reminder later |
| Bought direct from manufacturer | Where your offer needs rethinking |
An optional message to the customer can go out on your behalf a few days after the quote, asking whether they have any questions. That is your choice, and many merchants prefer a person to make the call.
What the branch sees afterwards
Each person starts the day with a short list of quotes to chase. Wins are visible, which matters to the people who earned them. The monthly review has real lost reasons in it, and the conversation about pricing and stock is based on what customers said rather than on the last complaint anyone remembers.
Signs your quotes are going cold
- Nobody can tell you your quote conversion rate by branch.
- Quotes are chased only when the customer calls back.
- Lost reasons are not recorded anywhere.
- Reps and branch staff both think the other is following up.
- The open quotes report is too long to be useful.