Short answer: most of the chasing is already handled. Invoice reminders go out automatically, you can see whether a client opened a proposal, and you can send a follow-up without rewriting it. This article covers what to do at each point where a deal goes quiet.
Did they even open it? #
Before chasing, check whether there is anything to chase. ReqMe records when a client opens a proposal or an invoice, and the status reflects it — a document that has been viewed is a different problem from one that was never opened.
Never opened usually means the email did not arrive or went to spam. Opened and ignored means something about the proposal itself is the obstacle: the price, the scope, or a question they did not want to ask.
The client has not responded to a proposal #
Send a follow-up from the proposal. You write the message yourself, so it goes out in your words rather than a template, and the client receives it against the same proposal rather than as a separate email they have to connect to anything.
Follow-ups work while the proposal is still open — waiting for a reply or put on hold by the client. Once it has been accepted, rejected or has expired, there is nothing to follow up on and you send a new proposal instead.
Two follow-ups spaced a few days apart is usually the limit of what helps. Past that, the answer is silence, and silence is an answer.
The proposal is about to expire, or already has #
If you set a validity date, the proposal expires on it and the client can no longer accept it. That is the point of the date — it creates a reason to decide.
An expired proposal cannot be revived by the client. If you still want the work, send a new proposal with a new date. That is not a workaround; a quote from six weeks ago may not be a price you still want to honour.
If you do not want a deadline, leave the validity date empty and the proposal stays open indefinitely.
The invoice has not been paid #
This one mostly handles itself. When an invoice has a due date, ReqMe sends reminders automatically and escalates them as the date approaches and passes. You do not need to set anything up — reminders are on by default.
You can switch them off for a particular invoice when chasing would be wrong: a client you have an arrangement with, or one you would rather call than email.
Reminders stop by themselves once the invoice is paid, and they stop after the final one rather than continuing indefinitely.
A request came in and went nowhere #
Not every enquiry becomes a deal, and requests that never turn into a proposal are worth reading in bulk rather than one by one. If the same kind of enquiry keeps arriving and keeps going nowhere, the issue is usually upstream — the request page is attracting people you do not serve, or your services are described in a way that invites the wrong brief.
Knowing when to stop #
The uncomfortable part of this is that most stalled deals stay stalled, and the value of the system is not that it recovers them — it is that chasing costs you nothing, so you can let the follow-ups run and put your attention on live work instead.
Frequently asked questions #
Can I tell whether the client read my proposal? #
You can see whether it was opened. Not how long they spent or what they read.
Do invoice reminders keep going forever? #
No. They escalate through a fixed sequence and then stop.
Can I turn off reminders for one client but not others? #
Reminders are set per invoice, so you switch them off on that invoice.
Can a client accept an expired proposal? #
No. Send a new one with a new validity date.
Can I follow up on a proposal the client already rejected? #
Not as a follow-up. If the conversation has moved on, send a new proposal.
Need help? #
If this page did not answer your question, send it to us. Tell us what you were trying to do and what happened instead — that is usually enough for us to spot the problem straight away.
Prefer email? hi@reqme.co
