The two sentences to send with every quote
Most quotes go out with no note. Just a file, or a link and nothing else. Send it the same night, with two sentences. One says the quote is there. One says why you are worth it.
You walked the job this afternoon. You built the quote at the kitchen table after dinner. Then you sent a bare PDF, or a link with “here you go” and nothing under it.
The homeowner opens it once the kids are down and sees a number. That is all they see. Nothing in that message tells them why you and not the other two, except the total. The quote is the price. The two sentences are why they open it, and the line they repeat to their partner over dinner.
We said this in a short video if you want the quick version. This page is the fill-in template, examples from six trades, and the lines to cut.
This is not the text you send from the street before the quote exists. That is the one text before you leave a site visit, and it names the day. This one rides with the quote itself. If the quote is already out and the thread has gone quiet, you want the 2-7-14 rule. Different file.
Tonight
Same night as the walk
The job is still fresh in their heads. The other crew is sending theirs on Thursday.
Sentence 1
The quote is right here
Attached, or here is the link. No warm-up and no small talk.
Sentence 2
Why you are worth it
The short version. One true thing about how you do this job, and what it means for them.
Most quotes go out with no note
Scroll back through your sent texts. A PDF with no words. A link and “let me know.” An email with the subject line “Quote.”
By Friday the homeowner has three of those. Three totals, and nothing to tell them apart. So they lean toward the lowest one, because the total is the only thing anybody gave them.
Two sentences change that. Not a cover letter. Not a pitch. Two lines a person can read standing at the counter with their shoes still on.
Send it tonight
Same night as the walk, if you can. They still remember you on the lawn pointing at the low corner. The quote lands while the job is still a picture in their head, not a line on a list.
Timing does half the selling. If yours lands tonight and the other crew's lands Thursday, you already look like the one who will show up on time. You have not lifted a shovel yet.
If you told them a day from the driveway, tonight beats it. If tonight is not realistic, send it by the day you named. Do not rush a wrong number out the door just to make tonight. A right number on Wednesday beats a corrected one sent tonight.
The template
Fill in the brackets. That is the whole message.
[Quote's attached. / Here's the quote: link.] Short version: we [the one thing you do on this job] so [what that means for them].
Sentence 1 is housekeeping. It tells them where to look. Sentence 2 is the whole pitch, shrunk to one line, and it has two halves. What you do. Then why they should care.
Here is the line from the video. A paver patio.
Quote's attached. Short version: we dig deeper than most so it won't sink.
“We dig deeper than most” is the work. “So it won't sink” is the reason anyone cares. Later that night it turns into “he said they dig deeper so it won't sink.” That sentence does your selling when you are not in the room.
How to find your sentence 2
Think back to the walk. What did you say that made them nod? It is usually the part the cheap quote skips. Prep, depth, product, or cleanup.
Pick one. Make it true for this job, not your whole company. And make sure it is something you actually priced. If sentence 2 promises you haul the old fence away and the quote does not, you just wrote yourself a free extra.
Then add the “so.” Owners skip it all the time. “We use two coats” is a fact. “We use two coats so you are not repainting in three years” is a reason.
Five more, across the trades
Swap in your own detail. Keep the shape.
Landscaping. Front beds.
Quote's attached. Short version: we pull the old roots before the new soil goes in, so the weeds don't take the beds back by June.
Fencing. Cedar, six feet.
Here's the quote: [link]. Short version: every post goes three feet down in concrete, so it's still standing straight after a wet winter.
Gutters. A house under big firs.
Quote's attached. Short version: we put a hanger every two feet instead of every three, so they hold when the needles pile up in November.
Pressure washing. Driveway and walk.
Here's the quote: [link]. Short version: we pretreat the moss and the oil first, so it comes clean without blasting grooves into the concrete.
Exterior painting.
Quote's attached. Short version: we scrape and prime every bare spot before any colour goes on, so it isn't peeling again in two winters.
Concrete works the same way. Compacted base and control joints, so the cracks go where you planned them. If you cannot finish the “so,” you have not found your sentence 2 yet.
What not to write
- •Nothing at all. A bare file tells them the price and nothing else.
- •"Let me know if you have any questions." It fills the space and says nothing. If they have a question, they will ask it.
- •"Quality work at a fair price." Every quote on their counter says that. It is not a reason, it is wallpaper.
- •A paragraph. Years in business, insurance, your crew, your truck. Two sentences. They will not read the rest tonight.
- •A shot at the other guy. "Unlike some outfits" reads small, even when you are right. Say what you do, not what they don't.
- •A discount in the first text. "Book this week and I'll knock off 10%" tells them the number was soft.
Write sentence 2 first
Here is the one thing to try on your next quote, whatever you build it in. Before you send it, write sentence 2 first. If you cannot say why you are worth it in one line, the homeowner cannot either.
Then keep it. One line per kind of job, saved in the notes app on your phone. Patio. Fence. Beds. Driveway. Tonight you change the detail and the name, not the whole message.
Before the quote goes out
- Send it the same night as the walk if the quote is ready. If it is not, send it by the day you named in the driveway.
- A greeting is fine. "Hey Sarah." It does not count as one of the two.
- Sentence 1 says the quote is attached, or gives the link. Nothing else goes in that sentence.
- Sentence 2 starts with "Short version:" and names one thing you do on this job.
- Finish sentence 2 with what it means for them. Won't sink. Stays straight. Doesn't peel.
- Only claim what you priced. If it is not a line in the quote, it is not in the text.
- Read it out loud once. If it sounds like a flyer, rewrite it the way you said it in the yard.
- No questions line. No discount. No third sentence about your years in business.
- Send it in the thread you already have, from your phone.
Where it is. Why you. That is the whole note.
If the quote goes out from Echelon
The two sentences work with any quote. A PDF off your laptop. A photo of a handwritten sheet. Whatever you use tonight.
If you send it from Echelon, the quote is a live link the homeowner opens on their phone, not a PDF that gets lost in a downloads folder. The text that goes with the link is yours to edit before you send it, so your two sentences go right there. Then you can see when they open it, instead of wondering if it is still sitting unread.
Want to see the quote side first? Try Quote Builder. Apply for a founding spot when you want your next quote going out as a link. No card. $89 a month if you keep it.