Quote conversion rate is the share of the quotes you send that customers accept. It is one of the few numbers that connects the time spent on site visits and pricing to the work that actually reaches the diary. Measured carelessly, though, it hides the real reason quotes are lost.
Calculate the rate the same way every time
Divide accepted quotes by quotes sent in the same period and multiply by 100. If you sent 40 quotes in September and 14 were accepted, the rate is 35%. Count each job once: a revised quote replaces the original instead of adding a second one, and quotes still waiting for an answer should be reported separately rather than counted as lost. Comparing the rate by value as well as by count shows whether you win the large jobs or only the small ones.
Find out where quotes are lost
Give every quote that was not accepted an outcome: declined, expired without an answer, postponed, or still awaiting a reply. Each needs a different fix. Declines point to price, scope, or fit. Expired and unanswered quotes usually point to follow-up: the customer never made a decision because nobody asked for one. Look before the quote as well — enquiries that were never priced, or quotes calculated but never sent, are losses the conversion rate does not show.
Shorten the time to quote
A customer who has asked several firms for a price often decides between the quotes that arrive first. Measure the median time from enquiry or site visit to quote sent, and look at what slows it down: missing measurements, waiting on a supplier price, or a quote written late at night after the last job. Templates for common jobs, a standard price list, and one named person responsible for sending each quote shorten that time without cutting corners.
Follow up every quote the same way
Often a quote is lost to silence rather than to a competitor. A consistent sequence — a check that the quote arrived, an offer to explain one option, and a clear question before it expires — turns silence into an answer. Stop the sequence as soon as the customer replies, and record the outcome so the next report is accurate. Better follow-up is usually cheaper than discounting, because it recovers decisions rather than giving away margin.
A monthly quote review in four numbers
Once a month, write down four numbers: quotes sent, quotes accepted, quotes that expired without an answer, and the median number of days from enquiry to quote. The first two give the conversion rate; the third shows how much better follow-up could recover; the fourth shows whether speed is the problem.
Change one thing at a time and watch the following month. If you add a follow-up before expiry, look at the expired count. If you start sending quotes within two working days, look at time to quote and acceptance together. Changing price, templates, and follow-up all at once makes it impossible to tell what worked.
Frequently asked question
What is a good quote conversion rate for a trade business?
There is no reliable universal benchmark: it depends on the trade, the job size, where enquiries come from, and how many firms the customer asked. Referrals and repeat customers usually convert far better than price-comparison enquiries. Compare your rate with your own previous months and by job type, and treat a large number of unanswered quotes as the clearest sign of room to improve.