Revenue already identified
A workshop quote is work already done: the car has been on the lift, the diagnosis is made, the price is calculated, the customer is informed. All that is missing is a “yes”.
Yet in many dealerships, unapproved quotes stay in the DMS. Nobody has time to call. The service advisor deals with one customer after another at the desk, the workshop manager handles the schedule, emergencies come first.
The result: the customer has the work done elsewhere, often at a cheaper fast-fit centre, or does not have it done at all until the breakdown. Either way, the revenue is lost. And in the second case, the customer’s safety is at stake too.
How much is sleeping in your drawers
Do the exercise. Export from your DMS the quotes issued over the last three months, and separate those approved from those that were not. Then calculate:
Illustrative figures, to be replaced with yours.
Even with cautious assumptions, the amount is rarely trivial. And unlike a new customer, this revenue costs nothing in marketing: the customer has already come in, the diagnosis is already done.
Why the customer does not approve
- They want to think about the price. They compare, or wait for the end of the month. An €800 quote rarely arrives at a good time.
- They did not understand everything. “Timing belt” or “ventilated discs” do not mean much to them, and they do not dare call to ask. They do not know whether it is urgent or can wait.
- They simply forgot. This is the most common case. The quote is in their inbox, under fifty other messages.
In all three cases, a call at the right time unblocks the situation: you answer the question, reassure them about the real urgency, offer a slot. The customer often just wants help deciding.
The three-step method
- Day 3: a simple message. A text or e-mail that reminds them of the quote and offers to book a slot in one click. Many customers approve at this stage.
- Day 7: a call. Short, useful, no pressure. “Do you have any questions about the quote? Would you like us to hold a slot before winter?”
- Day 30: a last follow-up for safety-related work: brakes, tyres, lights. For the rest, note the refusal and do not insist.
What to say on the call
A good follow-up call lasts two minutes. It follows a simple structure:
- Introduce yourself and recall the context: “I’m calling about the quote for your brake pads, following your visit on the 12th.”
- Open with questions: “Is everything clear for you?” This is where the customer states their real objection: price, urgency, logistics.
- Explain without dramatising: what is urgent for safety, what can wait a few weeks.
- Offer two specific slots rather than an open question.
- Accept a no and note it. A customer who says no today will come back more willingly if they were not harassed.
Who does the follow-ups?
This is where it all happens. A perfect method that depends on an already overloaded advisor will not last three weeks.
Three options: dedicate a fixed slot every day to one team member, hand follow-ups to a provider, or automate them. An assistant like Sophia can call customers on the planned dates, answer common questions about the quote, book the work in the workshop calendar and mark the quote “accepted” in the CRM. She can run several calls in parallel, which means every quote of the day gets handled without blocking anyone.
Whichever option you choose, measure: quotes followed up, quotes approved, amount recovered. After a month, you will know exactly what follow-ups bring in.
Track the right indicators
A follow-up that is not measured stops after a few weeks, for lack of proof that it is worth doing. Four figures are enough to steer it:
- The quote conversion rate, before and after follow-ups are in place. This is the main indicator.
- The average approval time: how many days between the quote and the booking. A well-timed follow-up shortens it noticeably.
- Revenue recovered: the total of quotes approved after a follow-up. This is the figure to present at the management meeting.
- Reasons for refusal: price, understanding, forgetting, work done elsewhere. They tell you what to change in the quotes themselves.
Review them every month with the workshop manager. After a quarter, you will know exactly what one follow-up is worth, and can decide whether to extend it to bodywork or tyre quotes.
A concrete example
On Tuesday, a customer comes in for an oil change. The inspection reveals front discs and pads to replace: a €480 quote. He leaves saying he will think about it. On Friday, he receives a text reminding him of the quote, with a booking link. He does not reply.
The following Tuesday, he gets a call. He is reminded of the context, told simply that worn discs lengthen braking distance, and offered two slots the following week. He asks whether he can have a courtesy car: yes, on Thursday. Booked in under three minutes.
Nothing extraordinary. Just a quote that would have stayed in the drawer, and that becomes €480 of work and an hour of workshop time filled.
Frequently asked questions
Won’t customers find it pushy? Not if the follow-up is useful and one-off. A call that answers a question and offers a slot is seen as a service. Three calls about the same quote are not.
Should small amounts be followed up? Yes by message, not necessarily by phone. Keep calls for large quotes and safety work.
What if the customer had the work done elsewhere? Note it and ask why, without reproach. The answer, often price or lead time, will tell you a lot about your workshop.
Where to start
Export from your DMS the list of unapproved quotes from the last 60 days. Add them up. That is the revenue waiting for a follow-up. Start with the largest amounts and safety work, then put the three-step method in place for new quotes. In a month, compare.
Our calculator estimates in two minutes what Sophia would recover for you.
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