You drove out, measured, took photos, priced the job and sent the quote. Then the week got busy, and nobody called the client back. A few weeks later, the job went to someone else, or never happened. Most contractors know this feeling. The problem is rarely the quote itself. It is that following up depends on someone remembering, at the end of a long day.
The good news: a follow-up is exactly the kind of small, repeated task that is easy to automate. Here is a simple method, with AI preparing the message and you keeping the final say.
Step 1: Keep every open quote in one place
You cannot follow up on quotes you cannot see. Pick one place where every quote lives with its date and status: your job software (Jobber, Housecall Pro and similar tools have quote statuses), QuickBooks, or even a simple shared spreadsheet. What matters is that "sent, no answer yet" is visible at a glance.
Step 2: Set one rule, not a feeling
Decide once when a follow-up happens. For example: a first follow-up 3 days after the quote is sent, a second one after 10 days, then the quote is marked as lost or kept for later. Write the rule down. The automation simply applies it, every time, even on your busiest week.
Step 3: Let AI prepare the message
When a quote reaches day 3 with no answer, the automation prepares a short, polite message using the details already in the quote: the client's first name, the type of job, the date of the visit. AI is good at turning those details into a natural message in your tone, in English or French. Here is the kind of message it can prepare:
"Hi Marc, just following up on the furnace repair quote we sent on Monday. Happy to answer any questions or adjust the timing if Thursday no longer works. Have a good day, Sam, ABC Heating."
Step 4: You approve, then it goes out
At first, keep a human check: you receive the draft by email or text, read it in ten seconds, and send it. Once you trust the messages, you can let the first follow-up go out automatically and keep your approval for the second one. One firm rule: the automation never changes a price, a date or a promise. Anything that commits your business stays your decision.
Step 5: Measure for one month
Count two things before and after: how many quotes got a follow-up, and how many were accepted. You will know quickly whether it is worth it for your business, with your own numbers rather than someone else's statistics.
Two rules to keep it safe
- No client details in a public chatbot. Names, addresses and prices should only go through tools approved for your business, with the right settings, never pasted into a free personal account.
- Keep the tone human. A follow-up is a reminder, not pressure. Two follow-ups are usually enough; after that, let it go.
This is one of the automations we build most often in AI-Ready 30, on the tools you already use. If you want to see what it would look like for your business, book a free 30-minute AI check. See also AI for trades contractors.