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In short
- If your client says nothing, that is almost never a no. More often they have not settled it among themselves, something came up, or someone you have not spoken to is looking at it.
- On a business purchase, five to sixteen people have a say, and in nearly three quarters of those teams there is internal friction. That takes time, and you see none of it.
- So do not send a reminder. Send something your contact can get further with internally.
- Only let a quote go once your client says so. Until then, put a date on it.
01What to do right now
First work out who at your client decides, then send something your contact can get further with internally. If you still have nothing after three or four attempts, send one email that makes it easy to say no. After that, put a date on it and pick it up later.
If your client says nothing, that is almost never a no. Usually they have decided nothing at all.
02Your client is not deciding alone
You spoke to one person, and that person rarely decides alone. Here is what recent research shows.
| What the research shows | Source and year |
|---|---|
| A business buying group counts five to sixteen people, spread across up to four departments. | Gartner, May 2025 |
| In 74 percent of those buying teams there is internal friction while they decide. | Gartner, May 2025 |
| Teams that reach agreement are 2.5 times more likely to call their purchase a good one. | Gartner, May 2025 |
| 67 percent of buyers would rather work through a purchase with as little sales contact as possible. | Gartner, March 2026 |
| 45 percent of buyers used AI on a recent purchase. | Gartner, March 2026 |
Read those five rows as one sentence and the silence suddenly makes sense. Your quote is sitting in a conversation you are not part of, among people you have never spoken to, and they would rather settle it without you. Often your contact cannot email anything back, because there is nothing to report yet.
That changes what you send. A reminder is no use to them, because nobody has forgotten anything. What does help is material your contact can use in that conversation.
03Five reasons why it stays quiet
Run through these five before you send anything. You recognise them by what happened in the conversation, not by what failed to happen afterwards.
Someone you have not spoken to is looking at it
You spoke to one person. On a business purchase, Gartner puts the number with a say at five to sixteen.
A name or a department came up in the conversation, or they asked for a version they could forward.
Ask who else is looking and when it comes up. Send a one-page summary with it that your contact can forward as it is.
They have not settled it among themselves
Gartner found disagreement while deciding in 74 percent of buying teams. That discussion lasts longer than your patience.
The conversation went well and then it went quiet. Or the question changed abruptly, and the new question did not fit the earlier conversation.
Give them something they can settle it with. Two options on one page, with what each costs and what each delivers.
The timing is just off
This says nothing about your offer, and your client usually will not volunteer it.
The budget is committed, there is a move or an acquisition under way, or the person who decides is away for a few weeks.
Agree a date together. One sentence is enough: shall I call you back in September?
Your quote is hard to compare
With several quotes in play, your client is laying two documents side by side that are not built the same way.
They asked for more quotes, and your structure differs from the other one.
Make comparing easy. Set out briefly what is and is not in your price, in the order of your quote.
It is a no, and nobody is saying so
It happens, and this is the only one of the five you can close out yourself.
Three or four times without a response, not even to an email that could be answered in one word.
Give them an easy way out. For instance: I have not heard back, so I am assuming this is not the moment. Do let me know if that is right.
04When do you get back in touch?
Sooner than most people hold to. The first time after two to four working days, then twice or three times more with about two weeks in between. The whole rhythm, with what to send at each moment, is in the main article on following up on quotes.
One thing counts for more than the number of days: put those moments in your calendar the moment you send the quote. Leave it until later and when things get busy it simply will not happen, and that has nothing to do with discipline.
05When do you let a quote go?
Three rules, and the first is the most important.
Wait until your client says so
A quote you mark as lost when nobody has said no is one you are throwing away yourself. As long as nothing has been said, nothing has been decided.
Until then, put a date on it
Three or six months, depending on what you heard in the conversation. Without a date, putting it on a horizon amounts to forgetting it.
Write down why it went quiet
Which of the five reasons it was, who else was looking, and what was going on. Come back six months later and you do not have to start over.
That third rule is exactly where it goes wrong in smaller businesses. Of Dutch businesses with ten to fifty employees, 49 percent use CRM software, according to 2025 figures from Statistics Netherlands. In the other half it sits in somebody’s head, and six months is a long time for a head that is interrupted all day.
06Raydo keeps track of it for you
Raydo is the chief of work that picks this up. Raydo keeps track of which quotes have gone quiet, looks at what has changed at those clients since your conversation, and reports in as soon as there is a good reason to come back. Not on day eight because it is day eight, but at the moment something happens at your client.
And the part that delivers the most: what you hear in a conversation, Raydo records. Who else is looking, what your client is wrestling with, and when it is happening. You dictate it or forward it, and it lands in the client record with the source alongside it. That way you do not start over six months from now.
Nothing goes to a client without you having seen it. You decide message by message, and under every message is where it came from. Which systems Raydo reads for that is set out in the use cases, and how you stay in control is covered in how it works.
07Questions about a client who is not responding
Does no response to a quote mean it is a no?
Usually not. A client who says nothing has often decided nothing at all. Gartner found in May 2025 that a business buying group runs to five to sixteen people, and that in 74 percent of those teams there is internal friction while they decide. That discussion lasts longer than your patience, and you see none of it.
What do you do when your client stops responding altogether?
Send one email that makes it easy to say no. Let them know you are assuming this is not the moment, and that you would be glad to hear if that is right. That gets an answer more often than asking for a decision again. If it stays quiet after that too, put your client on a three- or six-month horizon.
How long should you wait before following up on a quote?
The first time within two to four working days, and then twice or three times more with about two weeks in between. Put those moments in your calendar the moment you send the quote. The full rhythm is in our article on following up on quotes.
How often can you email someone who is not responding?
Three or four times over about a month sits badly with almost nobody, as long as every email brings something. The number rarely grates, the content does. Four emails with a reason are less noticeable than two that only ask whether they have had a look.
Should you call if someone is not answering your email?
Calling helps, ideally with a different question from the one in your email. Do not ask whether they have seen the quote, ask who else at their end is looking at it and when they want to decide. Your contact can answer that on the spot, without checking internally first.
Can you ask why a client is not responding?
You can, and it works better than most people expect, as long as you make it easy to be honest. Do not ask why they have gone quiet, ask whether the subject is live right now or not. A question with two perfectly good answers gets a reply more often.
08Sources
- Gartner · Sales survey: disagreement arises during the decision process in 74% of business buying teams, and buying groups count five to sixteen people across up to four departments · published 7 May 2025 · 632 B2B buyers, fieldwork August and September 2024 · gartner.com
- Gartner · Sales survey: 67% of business buyers would rather work through a purchase without a sales rep, and 45% used AI on a recent purchase · published 9 March 2026 · 646 B2B buyers, fieldwork August and September 2025 · gartner.com
- Statistics Netherlands (CBS) · ICT use by businesses, by industry and business size (Dutch-language statistics) · reporting year 2025, published December 2025 · CRM software at businesses of 10 to 50 employees · cbs.nl · StatLine 86119NED
- The full follow-up rhythm is in the main article: following up on a quote.