How To Automate Quote Chasing (UK Trades & Services Guide)
UK trades lose 60% of quotes to silence. The fix is a 7-touch follow-up sequence over 21 days. Here's the exact cadence, copy and tools.
The opportunity. The average UK trade or service business sends a quote and follows up… once. Maybe twice if they remember. Yet research from HubSpot and ClickFunnels shows 60% of deals close after the 5th touch. You're leaving most of your revenue on the table.
The 7-touch sequence (proven cadence). Day 0: send quote with personalised summary. Day 2: 'Did this land?' email. Day 5: phone or SMS check-in. Day 9: case study or testimonial email. Day 14: 'Anything I can clarify?' email. Day 18: phone or SMS. Day 21: polite closing email with offer to revisit later.
Tone matters more than frequency. Each touch must be useful, not pushy. Frame as 'making sure this didn't get lost' and 'happy to answer anything' — not 'are you going to buy?'. Customers respond to perceived helpfulness, not pressure.
The tools. Three options. Cheapest: a CRM with sequences built in (Pipedrive £25/user/mo, HubSpot free tier). Mid-tier: a dedicated tool like Reply.io or Lemlist (£50–£100/mo). Done-for-you: VA365 Auto365 Starter at £399/mo handles the build, the sending and the human handover when someone replies.
Critical rule. Stop-on-reply MUST be wired up. If a customer replies, the sequence pauses immediately and a human picks up. Otherwise you blast an engaged buyer with auto-emails and lose the deal.
Expected result. Most UK trades and service businesses recover 20–35% more deals from existing quotes within 60 days of putting this in place. On £20k/month of quotes sent, that's £4–7k/month of recovered revenue with zero additional marketing spend.
Want it built for you? VA365 Auto365 includes the sequence build, integration, copy and UK VA handover from £399/month, live in 7 days.