Problem · Slow follow-up
An estimate goes out and nobody owns the follow-up.
Work you already earned the right to win goes to whoever called back. This is the cheapest revenue in the business and the easiest to lose.
What it actually looks like
- Follow-up happens when somebody remembers, which means when it is slow.
- Nobody can say how many open estimates exist right now.
- Two people follow up with the same customer; three others get nothing.
- Old quotes are never formally closed, so the pipeline is fiction.
- The reason a customer said no is not recorded anywhere.
- Reactivating last year's customers is a project nobody starts.
What it costs
A quote that has been sent is the most qualified opportunity in the business: the customer asked, you priced it, and the cost of acquisition is already sunk. Losing it to silence is the most expensive kind of loss.
Open estimates
Coverage gap
Winnable work left on the table
An illustration of the calculation, not a promise of a result.
What changes
- Follow-up depends on memory.Every open opportunity has a next action and a date.
- Nobody owns the second contact.Ownership is explicit and visible.
- Quotes age quietly.Aging quotes escalate before they go cold.
- Lost reasons go unrecorded.Outcomes are captured and get used in pricing.
How the audit finds it
- 01How many estimates are open, and how old the oldest is
- 02What share received documented follow-up within seven days
- 03Who currently owns follow-up, in practice rather than on paper
- 04Where quotes leave the system entirely
- 05What a defined follow-up cadence would take to run
Find out what this is actually costing you.
Five questions, about a minute. If we are not the right fit, we will say so in the first reply.
Related: Missed leads · Slow collections