Agency insights
Thoughts and lessons on client selection, burnout, pricing, and modernising legacy accounts, from someone who's run a Google Ads for years.
The One Follow-up Email Most Businesses Never Send
Published May 2025. Last updated July 2026.
I just got off a call with a potential client who offers high-end landscaping. They do beautiful work.
As part of my usual vetting process, I asked about how they follow-up after sending a quote. I always ask this, because there’s no point generating a bunch of leads if the client can't sell.
Their process was solid overall. But like most businesses, they were missing one key thing: the Hail Mary.
If you’re not familiar with the term, in American football a Hail Mary is a last-chance pass thrown when the clock is running out and the team has nothing to lose. It usually fails, but every now and then it works. Sometimes it changes a loss to a win.
In sales, the Hail Mary is a follow-up email sent 6 to 12 months after a quote. We assume that they went with a competitor but sometimes they just didn't go ahead at all.
This is especially true for non-essential purchases like landscaping. A project might have been put on hold due to changed circumstances, not price. In those cases, a gentle nudge could win the business.
Here’s what I’d send if I were that landscaper:
Hi {{ customer name }},
Did you ever get the new patio and garden finished?
If you did, please ignore this email.
But if not, and it’s still something you’d like to do, maybe we should pick up where we left off.
If you’re happy with the design we settled on, I can send over an updated quote. But if you’d like to revisit the design, I’m happy to come out and talk through some new ideas.
Either way, just reply here or give me a call on 555-555-5555.
Best wishes etc...
Let me know if you try it. I’d love to hear how it goes.
If you'd like to automate your quote followup take a look at QuoteKeeper. I built it because many of my clients were too busy to follow up on every quote.
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