Open the quote only when the offer is ready to leave the office

This workflow is usually owned by the estimator, business owner or admin team member who sends quotes to customers. It starts from the quote record, after the scope, totals and customer details have already been reviewed. Once the proposal is sent, Fencify begins tracking customer activity around that offer, so it is worth pausing for a final internal check before the first email goes out.

Before you send, confirm the quote record is commercially settled:

• the customer contact details and email address are current
• the site address, suburb and quote number read correctly
• the fence runs, gates, manual items and inclusions reflect the scope you intend to price
• the subtotal, GST and total match what you are prepared to stand behind
• the deposit amount or payment stage structure matches your intended job terms
• any proposal documents you want the customer to read are ready to be shown with the proposal
• the quote validity date, if you use one, is still appropriate for current material and labour pricing

That final review matters because Fencify records a commercial snapshot when the proposal is sent. If the customer later accepts, you can compare what was sent with what was accepted, including totals, GST, deposit details and the payment structure that was on offer at the time.

Review the public proposal and PDF before the customer sees them

The quote page gives you access to the public proposal and the proposal PDF. Use both before sending. The public proposal is the live customer-facing page, and the PDF is the portable version the customer can download or print. Reviewing both gives you a clearer sense of the offer than checking line items alone.

On the proposal side, look for the items that shape the customer decision:

• the main project address and customer name
• the displayed scope of works pulled from quote runs and manual inclusions
• the total estimate and whether GST is shown
• the quote validity date where one is present
• the payment stage summary, especially any booking deposit due on acceptance
• the attached proposal documents that explain terms, inclusions or supporting information

If the quote uses a deposit, read the deposit wording carefully. The proposal page can present acceptance and payment instructions together, so the office should make sure the amount, the expectation and the timing all make sense before the customer opens the link.

If something feels incomplete at this point, go back into the quote and fix it before sending. That is especially important when the customer has asked for a scope adjustment, a gate change, a different fence style or a staged payment arrangement. Resending a clean, current proposal is better than sending a message that needs a second explanatory email straight away.

Send from the quote with the right template, sender identity and message

When the quote is ready, send it from the quote record rather than copying numbers into a separate email. Fencify resolves the quote email template with the customer and project details, including the quote number, amount and proposal link. That keeps the message tied to the live proposal instead of relying on staff to paste the right link manually.

The sending step also uses the configured sender identity for quote emails. In practical terms, the customer should see a sender name and reply address that match the way your business wants quote communication handled. Check that the message sounds like your business, that the recipient address is correct, and that any custom subject or body edits still support a clear call to review the proposal.

Once the email is sent successfully, Fencify updates the quote status to sent. It also clears any earlier view marker on the quote, records the send event in the conversion history and saves the commercial snapshot of what was offered at that moment. That means the sent quote becomes the reference point for later follow-up and for any accepted commercial record.

Set the follow-up plan while the proposal is still warm

Fencify supports both manual nudges and automated quote follow-up. The best time to decide the follow-up plan is during the send stage, while the quote is fresh and the customer expectation is clear. You can enable automatic follow-up, choose the cadence in days and set how many follow-up emails should be sent before the job stops nudging itself.

After the proposal has been sent, the quote page becomes your control panel for follow-up activity. It can show whether automatic follow-up is active, the next scheduled run, when the last nudge was sent and how many nudges have gone out so far. That is useful for office coordination because everyone can see whether the proposal is still being chased and how recently the customer was contacted.

Manual nudges still have a place. If a customer has opened the proposal, asked a quick question by phone, or needs a one-off reminder before a booking date closes, sending a manual follow-up from the quote keeps the history tidy. Fencify uses the quote follow-up template for that message, updates the last nudge time and increments the nudge count so the record still reflects what happened.

Automatic follow-up is only useful while the quote is still genuinely open. In normal use, that means a quote sitting in sent or viewed and not yet converted into a project. Once the customer accepts or declines, the follow-up job is cancelled so the office does not keep chasing a closed outcome.

