How building materials manufacturers can follow up on open dealer quotes

Manufacturer reps should follow up on open dealer quotes through the dealer's salesperson. Choose the few quotes worth attention from your own records, call with a specific question about the job and offer help only your company can give, such as a configuration review or an answer from your product team. Then record what the dealer decided and look for patterns across that dealer's quotes.

This guide is for manufacturers whose dealers price project quotes for your products, sometimes in a quoting or ordering system you provide, and for the territory and inside sales reps who support those dealers. How a dealer follows up with its own builder or homeowner is a separate conversation, and it stays with the dealer.

Know what your quote records can tell you

Some manufacturers give dealers online tools to build estimates from the manufacturer's catalog. A Window + Door product listing for a dealer web module describes that setup: dealers prepare and send customized estimates, place accepted orders directly into the manufacturer's production system, and the manufacturer gets a dashboard that tracks estimates and orders across its dealer network.

Sun Windows' SunTracker dealer guide shows the dealer's side of a similar tool. Its Open Quotes view lists "quotes that have not yet become orders" and can be searched by client, quote number, quote name or sales rep.

What your reps can see depends on your own systems and your dealer agreements. Before anyone starts a follow-up routine, confirm which quotes are visible, what "open" means in that record, who owns each dealer account on your side and what each dealer expects you to do with its quote information.

A quote in your system shows that a dealer priced a job. It does not tell you whether the end customer is still deciding, whether another manufacturer's product was also quoted or whether the dealer wants your help. The conversation has to supply that.

Decide which open quotes deserve a call

A territory rep cannot call about every quote. Pick a short list each week from information you already hold:

• Size and product mix. Larger jobs, and product families your company is trying to grow with that dealer.
• Recent activity. A quote revised last week is more likely to be live than one untouched for months.
• The dealer's history. Past conversations, recent orders from that account and earlier quotes that did or did not become orders.
• Known decision timing. If the dealer already told you when the job will be decided, that date matters more than the quote's age.
• An answer you owe. If your team promised a lead time, a revised drawing or a product answer, that quote goes first.

Avoid ranking by dollar value alone. A mid-size quote at a dealer that rarely converts your quotes may deserve more attention than a large one the dealer already has under control.

Call the dealer's salesperson with a purpose

Dealers have been clear about visits without a reason. In a 2019 LBM Journal Real Issues survey, the dealer who raised the question described manufacturer and vendor reps who come in "with no real purpose, except we are 'on their route.'" One responding dealer wrote, "I make most manufacturer reps set an appointment and then I ask what the agenda is."

Sales trainer Rick Davis gave a manufacturer's sales leadership similar advice in a 2023 LBM Journal column: "Make appointments. Dealers are tired of manufacturer reps who show up unannounced without a productive purpose."

An open quote gives you a concrete agenda. Contact the salesperson who built it and ask about the job:

• "Where does this job stand, and when does your customer expect to decide?"
• "Is anything on our side holding it up, such as a lead time, a product option or a question you need us to answer?"

Offer only help your company can actually provide and your pricing policy allows. That might be confirming an option, reviewing a configuration, getting an answer from your product or customer service team, or joining a customer meeting if the dealer asks. If you have nothing to add, say so and leave the quote with the dealer.

Leave the end customer with the dealer

A dealer quote often names the dealer's customer and can include the dealer's own pricing. The SunTracker guide, for example, shows dealer and customer pricing on line items. That information belongs to the dealer's relationship. Using it to contact the builder or homeowner directly can damage trust even when the order still runs through the dealer.

An LBM Journal Tough Call scenario shows how this can feel from the dealer's side. A decking vendor rep with a personal connection to a builder customer starts requesting quotes from the dealer's team on the builder's behalf. The builder buys more, yet the dealer's salesperson says, "I feel like I'm getting pushed out of the picture." One option the column gives the dealer owner is to ask the vendor rep "to respect the lines of communication."

Agree the ground rules with each dealer. If a dealer wants you in front of its customer on a project, plan that meeting with the dealer's salesperson and decide beforehand who follows up afterward.

Record the outcome against the quote

After each conversation, note what changed: the expected decision date, the open question, who owns the next step and whether the dealer wants more help. When the quote becomes an order, or the dealer tells you the job is gone, close it with the reason the dealer gave.

Keep "the dealer says the job went elsewhere" separate from "the quote expired with no answer." The first is information. The second means nobody learned what happened, and treating them alike hides that gap.

Look for patterns by dealer

After a few months, these notes show more than individual jobs. Review them dealer by dealer:

• Dealers that quote your products often but rarely order. Ask what gets in the way, whether that is product fit, lead time, pricing structure or how their salespeople present your line.
• Dealers whose quoting has slowed. Fewer quotes can be an early reason to discuss the account before orders fall. The manufacturer ERP and CRM guide covers that broader account review.
• Questions that repeat. If several dealers stall on the same option or lead time, take it to your product or customer service team.

Bring those findings to your next dealer visit as the agenda. It gives the dealer a reason to book the time.

How SalesJack can help

SalesJack for building materials manufacturers lets your team track dealer inquiries, account opportunities and project quotes in one CRM, and gives reps their top quotes and accounts to work each day. Reps can coordinate quote follow-up and email or text outreach between dealer visits, and the CRM keeps logged conversations, assignments and reminders with the account.

SalesJack works from supported ERP and order data. It does not provide dealer sell-through data, and the quote records it can use depend on your systems, so confirm what is available for your setup. If you want to see how that would look with your own dealer accounts, you can book a demo.

Sources

• Window + Door, Dealer Web Module product listing. A software product description from a trade publication, used only to show that some manufacturer systems track dealer estimates. Undated on the page.
• Sun Windows, SunTracker dealer guide, September 2026. Describes the dealer's view of open quotes; its screenshots use fictional demonstration records.
• LBM Journal readers, Real Issues. Real Answers. Vendor reps on the route…again, October 8, 2019. Reader survey responses from dealers, distributors and manufacturers.
• Rick Davis, Define your sales brand, LBM Journal, January 10, 2023.
• Rick Schumacher, Tough Call: The case of the side-stepped sales rep, LBM Journal, June 29, 2020. A hypothetical dealer scenario with reader options, not a reported case.