unconverted_quote_follow_up v1.0.0

name: unconverted_quote_follow_up description: "Follow up quotes and estimates that went quiet: run a timed cadence that stops at a clear no, reply to price, timing, and spouse-or-board objections with tested scripts, and track where quotes die by stage and reason. Use when a sent quote or proposal has had no reply, when open quotes are ageing with no system, when a seller needs a follow-up message for today, or when a team wants to know why quotes are not converting."

Unconverted Quote Follow-Up

Purpose

Turn sent quotes that went quiet into won work, a clean no, or a parked quote with a real date, without nagging buyers or guessing. Built for trades, agencies, freelancers, and small sales teams whose money is sitting in inboxes they already earned a reply from.

Workflow

1. Set the quote up for follow up before you send it

A quote with no expiry and no named next step is hard to follow up honestly. Before sending, fix these on the quote itself and in the tracker:

• Expiry date printed on the quote. Follow up against a real expiry only. Never invent urgency, a filling schedule, or a price rise that the quote does not state.
• Decision maker named. Ask who else needs to see it: spouse, partner, manager, board, or finance. If your contact cannot approve it alone, your follow up has to serve the person who can.
• Next step agreed out loud. End the delivery with one line: I will check in on [day] to answer questions, unless you reply sooner. A follow up the buyer agreed to is a kept appointment. A follow up they never heard about feels like chasing.
• Owner assigned and quote logged the same day. One owner per quote. If it is not in the tracker, it does not get followed up.

2. Log every quote in one tracker

Use the tracker in bin/quote_tracker.py. Create a starter file with: python3 bin/quote_tracker.py init --out quotes.csv Columns: quote_id, customer, amount, quote_date, expiry_date, status (open, won, lost, parked), stage (sent, receipt, value, objection, pre_expiry, breakup, nurture), last_touch_date, touches_sent, next_touch_date, decision_maker (yes or no), objection (price, timing, authority, need, trust, competitor, none, unknown), outcome_reason (price, timing, authority, need, trust, competitor, no_reply, went_quiet, other). Update the row after every touch, the same day: new stage, touches_sent plus one, next_touch_date from the cadence below, and any objection in the buyer's own category. Memory is not a follow up system.

3. Run the cadence

Default cadence for a normal quote. Shorten it for a quote with a near expiry, lengthen it only when the buyer asks you to. Full scripts for every step are in references/follow-up-scripts.md.

• Day 0, send: deliver the quote, state the expiry, set the next step from step 1. Stage: sent.
• Day 1 to 2, receipt check: short message in the original thread. Did it land, does the total match what they expected, which line looks off? Stage: receipt.
• Day 3 to 4, value add: one new, real reason to reply. A scope line worth knowing, a photo of similar finished work, a guarantee term, or a proof point you can back up. No new value, no message. Stage: value.
• Day 7, objection probe: phone first, email if it goes to voicemail. Ask one question: is the blocker price, timing, or someone else who needs to approve it? The answer chooses the reply in step 4. Stage: objection.
• Day 10 to 12, objection follow through: send the thing the probe promised, a phased price, a forwardable summary, or a booked check-in date. If the probe got no answer, send the objection probe once more by a different channel, text if email went quiet, email if a call went unanswered. Stage: objection.
• 24 to 48 hours before expiry, pre-expiry: name the real expiry date and offer to lock the price by a reply, or to state honestly whether you can hold it past expiry. Stage: pre_expiry.
• Day 14 to 21, or just after expiry, breakup: the close the file message from the references. Easy exit, one word reply options, thanks either way. Stage: breakup.
• After the breakup: no reply means parked. Set one nurture touch at 30, 60, or 90 days only if the buyer gave any sign the need is real but later. No sign at all means close it as lost with outcome_reason went_quiet and stop. Working rule on length: sales research summaries widely cite that most deals need five or more touches while many sellers stop after one or two. Treat that as a reason to have a written cadence, not as a licence to send endless nudges. This cadence runs five to seven touches and then it stops.

4. Reply by objection, not by hope

When a buyer replies, classify the reply before you answer: price, timing, authority, need, trust, or competitor. Use the matching script in references/follow-up-scripts.md and the order inside it: listen fully, acknowledge in their words, ask one exploring question, then respond.

