Estimate Follow-Up
Purpose: What happens after an estimate goes out. Most of our lost-but-winnable deals die here — not because the customer said no, but because nobody followed up while they were still deciding. This cadence makes follow-up automatic instead of dependent on whoever remembers.
Ground rules
- The cadence starts the day the estimate is delivered, not the day of the site visit. (Estimates go out within 3 business days of the visit — if that slips, fix that first; see Estimate Scheduling SOP.)
- The GHL card moves to
Estimate Senton delivery and toFollow-Upafter the day 1 touch. - Every touch gets logged in GHL. A touch is a real attempt — call, text, or email that says something useful. "Just checking in" with nothing attached is not a touch, it is noise.
- Any inbound response resets the situation: stop the cadence, have the conversation, set the next step by hand.
The cadence: day 1 / 3 / 7 / 14
| Day | Channel | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Phone call (text if no answer) | Confirm they got it, walk through it, answer questions |
| 3 | Text or email | Short nudge, offer to talk through anything unclear |
| 7 | Phone call | Direct ask: where do they stand, what is in the way |
| 14 | Honest last scheduled touch, door stays open |
Day 1 — the walkthrough call
Call the same day the estimate lands. Do not wait for them to read it alone; estimates read colder than they sound when Tara explains them.
"Hi, it's Marcus from Summit. Tara's estimate for your roof just went out to your email — wanted to catch you while it's fresh. Got ten minutes to walk through it together? People usually have a couple questions about the line items."
Walk the scope, the range of options if there are any, and what happens next. Handle questions per Objection Handling.
Day 3 — the nudge
Short and useful. Attach or restate one concrete thing: a spec detail, an answer to a question they raised, a photo Tara took.
"Hey, it's Marcus at Summit. No rush on the estimate — just wanted to make sure nothing in there was unclear. The shingle options on page two are the part people usually want to talk through. Happy to hop on a call whenever suits."
Day 7 — the direct ask
A real conversation, not a nudge. Ask where they stand and what would need to be true for them to move.
"Wanted to check in properly. Where's your head at on the roof? If something in the estimate isn't sitting right — price, timing, scope — I'd rather hear it straight so we can figure out if there's a fit or not."
If they are getting other bids, that is fine and normal — say so, and ask when they expect to decide. Set the next touch to match their timeline instead of the default cadence.
Day 14 — the honest close-out
Last scheduled touch. No pressure, no fake deadlines.
"Last note from me so I'm not cluttering your inbox. The estimate's good for 30 days, and if the timing's just not right this season, no hard feelings — you know where we are. If you've gone another direction, a quick reply saying so helps me close the file."
If day 14 gets no response, mark the card Lost with reason "went dark after estimate." Dark leads feed Lost Lead Reactivation — they are not gone, they are dormant.
Adjusting the cadence
- Customer states a decision date → schedule touches around that date, skip the defaults.
- Insurance restoration → cadence follows the claim, not the calendar. Check in after adjuster milestones.
- Emergency repairs already tarped → faster cadence (day 1/2/4): the roof is still open, and the credited $450 dispatch fee makes deciding easy. No manufactured urgency — the credit does not expire.
- Remodels → slower is fine after day 7; these decisions legitimately take weeks. Monthly check-ins after the cadence ends, until they decide or ask us to stop.
Related
Want documentation like this for your business?
Every Company Brain engagement produces documents at this level of detail — captured from your team, organized, and wired into an agent.