Answers · Machine shops
Machine shop quote follow-up: count the open quotes before chasing any of them
Machine shop quote follow-up works when every quote carries two dates and ends in a recorded outcome: an expiry date and a follow-up date printed on it, and won, lost with a reason, or no decision written in the log. It does not mean calling every buyer about every RFQ. Some RFQs are price checks, budget numbers or the third quote a buyer needed for the file, and a shop that chases those spends estimator hours on work that was never coming. This guide covers why an unanswered quote is not always a lost one, why a printed validity date matters under the Uniform Commercial Code, the three outcomes worth recording, what a useful follow-up says, and a 90-day count of open quotes that shows whether follow-up is the problem at all. No win-rate figure is cited here. We found no public primary source that measures one for job shops, and the percentages that circulate on software sites are the vendors’ own.
By Tamara Stepanyan, founder of Lumina Business Advisory · Updated · Sources checked · Editorial standards
Why an unanswered quote is not always a lost one
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Hand-off 2 of 6 · Quote → Contract
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That was one of six hand-offs where money changes hands, from first inquiry to collected cash. The other five take about three minutes and end in a dated sheet that names where to start.
The case against chasing quotes is a fair one. An RFQ that lands in a job shop’s inbox can be many things besides a job waiting to be won, and a buyer who goes quiet may be answering a question the shop never knew was being asked:
- A purchasing rule that needs three quotes on file, with the incumbent already chosen
- A budget number for a program that has not been funded yet
- A drawing still changing, with a new revision and a new RFQ to come
- An incumbent re-quoting to keep the work after a price complaint
- A project cancelled or pushed out a quarter
- A part the shop cannot win on price at the quantity asked
None of those is a follow-up failure. Each is still worth knowing, because a shop that cannot tell a budgetary quote from a lost one cannot tell whether its prices, its lead times or its silence decided the outcome. The point of follow-up is not more calls. It is fewer quotes with no answer.
Print two dates on every quote: expiry and follow-up
A quote with no expiry date is open to argument. The Uniform Commercial Code’s rule on firm offers, § 2-205, says that a merchant’s signed, written offer to sell goods which by its own terms promises to stay open cannot be revoked for lack of consideration during the time it states — or for a reasonable time if it states none — but “in no event may such period of irrevocability exceed three months.” A hold-open promise printed on a form the buyer supplies has to be separately signed by the shop to count.
For a shop, that means a quote reading “valid 30 days” is a promise to hold the price for those 30 days, and a quote saying nothing leaves the window at “a reasonable time,” a phrase nobody wants to argue about after the bar stock has gone up. A PO that arrives after the printed expiry is the moment to re-check material, outside processing and lead time before accepting it at the old price. Which state’s version of the code applies, and what counts as signed, are questions for the shop’s attorney.
The second date is internal: the day someone will ask the buyer what happened. Set it from the buyer’s calendar, not the shop’s. At RFQ time, ask when the award decision is expected and put the follow-up a few days before it. If the buyer will not say, put it near the expiry date, so the last touch also reminds the buyer that the price is about to lapse.
Record one of three outcomes, with a reason
Every quote ends in one of three outcomes, and the log has a field for each. The format matters less than the habit: an ERP quote module, a quoting tool or a spreadsheet all work if the field is filled for every quote, not only the large ones.
- Won: the PO number, and whether the PO matched the quote — quantity, revision, price and payment terms
- Lost, with a reason: price, lead time, capability or certification, quality history, incumbent kept, or the buyer would not say
- No decision: program cancelled, on hold, budgetary only, or drawing changed with a re-quote expected — each with a date to look again
Then one rule: a quote that reaches its expiry date with no outcome closes as “no response,” so the log never carries quotes nobody is watching. No response is a result too. Counted by buyer, it shows which buyers send RFQs that never turn into orders.
What a useful machine shop quote follow-up says
One useful thing and one question. The useful thing is something the buyer can act on: confirmation that the material is in stock and the lead time still holds; a note that a tolerance or a callout on the print could cut cost if it is not critical; a reminder that the price holds until the printed expiry date. The question is direct: has this been awarded, and how did we compare?
The answer to “how did we compare” is the most valuable line in the log. Lost on price by a little is a different problem from lost on price by half, and lost on lead time is a scheduling question, not a pricing one. A buyer who tells the shop where it landed is telling it how to quote the next one.