Read the proposal status trail properly

The status trail on the quote tells you where the customer is in the decision path. Used properly, it helps the office choose the next action instead of guessing.

Proposal viewing is especially useful because it tells the office the customer has at least opened the offer. When a quote moves from sent to viewed, Fencify also reschedules automated follow-up after that activity. That gives the customer a bit of space to review the proposal before the next reminder is triggered.

On accepted and declined outcomes, Fencify records conversion events and closes the follow-up cycle. On accepted outcomes it also captures the accepted commercial snapshot, so the business has a clear record of the totals and payment structure that were actually agreed.

Handle the four common customer response paths

1. The customer is ready to proceed. The public proposal can record the customer signature, and where your quote uses an upfront booking deposit the proposal can also present the available deposit step. After that, review the quote record, confirm the accepted status and move to the next workflow that turns the accepted sale into a live project plan.

2. The customer has viewed the proposal and wants clarification. Answer the question from the quote record and decide whether the commercial offer itself needs to change. If the scope, total, deposit or payment timing changes, update the quote first and resend the proposal so the customer-facing page, the PDF and the audit trail stay aligned.

3. The proposal has been viewed or sent and then gone quiet. Use the last viewed time, nudge count and next follow-up date to decide the best contact method. A light reminder is usually enough for domestic jobs, while larger commercial or strata quotes may need a phone call before another email. Keep the office aligned so the customer does not receive duplicate follow-up from different staff members.

4. The customer declines. The public decline action updates the quote to declined and stops further automated chasing. From there, decide internally whether the decline is final, whether a revised scope should be priced, or whether the opportunity should simply stay on file as closed quoting history.

The important habit is to keep each response path tied back to the quote itself. That preserves one clean record of what the customer saw, how they responded and what the office did next.

Know what Fencify records before you hand off to the next stage

This workflow changes more than a status label. By the time the proposal cycle is complete, Fencify may have updated or created several useful records around the quote:

• the quote status, including movement through sent, viewed, accepted or declined
• the latest proposal view time
• the latest manual nudge time and overall nudge count
• the follow-up job settings and how many follow-up messages have already been sent
• the sent commercial snapshot and, once accepted, the accepted commercial snapshot
• the conversion history showing send, view, acceptance or decline events
• the customer signature and any deposit acceptance record handled through the proposal flow

Before you schedule work, raise a deposit invoice, split project invoices or hand the job to operations, confirm that the quote record reflects the final customer outcome you expect. The accepted status and accepted commercial snapshot should line up with the offer the customer actually agreed to. If the proposal was declined or is still sitting in sent or viewed, the job is still in a sales decision stage and should be treated that way by the rest of the team.

Practical fencing example and final review checklist

Picture a residential boundary replacement with timber paling to one side, a new gate, and a deposit required to secure the install slot. The estimator finishes the quote, opens the public proposal, checks that the scope wording matches the site discussion, confirms the deposit amount and downloads the PDF once for a final read. The proposal is then emailed from the quote using the normal quote sender identity, with automatic follow-up set for three days and a sensible cap on reminders.

The customer opens the proposal that evening, reviews the total, reads the attached proposal details and calls the next morning about the gate latch option. The estimator updates the quote, resends the proposal and keeps the follow-up cycle active. Two days later the customer signs and completes the deposit step. At that point the quote is accepted, the accepted commercial terms are preserved, the follow-up stops and the job is ready for project setup.

Before you close this workflow, run a short final check:

• the quote status matches the real customer outcome
• the public proposal and PDF show the same scope and commercial story you intended to send
• the customer contact and recipient email are still correct on the quote
• the follow-up plan suits the value and urgency of the job
• the office can explain the latest view activity, nudge history and next action
• accepted quotes are handed forward promptly for project setup
• declined quotes are left with a clear final outcome instead of ongoing reminders

When this proposal process is kept disciplined, the next handoff is much smoother. Sales, admin and operations can all look at the same quote record and understand exactly what the customer saw, what was agreed and what should happen next.