Track quotes so follow-ups and win rate are visible

Give every estimate a number and a status, flag anything quiet for seven days, and read win rate and pipeline by month and service.

A quote you sent from your inbox is easy to forget. A month later the client says they went with someone else, and you cannot tell whether that happens once a quarter or every other bid. The fix is a log: one row per quote, a status you set on purpose, and a follow-up flag that does not depend on your memory.

This is that log for contractors, freelancers, and small agencies. It is not a CRM. It does not send the email for you.

One row, one number

Give every quote a number the day you draft it, including the ones you never send. Reusing a number, or skipping the drafts, makes the win rate a story. A simple pattern is 2026-014. The sheet can fill the next number if you would rather not count by hand. Do not recycle a voided number.

Columns that matter:

Column	Example	Who fills it
Quote number	2026-014	You, or a formula that increments
Date sent	2026-11-02	Blank while it is still a draft
Client	North Hall	The name you will search later
Service	Repipe	So you can see which work you actually win
Amount	4800	The number you put on the estimate
Status	Sent	Dropdown, not a sentence
Days open	formula	From the sent date while it is still open
Follow-up	formula	On when days open pass 7 and it is not closed

Status is a short list: Draft, Sent, Won, Lost, Expired. Draft is not in the pipeline. Sent is. Won and Lost are decisions. Expired is what you mark when the offer is dead and nobody bothered to say no. Do not leave those rows as Sent forever or the pipeline will look like a second business you do not have.

Days open is a formula from the sent date. The follow-up flag turns on after seven days if the status is still Sent. Seven is a default, not a law. If your trade usually waits two weeks, change the threshold once, in the formula, not ad hoc on each row.

What “win rate” is allowed to mean

Pick a definition and write it in the corner of the sheet.

A clean version for a month:

Count Won, Lost, and Expired as decided.
Win rate = Won ÷ (Won + Lost + Expired).
Leave Draft and Sent out of the denominator. Sent is still alive. Draft was never an offer.

Value won is the sum of amounts where status is Won. Pipeline is the sum of amounts where status is Sent. Average won and average lost are worth a glance: if you only win the small jobs, the rate can look fine while the month does not.

Split those numbers by service. A plumber who wins 70 percent of clog calls and 15 percent of remodel bids does not have “a” win rate. The same split by month shows whether a slow season is real or just a gap in follow-up.

Do not include tax in one row and forget it in the next. Use the same basis you print on the estimate.

A short month, with the arithmetic

Number	Service	Amount	Status
2026-011	Service call	280	Won
2026-012	Panel upgrade	3,200	Lost
2026-013	Repipe	6,400	Sent, day 9
2026-014	Service call	190	Expired

Decided: three rows. Won: one. Win rate = 1/3. Value won = 280. Pipeline = 6,400. The follow-up flag should be on for 2026-013 and off for the others.

That month is not a failure of “sales skill” until you look at service. Both service calls closed or died small. The panel was lost. The repipe is the only open money, and it is late for a nudge. The next action is one email on 2026-013, not a new template for the whole business.

Subject: Quote 2026-013

Say the number, the amount, and the date you sent it. Ask if they need a change in scope. Stop there. A second follow-up a week later is reasonable. A fifth is how you train yourself to ignore the flag.

Weekly pass

Anything you priced this week gets a number the same day, even if it is still Draft.
Anything the client received is Sent, with a sent date. A quote that “basically went out” does not count.
Read the follow-up flags. Send the note or mark the row Expired if you have decided to drop it.
Mark Won only when they accepted the number you logged. If the scope changed, edit the amount and write the reason in a note. Do not keep the old hope-number.
Once a month, read win rate and value won by service. If one service wins on price and loses on profit, that is a pricing conversation, not a spreadsheet feature.

What the log will not do

It will not chase the client, write the estimate, or tell you the job is worth taking. It will not remove a Lost row to improve the rate. If you delete losses, the sheet is a poster.

If you also track job costs after you win, keep that in an expense log. Mixing receipts into the quote row hides whether you won a job that lost money.

The quote workbook that matches this method assigns quote numbers, uses the statuses Draft, Sent, Won, Lost, and Expired, counts days open, and flags a follow-up after seven days. The dashboard shows win rate, value won, pipeline, averages, and charts, including by month and by service. Formulas only, no macros. It opens in Excel and Google Sheets. The link is in the box below.