Formal solicitations can limit contact. A government RFQ or a large prime’s sourcing portal may name a single point of contact and set rules for questions during the bid period; follow them, and read any published award results instead of calling. Outside those rules, two touches with something useful in each — one before the decision date, one before expiry — then a recorded outcome, is a complete cadence.
The 90-day open-quote count
Before deciding that follow-up is the problem, count. Take every quote sent in the last 90 days from the quote log, the ERP or the estimator’s sent mail, and sort them:
- Total quotes sent, and their total value
- Won, with value
- Lost with a recorded reason, grouped by reason
- No decision, each with a date to look again
- No outcome recorded at all: the open quotes
- For each open quote: days since it was sent, whether anyone touched it after sending, and which buyer it went to
Illustrative example: a shop sent 120 quotes in 90 days. The log shows 30 won, 18 lost with a reason and 12 no decision. The other 60 have no outcome. Sorting those 60 by buyer shows that 25 went to three buyers who have not placed an order in a year, and 20 were never touched after sending, including six of the ten largest. The first group is a question about which RFQs to quote at all. The second is the follow-up problem, and it is smaller and more specific than “we never follow up.” The numbers are invented for the example; the shop’s own log is the only benchmark that matters.
When the real problem is the quoting backlog
Add one more office number while the log is open: days from RFQ received to quote sent. A quote that leaves two weeks after the RFQ may be answering a question the buyer already settled, and no follow-up fixes that.
If the estimator is also the owner, the programmer or the person who walks out to the floor when a machine goes down, the follow-up date is the first thing to slip in a heavy week. The count shows it: open quotes cluster in the weeks the estimator spent on the floor. More reminders do not change that. Two decisions do. Choose which RFQs to quote — a polite no-quote to a buyer who never orders is a decision, not a loss — and hand the follow-up touch to someone who is not also quoting, with the quote log and the buyer’s decision date in front of them.
When not to hire anyone for this
A shop that already records an outcome for every quote and reviews its losses each quarter does not need outside help with follow-up. Two printed dates, three outcomes and a 90-day count are the whole method, and they cost nothing but the habit.
An outside review earns its fee when quoting is one leak among several: quotes with no outcome, revisions run at the old price, outside processing left off the quote, invoices waiting on certs, customers paying at 60 days on net 30. That is the work of a machine shop consultant who reads records rather than the floor. Our Revenue Review reads the shop’s RFQ log, quotes, POs, travelers, shipping records and invoices, read-only, and prices each leak as a monthly dollar figure where the records support one. It takes two weeks. It writes no quotes, contacts no buyer, and leaves drawings out of it. We do not run a machine shop, and there are no client case studies on this site yet.
If it is unclear whether the open quotes are worth a fee, start with a free 20-minute call, where a shop too small for the arithmetic is told so.
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Asked right after
- How long should a machine shop quote be valid?
- Long enough for the buyer’s decision and short enough that material and outside-processing prices still hold, and printed on the quote. Under UCC § 2-205, a merchant’s signed written promise to hold an offer open can run for the stated time, or a reasonable time if none is stated, but never more than three months. Ask an attorney which state’s version applies.
- How soon should you follow up on a machine shop quote?
- A few days before the buyer’s award decision, which is worth asking for when the RFQ arrives. If the buyer will not give a date, follow up shortly before the quote’s printed expiry, so the touch also reminds the buyer that the price is about to lapse.
- How many times should a machine shop follow up on a quote?
- Until the quote has a recorded outcome: won, lost with a reason, or no decision with a date to look again. Two touches, each carrying something useful, are a complete cadence. A quote that reaches its expiry with no answer closes as no response, which is also a result worth counting.
- What should an RFQ follow-up email say?
- One useful thing and one question. For example, confirm that the material is in stock and the lead time holds, or point out a tolerance that drives cost, then ask whether the job has been awarded and how the quote compared. A note that only asks whether the quote arrived adds nothing.
- Why do buyers stop responding after a quote?
- The RFQ may have been a price check, a budget number or the third quote for the file; the drawing may be changing; the program may be on hold; or the incumbent may have kept the work. Asking how the quote compared, once, near the decision date, tells those apart.
- What is a good quote win rate for a machine shop?
- We found no public primary source that measures one for job shops, and vendor figures describe the vendors’ own customers. The useful number is the shop’s own, tracked over time from its quote log: won, lost with a reason, no decision, and quotes with no outcome at all.
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Related answers
Sources
- UCC § 2-205 — Firm Offers · Legal Information Institute, Cornell Law School, 2026
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