Service business calls
Customers get a quote, then disappear. Is our price really the problem?
Investigate silent quotes before discounting, with an outcome worksheet, a low-pressure follow-up and an example that keeps unknown reasons visible.
In this guide
THE SHORT ANSWER
A customer who stops replying has not necessarily rejected your price. Review quotes from the same period, check what was sent and match each to its latest known outcome. Separate stated price objections, timing or availability problems, unanswered questions and no response. Follow up through an appropriate agreed channel with a clear next step. Keep unknown reasons visible before changing prices or assuming a sales failure.
You send the quote. Nothing happens. You wonder whether to knock something off the price.
That might win a job. It might also discount a quote the customer never received, a job they postponed, or work they need sooner than you can do it.
Silence tells you that the next step has not been confirmed. It does not tell you why. Start by finding what is known before turning “no reply” into “too expensive”.
Pick a group of quotes you can actually follow
Use quotes sent during a defined period, such as one recent month, with a review cut-off date. Include accepted quotes too; looking only at silent ones cannot show your overall outcomes.
Record one opportunity once. A revised quote stays attached to the original opportunity instead of becoming an extra lost job. Keep genuinely separate jobs separate, even when the customer is the same.
For each, check:
- What work and price were sent, which version was current, and by which channel.
- Whether you have delivery evidence, an acknowledgement or neither. “Sent” alone does not establish receipt or reading.
- The requested timing and the availability you actually offered.
- Any question, decision or action left with either side.
- The latest known outcome at the cut-off date, with its source.
Allow a realistic decision window for your kind of work. A quote sent yesterday and a quote left unanswered for six weeks should not automatically receive the same status. There is no universal number of days after which every customer counts as lost.
Separate the outcome from the explanation
Use an outcome such as accepted, explicitly declined, still deciding, no response or not established. Then record any stated reason separately, in the customer's words where useful.
On a small screen, swipe the table to see all columns.
| Evidence you have | What you can record | What remains uncertain |
|---|---|---|
| “This is above the budget we have for it.” | Explicit decline or concern about budget, according to the rest of the conversation | Whether a different scope, timing or price would change the decision |
| “We need it this week; your first slot is next month.” | Availability mismatch | Whether price would also have been a concern |
| “Does this include removing the old unit?” | Unanswered scope question, if no answer was given | Whether they will accept after clarification |
| “We are putting the project on hold.” | Customer-stated postponement | When or whether it will restart |
| No reply after sending | No response; reason unknown | Receipt, interest, timing, budget and eventual outcome |
Multiple reasons can coexist. Keep a short explanation rather than forcing every conversation into a single cause. If the team suspects price but the customer has not said so, label that as a hypothesis, separate from the evidence.
A small example where “price” is the wrong headline
Fictional example, not Call Nerd results: a repair business reviews 12 opportunities quoted in September, using a 12 October cut-off.
- Four accepted.
- Two explicitly declined: one cited budget, one needed an earlier appointment.
- One customer said they were still deciding.
- Five had not responded.
The five silent opportunities include two where the business has no evidence of receipt and one with an unanswered question about disposal. Those are possible follow-up actions, not established reasons for rejection.
An honest brief would say:
“Four of 12 quotes were accepted by the review date. Two were explicitly declined, with one stated budget objection and one availability mismatch. One was still being considered. Five had no response and their reasons are unknown. We will check delivery where uncertain and answer the open scope question.”
It would not say that eight customers rejected the price. Nor would “one of two known declines mentioned budget” establish why the other opportunities remained open. The people who reply may differ from those who do not.
Check the quote before improving the chase
Can the customer understand what they are choosing?
The Australian Government's guide to preparing quotes recommends a specific description of work, itemised and total costs, terms, timing and an expiry date. Its legal and tax context is Australian; use the applicable requirements for your business. Here, the useful check is whether the quote answers the questions necessary to decide.
For a service job, check that the scope and exclusions are readable, the timing is honest and the acceptance route works. Explain whether sending a quote reserves anything. Do not write “book now” if the customer is only submitting a request that still needs confirmation.
If an initial visit has a separate charge, use the minimum-service-charge guide to explain that before booking. A discount cannot clarify what an ambiguous fee includes.
Check your side of the conversation too. Did the customer ask a question that nobody answered? Did someone promise to send a revised scope? Complete those commitments before sending a generic reminder.
A follow-up that gives the customer an easy choice
Use an appropriate channel the customer has agreed to use for this enquiry. Respect their preferences and any request to stop. Choose timing and a limited follow-up process suited to the job; the script below is not a proven sales cadence.
Original template — adapt it to the actual quote:
“Hi [name], following up on quote [reference] for [work], sent on [date]. Is there anything about the scope or timing you need clarified? If you want to proceed, the next step is [actual acceptance process]. If the project is paused or you have chosen another option, you can let me know and I will close the follow-up. No problem either way.”
Add current availability only after checking it. Do not imply the old slot is held or manufacture urgency. If a genuine quote expiry is approaching, explain what expires and what will need rechecking afterwards.
Answer any substantive reply. “It costs too much” may lead to a discussion of budget or a smaller genuine scope, if you offer one. It does not authorise removing necessary work without explaining the change.
If there is no reply after your reasonable follow-up limit, stop active chasing. You can mark the follow-up closed while keeping the outcome as no response, reason unknown. Closing an admin task does not establish a customer decision or give permission for unrelated marketing.
Keep a small outcome log before changing prices
Use the quote-outcome worksheet in a spreadsheet, notebook or existing CRM. It separates outcome, stated reason, hypothesis and next action. You do not need another software subscription to start.
Choose the next change from the evidence: clearer inclusions, a repaired acceptance link, an honest earlier availability answer, or a pricing review when actual price concerns recur. Change deliberately and record what changed. Later outcomes can inform a decision, but a small before-and-after comparison cannot isolate the effect of one change from seasonality, job mix or other differences.
Call Nerd can surface questions and objections from usable handled-call recordings for review. A quote may be sent or decided outside those calls, so your team still needs the quote and booking records. Call Nerd does not automatically match this worksheet to a CRM, know why someone stopped replying or prove that a discount would work. The CRM versus call-analysis guide explains those separate jobs.
Keep the unknown column. It is the part of the report that stops a guess becoming a pricing policy.