How to respond to a quote request (email scripts to copy)
A quote request is a homeowner with a problem and a form still open on their screen. They may have asked more than one outfit, so the first useful reply gets the first look. This post shows how to respond to a quote request on a lawn, pressure washing, window, gutter or cleaning job, with wording in your own voice.
How to respond to a quote request in the first minute
Speed comes first, and wording comes second. Harvard Business Review's 2011 study sent a web lead to US companies and found that 37% replied within an hour while 23% never replied. In that same Harvard Business Review study, the companies that did reply took 42 hours on average.
Harvard Business Review's analysis of 1.25 million leads also found that reaching out within the hour made a company about 7x more likely to qualify the lead than waiting even one hour more. So the first reply doesn't need to be perfect. It needs to be early, short and specific.
It also doesn't have to carry the full price. If you can't price the job yet, a reply that asks the one question you need still beats silence.
Say a request for weekly mowing at $55 per visit comes in at 7:40 on a Friday evening. Nobody replies until Monday at 9:00, and the homeowner books another crew on Saturday. Across a season of 30 visits, that's 30 times $55 per visit, which comes to $1,650 total from one unanswered form.
Want your own number? Plug your job value into the missed call cost calculator.
You can't answer a form while you're on a ladder. So split the work in two: a short script you can send in thirty seconds, and a price rule you write once.
For the full case on timing, we wrote up how quickly to respond to a lead.
What should the first reply to a quote request say?
Pricing fast comes from rules you write once. Say your rule for weekly mowing is $55 per visit for a lot up to a quarter acre and $75 per visit above that. A lot of a fifth of an acre gets $55 with no site visit. A steep slope or a locked gate gets one question first.
Then build every first reply from five parts, in this order. Leave one out and the customer has to write back to ask for it.
- Their first name and the job in their words. Write gutter cleaning, not your inquiry.
- The price, or the one detail you need before you can set it.
- What the price covers, in one line.
- When you could do the job and how long the quote holds.
- One booking link, with nothing else to click.
Match their words. If they wrote lawn cut, don't answer with turf maintenance. If they sent a photo, name one thing you see in it, so they know a person looked.
Capital words in the scripts are the blanks you fill in. This sample first reply email is for a job you can price from your own rules.
Hi NAME, thanks for sending the details on JOB. The price is PRICE, and that covers INCLUDED ITEMS. DAY at TIME is open and this quote holds until DATE, so book it with this link: BOOKING LINK. If the job turns out different from what you described, reply with a photo and the price gets adjusted before any work starts. YOUR NAME, YOUR COMPANY
Can't price it yet? Ask one question, and ask it fast:
Hi NAME, got your request for JOB, thanks. One thing before the price: QUESTION. A photo or a one-line answer is plenty. The price comes straight back once the answer is in.
Notice what's missing. There's no company history, no three package options and no line asking if they have questions. Each extra line is a reason to put the reply off, for you and for them.
Once your price rules are written down, Workely can do the first reply for you. When a written lead lands, Workely replies within about a minute, and a lead that fits your rules gets a quote from your own prices in about 60 seconds, sent with a booking link. A lead that doesn't fit waits for your OK.
The page on lead capture and qualification covers how a lead is caught from your website form and priced from your own rules.
What do you send the next day, and on day three?
Knowing how to respond to a quote request is half of it. The other half is what happens when nothing comes back. Silence after a quote isn't always a no, but it isn't a yes either.
A short nudge helps when it makes the next step easy and leaves room for a no. Example: a quote sent at nine in the morning follows this schedule:
| Moment | When | What it does | Ends with |
|---|---|---|---|
| First reply | Inside the first minute if you can, the first hour at the latest | Names the job, gives the price, adds the booking link | One booking link |
| Next day | Nine the next morning, before the crew heads out | Checks the quote arrived and offers to adjust the job | A yes or no question |
| Last nudge | Day three | Says the slot is about to go and makes a no easy | A clear way to close the file |
| Stop | After the last nudge | Nothing more goes out | The lead is marked closed |
The next-day message:
Hi NAME, checking that the quote for JOB reached you. The price stands at PRICE, and DAY is still open. Want to go ahead, or should something about the job change? A one-word answer is fine. BOOKING LINK
The day-three message:
Hi NAME, this is the last note about JOB. The DAY slot goes to the next job on the list tomorrow, so the quote holds until then. If the timing's wrong or you went another direction, a quick no is welcome and closes the file. BOOKING LINK
Only mention the slot going if it's true. A fake deadline is easy to spot and hard to take back.
Those two nudges are the ones that slip when you're mid-job. Workely's Follow workflow sends follow-ups automatically until the lead books, and Workely keeps every lead, quote and booking in one list. The page on follow-up and records for every quote has the detail.
When should you stop following up on a quote?
Three days, then stop. That's the rule of thumb: first reply, next-day nudge, day-three nudge, and nothing after. Past that, silence is an answer, and a fourth message reads as pressure.
Two exceptions. If the homeowner asks you to come back in spring, put one note on that date. If they say no, thank them and close the file.
Stop before you start, too. Some requests shouldn't get a quote at all, because the address is outside your route or the job isn't one you do. A quick decline in the first hour saves you a quote and a follow-up chain, and it's kinder than silence.
Run every new request through this order:
- Is the address inside your service area? If not, send the decline below.
- Is it a job you do? If not, send the decline.
- Can you price it from your own rules? If yes, send the first reply with the price.
- If not, ask the one question that gets you there, then wait for the answer.
Paste this decline when step one or step two comes back no:
Hi NAME, thanks for reaching out about JOB. That one sits outside the area and services covered, so quoting it wouldn't be fair to you. If the details change, reply and it gets another look.
That's the full set: a first reply, a question, two nudges and a decline.
Mark every request with how it ended: booked, said no, went quiet or declined. After a month, that short list shows which jobs you keep winning and which you keep quoting for nothing.
Your next step
Now you know how to respond to a quote request in three messages and a rule for stopping. Pick the job you quote most, write its price rule on one line, and paste the first reply into your notes today. Send it the next time a form comes in.
If you'd rather the reply and the nudges go out without you, see Workely's plans and pricing. Plans start at $149 a month, billed monthly with no contract and no per-lead fees.