Agencies and consultants pour hours into proposals, then let them go quiet. Automated, on-brand follow-up recovers the retainers and projects sitting in limbo.
You spend half a day crafting a proposal, send it with a hopeful note, and then... nothing. The client goes quiet, you do not want to seem desperate, and a piece of work you were perfect for drifts off into the ether. For agencies and consultants, the follow-up is where good proposals go to die.
Creative and professional-services work has a particular follow-up problem: the buyers are busy, the decisions involve several people, and the deals are big enough that nobody rushes. A client who loved your pitch on Monday has three fires and a board meeting by Wednesday, and your proposal slides down the pile. It is rarely a no — it is a "not right now" that quietly becomes a never because nobody kept it alive.
Quote Nudge connects to your Xero account and automatically follows up every quote or proposal you mark as SENT, on a cadence you choose once. The nudges go out from your own domain, so they read like a normal, personal email from your studio — not an automated chase. You stay present in the client's inbox without lifting a finger or feeling like a nuisance.
A studio quotes a full rebrand for a mid-sized company. The marketing lead is enthusiastic but needs sign-off from a director who is travelling. A gentle two-step follow-up keeps the studio front of mind through the internal wait, so when the director finally looks up, the proposal is right there rather than forgotten.
A consultant proposes a six-month retainer. Retainers are a bigger commitment than one-off projects, so clients deliberate. A timed sequence — a check-in, a light case-study reminder, a final "shall I hold your start date?" — respects that deliberation while making it effortless to say yes.
A freelance developer or copywriter sends several proposals a week and cannot possibly track the follow-up on all of them by hand. Automation means every proposal gets the same professional persistence, so income does not depend on which client happened to reply fastest.
Clients rarely reject a proposal. They just fail to make time for it. Your job is to keep it gently in front of them until they do — and that is precisely what you never have time to do yourself.
Perception is everything in creative and consulting work, and a scrappy follow-up undermines a polished pitch. Every Quote Nudge reminder comes from your own DKIM-verified domain, and when the client is ready they open a branded acceptance page in your colours and logo. They sign, and the quote flips to Accepted in Xero automatically. The whole experience says "these people are organised and professional" — which is exactly the impression you are selling.
Serious clients expect to commit, and a deposit is a clean way to start a professional engagement. Quote Nudge lets you take a deposit the moment the proposal is accepted, straight into your own Stripe account. It protects your cash flow on longer projects, filters out tyre-kickers, and sets a businesslike tone from day one — no chasing an upfront invoice while you are meant to be starting the work.
The win-rate funnel shows sent, viewed and accepted for every proposal. If a client opened your proposal three times but never accepted, that is your cue for a personal call. If they never opened it at all, that is a subject-line or deliverability issue. The analytics turn vague "I think that one went cold" hunches into clear next actions.
You keep quoting through Xero. Mark a proposal as SENT and the sequence begins. There is nothing new to learn and no separate system to maintain. For the reasoning behind why Xero leaves proposals unchased, see our guide to the quote follow-up gap, and when you are ready to write your messages, the follow-up email templates adapt easily to a considered, professional tone. Setup details are in the docs.
Stop letting good proposals go quiet. Start a free 14-day trial — no card required, then £16.79/mo, cancel anytime — connect Xero, and give every proposal the polished, persistent follow-up your work deserves.
Auto follow-ups, branded e-sign acceptance and deposits on your Xero quotes. £16.79/mo after the trial — no card required.
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