• Price: find out whether the problem is the total, the budget, or unclear value before you offer anything. Offer phased or reduced scope with real prices before any discount. Never discount the same scope without approval and a reissued quote.
• Timing: pin a specific return date and the event that has to happen first, such as a new budget month. Park the quote to that date and stop the active cadence.
• Authority: make the internal conversation easy. Send a short summary written for the spouse, partner, or board, or offer one short joint call. Check back the day after the date they say they will discuss it.
• Need gone or do it themselves: accept it, ask one learning question, close the file.
• Trust: offer proof they can check without you, references they can call, documents, photos of the same work, guarantee terms in writing.
• Competitor won: stop selling at once, thank them, ask what tipped it, log the reason.

5. Stop rules that override the cadence

Stop all follow up on a quote, same day, when any of these happen:

• The buyer says no, not interested, stop, or the equivalent in any wording, on any channel.
• The buyer opts out of email or texts, replies stop to a text, or asks not to be contacted. Honour email opt-outs promptly. Under the US CAN-SPAM rules a commercial email needs accurate sender details, an honest subject line, a valid physical postal address, and a working opt-out, and opt-outs must be honoured within 10 business days. Marketing texts need prior express written consent under the TCPA, and consent can be withdrawn by any reasonable method, including a stop reply. Other countries have their own rules, so check the local version before running texts or emails at volume.
• The buyer says they chose a competitor or the need is gone. Run the one closing reply from step 4, then stop.
• The quote was sent to a wrong or dead address. Fix the contact once through a channel you can verify, or close it. A cadence into a dead inbox is wasted touches, not persistence. Log the stop in the tracker: status, outcome_reason, and the date. A respected no protects the next quote more than one more nudge protects this one.

6. Review weekly and fix the stage that leaks

Run both reports every week on the same day: python3 bin/quote_tracker.py due --quotes quotes.csv --as-of 2026-10-21 python3 bin/quote_tracker.py report --quotes quotes.csv --as-of 2026-10-21 The due list is today's work: every open quote at or past its next touch date, oldest first. Work it before new quotes go out. The report shows win rate on closed quotes, open value at risk, where lost quotes died by last stage, why they were lost by outcome_reason, stale open quotes with no touch in 7 or more days, and quotes expiring within 7 days. Read it this way:

• Most deaths at receipt or value: the quote itself is unclear, too long, or lands without a next step. Fix delivery and step 1 before adding touches.
• Most deaths at objection with outcome_reason price: compare lost quotes against the winning scope, not against your price list. The fix is usually scope framing or a phased option written into the quote, not a blanket discount.
• Most deaths with outcome_reason authority: you are quoting the wrong person. Add the decision maker question before the quote, not after it goes quiet.
• Most deaths as no_reply at breakup: the cadence is reaching people but the offer or the timing is off, or the list of quoted buyers includes people who never had the need. Tighten who gets a quote. Change one thing per week, note it in the tracker review, and compare the next four weeks against the four before.

Output Contract

Deliver one of:

• A follow up message for a named quote, matched to its stage or its objection, filled from the quote record, 50 to 125 words for email, shorter for text, with one clear next step and the real expiry date where relevant
• A cadence plan for a book of open quotes: each quote, its stage, its next touch date, its channel, and its stop conditions
• A due list for today from the tracker, oldest and largest first, with the script step named for each quote
• A weekly tracker report with win rate, open value, deaths by stage, losses by reason, stale quotes, and expiring quotes, plus the one fix the numbers point to Always state the next action and its date for every open quote you touch. Drafts only by default: a human sends from their own accounts unless they have clearly authorised sending.

Operating Rules

• Never invent numbers, dates, proof points, customer results, expiry terms, or scarcity. Every figure in a message comes from the quote, the buyer's own words, or the tracker.
• Never say just checking in. Every touch carries a reason to reply: a question about a scope line, a real proof point, the answer the buyer asked for, or a real deadline from the quote.
• A clear no ends it. No final final message, no guilt line, no checking whether they meant it.
• Do not discount to end silence. Silence is not a price objection until the buyer says it is.
• Keep buyer details in the tracker and out of shared or public outputs.
• This skill covers follow up craft, not legal advice. Email and text marketing rules differ by country and by message type. For volume sending, get the local rules checked by someone qualified.