The customer who disappears after the quote
They asked for a quote on Tuesday, you answered on Tuesday, and now it is Friday. The easy conclusion is "too expensive". Sometimes it is. Most of the time it is something else, and that something else is fixable.
What usually actually happens
They were researching, asked three people, saved the answers and went to do something else. They did not decide against you: they did not decide anything. And when they return to it, they will remember whoever was easiest to understand.
That is why a quote arriving as a block of text, with no lead time and no next step, loses to one that arrives organised, even when it costs more.
What to put in the quote
Four things, and the last is the one most often missing.
- What is included, item by item.
- The lead time, and until when that price holds.
- How to confirm: deposit, payment, whatever it is.
- The date you will follow up, if there is no reply.
One follow-up, not three
One message three or four days later, short and without pressure: "hi, just checking whether anything about the quote is unclear". That recovers a real share of sales and bothers nobody.
The second message is already pushing, and the third gets you blocked. One follow-up, then let it go.
Content works while you are not talking
Whoever asked for a quote and is unsure keeps seeing your posts. A post about what is included in the price, or about a similar delivered job, reaches that person without you sending any message.
It is one of the reasons publishing consistently sells: not every sale closes in the conversation where it started.
The post answering an undecided person's doubt is among the highest converting, and among the easiest to forget to write.