Write a follow-up email after a quote
A practical way to use AI for this job in a small business, with a prompt you can copy.
You sent the quote a week ago. Silence. You don't want to sound desperate, so you don't follow up, and the job goes to someone who did.
The prompt
I quoted [customer type] for [job] at [price] on [date]. They haven't replied. Write a short, friendly follow-up that checks if they have questions, reminds them of [one key benefit], and makes it easy to say yes or no. Under 100 words.
Replace everything in [square brackets] with your own details. Don't paste in anything you wouldn't want stored by the AI provider.
Steps
- Fill in the quote details.
- Run the prompt.
- Personalise the first line.
- Send 3-5 days after quoting.
A worked example
A Wollongong painter quoted $6,800 including GST for a full exterior. Five days later, no reply. He asks Claude for a short, friendly follow-up that checks they got the quote, offers to answer questions, and mentions he has a gap in three weeks' time.
The email is four sentences. He sends it from his phone at lunchtime. The client replies that night: they'd been waiting on a second quote, but liked that he followed up, and they book him in.
Where it goes wrong
AI makes follow-ups too long and too eager: 'I just wanted to circle back and touch base'. Cut it to three or four sentences. Don't let it invent urgency ('prices go up Friday!') unless that's true. And personalise one line, such as the job or the suburb, so it doesn't read like a template.
Time saved
Writing a follow-up yourself takes 10 to 15 minutes if you overthink it. A saved AI template brings it under two minutes. These are my estimates for a typical small business, not measured results.
What it costs (AUD)
Free plans are fine. Save the best versions as email templates in Gmail or Outlook so you don't need AI every time.
The free plans of ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini handle this fine. If you end up using AI every day, the paid plans are roughly: ChatGPT Plus approx. A$30 a month, Claude Pro approx. A$29 a month billed monthly (US$20, or about A$24 a month if you pay yearly), and Google AI Pro approx. A$33 a month through the App Store. Prices approx., October 2026. Some are billed in US dollars, so your bank may add a foreign transaction fee. Check the vendor's pricing page before you buy.
Australian notes
A follow-up about a quote someone asked for is generally fine. Once you start sending promotional emails to people who never asked, the Spam Act 2003 applies: you need consent, clear identification and an unsubscribe option. Don't pretend a deadline exists when it doesn't; that can be misleading under Australian Consumer Law.
Privacy: the Privacy Act and the Australian Privacy Principles (APPs) cover most businesses turning over more than $3 million, plus some smaller ones such as health providers. Even if you're under the threshold, treat customer details with care: strip names, phone numbers and addresses before you paste anything into an AI tool.
Want this to happen automatically? See the step-by-step guide on our sister site: How to set up a lead follow-up bot.
My verdict
Follow-ups win work. AI makes it painless enough that you'll actually do it.
Common questions
When should I follow up?
Three to five working days after sending is a common rhythm. A second nudge a week later is fine.
How many times should I follow up?
Two or three times is plenty. After that, leave the door open and move on.
Should I offer a discount?
Not by default. Follow up to help, not to haggle with yourself.
Do this today
Open your sent folder, find quotes from the last two weeks with no reply, and send each one a short follow-up using the prompt.
More sales use cases
Next: Prepare for a sales call · All sales · Want a bot to do this automatically? See bot setup guides.