April 2025: what happens after a quote is sent

Part 20 of 39 of Building TradeYoke, the story of how the platform was built, from January 2024 to today. Previous: March 2025: documents on every record, for the job, the customer, the van and the company. Next: April 2025: searching inside your documents, not just their names. See every part on the build timeline.

Quick answer: TradeYoke's quotes board shows every quote as waiting on the customer, accepted, ready to book or booked. A sent quote can be revised into a new draft that keeps its reference, and follow-ups suggest a gentle chase message for quotes that have had no answer, which you can send now or schedule.

• Most quotes are decided in the days after they are sent, so tracking them matters.
• The board shows waiting, accepted, ready to book and booked at a glance.
• A revised quote keeps its reference and the old one is frozen, so there is never any doubt which is current.
• Follow-ups are written to be softer at first and firmer later.

You send a quote and the customer says they will think about it. Then nothing. Most tradespeople know the feeling, and most lose work this way, not because the price was wrong, but because the quote was forgotten. April 2025 was about what happens after the quote leaves.

Every quote sits in one of four places: waiting on the customer, accepted, ready to book, or booked. You can see at a glance what is waiting for an answer and what needs booking. It is the same idea as a diary: the system keeps the list, so you do not have to.

Customers change their mind: a smaller job, an extra window. A quote can be revised into a new draft that keeps the same reference with a revision number, and carries the lines and wording across. The old quote is frozen and its link opens only to say the quote has been updated. That avoids the classic muddle of two versions in circulation.

TradeYoke shows which quotes are due a follow-up: sent some days ago, no answer, not chased recently. A follow-up message is drafted for you, softer the first time and firmer by the third, and you can send it now or schedule it. Each chase is recorded on the quote. You stay in control: nothing is sent without you. Chasing late payments the polite way uses the same tone for invoices.

There are tools that automate whole sequences. We kept this part deliberately simple: a visible board, a drafted message, your decision. The customer is often a neighbour, and the message should sound like one.

May: surveys. For bigger jobs, you need to go and look before you can quote.

Related: Quotes and estimates · Quoting faster on site · Chasing late payments the polite way · Winning and keeping customers · Pricing · The build timeline