The Quote Nobody Answered: a same-day quote follow-up routine

DRAFT for Andrew's review. Not live.

The problem: you send a quote, hear nothing, and the follow-up never happens.

Who this is for: anyone who sends quotes or estimates (contractors, freelancers, small service shops) and does the follow-up from memory.

Time: 15 minutes to set up. 5 minutes each time after.

What you need: a free Google account (Google Sheets), and a free ChatGPT or Claude chat. You do not need to buy anything. If you already have a CRM that sends follow-ups, use that instead.

• Day 2 after you send the quote: one short check-in.
• Day 5: one more.
• After that: let it go. Do not chase.
• If the customer already replied, you handle it yourself. No automatic message.
• One channel at a time (email or text, not both).

1. 1Open Google Sheets (sheets.google.com) and click Blank spreadsheet.
2. 2In row 1, type these headings, one per column: Contact first name | Job | Amount | Date sent | Follow-up 1 sent | Follow-up 2 sent | Customer replied
3. 3Add one row for every quote that is still open. Dates like Oct 8. Leave a box empty if it has not happened. If the customer replied, type what they said.

Find one real email you sent a customer that sounds like you. Copy it. You will paste it into the prompt so the messages sound like you, not like a robot.

Open chatgpt.com or claude.ai (a new chat). Copy the whole block below. Replace the [BRACKETS]. Paste it in and press Enter.

You are helping me follow up on quotes I sent. Today's date is [TODAY'S DATE, e.g. October 12, 2026].

My rules:
- Follow-up 1 is due 2 days after I sent the quote. Follow-up 2 is due 5 days after. After follow-up 2, I let it go.
- First, count the days since each quote was sent. Show that number. Use it to decide.
- If a follow-up is due or overdue, tell me to send it today.
- If the customer has replied, do NOT write a follow-up. Tell me to handle it myself.
- Only use facts from my list. Never add a discount, a deadline, a start date or a price that is not in my list.
- Keep each message to 2 or 3 sentences, friendly, no pressure, no sales pitch. Start with the contact's first name. If there is no first name, start with "Hi there".

Write like this (my real tone):
"[PASTE ONE REAL EMAIL YOU SENT, SHORT]"

My open quotes (contact, job, amount, date sent, follow-ups already sent, replies):
[PASTE YOUR ROWS HERE, ONE LINE PER QUOTE, LIKE:
1. Tom - fence repair - $2,400 - sent Oct 8 - no follow-ups - no reply]

Answer in a table-free list, one block per quote: contact, days since sent, what to do today (send follow-up 1, send follow-up 2, wait until a date, or handle myself), one line why, and the message if there is one. End with a 3-line summary of what to send today. Sign messages "- [YOUR FIRST NAME]".

Do not send anything until you check these three things:

1. 1Dates. Does the "days since sent" number match your own count? If not, tell it: "Recount quote 3."
2. 2Only your facts. No discount, deadline or price you did not give it. Delete any you find.
3. 3Replied customers. Anyone who answered should have no message, only "handle myself."

Then copy each message into your email or text and send it yourself. The AI never sends anything.

Back in your sheet, put today's date in "Follow-up 1 sent" or "Follow-up 2 sent."

We tested this on October 12, 2026 in signed-out ChatGPT with made-up data: a fictional landscaper, five fictional quotes, one run per version of the prompt. We did not test it on real customers, did not measure whether it wins you jobs or saves time, and did not test other AI tools.

• First version: right decisions, but it contradicted itself on one date and addressed people by last name.
• Version above: all five decisions were right in our one run. It did not invent discounts or dates. It skipped the customer who had replied.
• The messages are generic because the AI does not see your quote. Add one real detail yourself if you like.

Your result may differ. That is why Step 4 is there.

Use first names and job types, not addresses, phone numbers or full quote documents. Free chat tools may keep what you paste.

GreatArrow (greatarrow.ai) is the service we are building. Here is where it honestly stands for this routine: partly. Its public pages describe the pieces this needs: reading a Google Sheet and Gmail, remembering how you write, running a recurring check, and asking for your approval before anything goes out. We have not tested this exact quote follow-up routine end to end in GreatArrow, so we are not claiming it runs it today. The routine above works without it.

Business owners describing this in public forum threads (Reddit r/smallbusiness, 2026):

• https://www.reddit.com/r/smallbusiness/comments/1rtg3s3/what_do_you_usually_do_when_a_client_goes_silent/
• https://www.reddit.com/r/smallbusiness/comments/1u4pll7/how_do_you_handle_estimates_that_just_go_quiet/
• https://www.reddit.com/r/smallbusiness/comments/1t5atrr/what_do_you_actually_say_when_a_customer_ghosts/

Got a problem in your business you would like us to tackle? Send us one sentence at andrew@manito.ai. A human reads it.

Tools: Google Sheets, ChatGPT or Claude. No affiliate links exist for these that we know of, so none are used. Music in the episode: "Driving Ambition" by Ahjay Stelino, Mixkit Free Stock Music License.