The sales process · Proposal and follow-up
Most quotations are never refused, they are forgotten, and nobody in your office notices.
Follow-up after the quote is the routine that runs from the day a quotation goes out until the buyer says yes, says no, or the file is closed. It decides who makes contact, on which day, what they carry, and when you stop. Written down, it survives a busy week.
Scope, fee, reporting and term are agreed in writing after we have read your brief and spoken to you.
In one paragraph
Follow-up after the quote is the routine that runs from the day a quotation goes out until the buyer says yes, says no, or the file is closed. It decides who makes contact, on which day, what they carry, and when you stop. Written down, it survives a busy week.
Open the last five quotations you sent and count what happened afterwards. For most firms the count is one message, four days later, saying sir any update. Then silence on both sides, and the enquiry quietly stops being mentioned on Monday morning.
A quotation is rarely refused. It gets overtaken. The approval is stuck upstairs, the project moved a month, the person who asked for it went on leave, and nobody told you because nobody owed you a call.
The quotation step gave you a numbered document and a register to work from. This step is the routine that runs on top of it, and it is what carries a buyer to the negotiation in the step after. The templates themselves belong to the enablement step; what matters here is that a person does the work on the day it falls due.
Where this sits
Stage 7 of 10, proposal and follow-up. The meeting where you find out what they need, the quotation you send, and the chasing that decides most of it.
- The stage before
- Sales qualification
- The stage after
- Sales closure
If you want this done for you
The quotation went out three weeks ago and nobody has called them since.
The work
What this step is actually like.
“The dates are set the day the quotation goes out”
Before you close the file, write the follow-up dates against it in the register. Not a rule in somebody's head. Actual dates, on an actual calendar, with a name against each one. Follow-up that depends on somebody remembering on a slow Tuesday happens in slow weeks and stops in busy ones.
“Nothing to say is a reason to go and find something”
A call with no content teaches the buyer to stop picking up. So find something before you dial. The production slot still free in October. A photograph of the same installation finished for a firm in Peenya. A revised line because the imported part came down. When there is honestly nothing, ask a real question instead of announcing your existence.
“Silence has a name behind it”
A buyer who has gone quiet is waiting on somebody else: his own customer, a bank, a partner who is travelling. Ask who that person is, by name, and the follow-up turns from chasing into helping. It also gives you a second human to ring when the first one stops replying, which is the ordinary way a stalled quotation comes back to life.
“The stop, said out loud”
Decide how many attempts a quotation gets, then tell the buyer when you reach the end of them. A short message: we are taking this off our open list, and we will pick it up whenever you want. Buyers answer that one. It asks nothing of them. And your week stops going to a decision that was made in March.
What we do
What you end up with.
The artefacts this step produces, what each one is for, and how you know it is finished.
The open quotation list, read every Monday
Every live quotation on one screen: number, company, value, the day it went out, the last contact, the next dated action and whose name is on it. Sorted by the date of the next action rather than by value, and read by the owner.
Result: The Monday meeting takes ten minutes and nobody presents from memory.
A ladder of contacts, with what each one carries
Written per kind of job, because a six-month interiors job and a spares quotation do not move at the same speed. Each rung names who makes contact, on which channel, and what they must have in hand. An afternoon to agree with the people who will do it.
Result: The junior salesperson chases the way the owner would.
The closing question
One sentence every salesperson uses at the end of a call: should I keep this open, or close the file for now. Asked plainly, it gets an answer where a reminder gets nothing.
Result: Quotations stop sitting in the pipeline with no one behind them.
A dead quotation gets a status and a revisit date
Nothing is deleted. A closed quotation is marked with the reason, in the buyer's own words where you have them, and a month written down to look at it again.
Result: Next year's list of people to ring already exists.
Template
Quote follow-up record
Log each contact after a quote goes out.
| Customer | Quote reference | Contact made | Channel | What they said | Next action |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Where this fits
Three pieces of sales work, in this order.
This work sits inside sales process design, at stage 4, presentation and proposal. The audit comes before it, and sales management keeps it running.
Step 1
Sales audit
Find where deals are being lost and what to fix first.
Start here if you cannot say where orders are lost.
Step 2 · you are here
Sales process design
One written way to sell, from first enquiry to repeat order.
Start here if every salesperson sells differently.
Step 3
Sales management
A target, a review routine and someone who owns the number.
Start here if the team has targets and no routine.
FAQ
Questions owners ask before they call.
Not here? More answers, or ask on WhatsApp.
The buyer has stopped replying. Do we keep calling?
Should the salesperson chase, or somebody in the office?
How do we know follow-up is actually happening?
The buyer says he will call us back. Is that a no?
How much does it cost?
How long is the contract?
How soon will we see results?
Who will actually do the work?
What do you need from us?
Where to go next
The work that carries this step further.
The rest of proposal and follow-up
Or read the whole sales process in order.
Your next practical step
Tell us what you are trying to grow, and we will read it before we call.
Eight short steps, mostly taps. Skip anything you would rather answer on the call.