The short answer: turn on the Proposals waiting on a decision routine in alfred_. Every Monday at 8 AM it reads the bids, quotes and proposals you sent from Outlook or Gmail in the last 60 days, PDF attachments included, checks each thread, and emails you only the ones still waiting on the client’s decision, oldest first, each with one short follow-up suggestion. It sends nothing itself.
The bids that go quiet
You run sales at a commercial cleaning company. Bids go out as a PDF from your Outlook: the scope, the frequency, the monthly price, sometimes a second option with fewer nights. In a busy month that is ten or fifteen bids to property managers, facility directors and office managers.
Some come back with a yes. Some with a no. Some with “we’ll decide after the board meets on the 20th.” And a few get nothing at all, which is the pile that matters. A facility director who went quiet two weeks ago may still be comparing three bids, and nobody on your side has written since.
The outcome this is for is the plain one: nothing slips through the cracks. Not a pipeline, not a forecast. One list, on Monday morning, of the bids that still need a nudge.
The native ways, and where they stop
Field service software. If your quotes start in Jobber or Housecall Pro, use their follow-ups; they are built for it. Jobber’s quote follow-ups send a client up to two reminders about a quote they have not responded to, the same way the quote went out, on the Connect plan and up (Jobber Help Center). Housecall Pro’s Pipeline automates three follow-ups on an estimate, by email or text (Housecall Pro Help Center).
Commercial bids often never touch those tools. A multi-site janitorial proposal is a document written for one facility director, sent from your own mailbox with a covering note, and the whole negotiation happens in that thread: “can you do three nights instead of five?”, “can you hold the price until January?”. Neither tool sees it.
Outlook search. In Sent Items, hasattachment:yes subject:proposal lists the proposals you sent with a file attached, and to: narrows it to one client (Microsoft Support). That shows what you sent. It does not show who answered, so you open each thread to find out.
Outlook flags. Flag the bid for yourself as you send it and set a reminder date (Microsoft Support). The reminder goes off on the date you picked, and only for the bids you remembered to flag.
Both work at five bids. At fifteen, Monday morning is twenty minutes of opening threads.
Turn on Proposals waiting on a decision
- On your desktop, open alfred_ and go to Routines.
- Open Proposals waiting on a decision.
- Press Turn it on.
It runs every Monday at 8 AM in your time zone. The result comes by email and is kept in the web app.
What it reads:
- The Sent mail from the last 60 days in every inbox you have connected: Gmail or Outlook, up to six.
- Proposals, quotes, estimates and statements of work. The email or the attachment’s name is its proof that you sent a bid, so “Harbor-Medical-Janitorial-Proposal.pdf” counts even when your note only says “attached, let me know.”
- Then the whole thread, to see where each one stands.
What Monday’s email looks like
Proposals waiting on a decision (4)
- Harbor Medical Group, nightly janitorial for two clinics. Sent Aug 4 (Harbor-Medical-Janitorial-Proposal.pdf). Their last word, Aug 6: reviewing it with the practice manager. Suggestion: ask whether the practice manager has had a look, and offer a walkthrough of the second clinic.
- Westgate Plaza, common-area cleaning and day porter. Sent Aug 19. No reply. Suggestion: a two-line note asking whether the scope still fits.
- Parkview Offices, carpet and hard-floor program. They asked for a three-night option, and you sent the revised PDF Sep 9. No reply to the revision. Suggestion: confirm the new numbers arrived and ask when they plan to decide.
- Northside Charter School, winter break deep clean. Sent Sep 14. No reply. Suggestion: mention the date you would need to book the crew by.
Illustrative example, not output from a real run. The companies, files and dates are invented, and the wording differs from run to run.
Oldest first, because the oldest is the one most likely to have been forgotten. A bid stays on the list every Monday until the client decides or it passes 60 days.
What it leaves out on purpose
- Bids the client accepted or declined, and work that is finished.
- Threads where the client asked you something and is waiting on your answer. That one is on you, and it belongs on a different list: the replies you still owe at 4:30.
- Bids still inside a decision date the client asked for. “We’ll decide after the board meets on the 20th” keeps it off the list until the 20th has passed.
- Anything sent more than 60 days ago.
It creates no tasks, writes no drafts and sends nothing.
Where each step happens
- Desktop, in the office: turn it on from Routines, and read the full list in the web app.
- Email, Monday at 8 AM: the list lands in your inbox before the week fills up.
- iPhone, between sites: read Monday’s email in the alfred_ app’s inbox or your usual mail app. To act on one without opening a laptop, text alfred_: “reply to the Harbor Medical proposal thread and ask if the practice manager has had a look.” It shows you the reply and waits for your yes. Texting is covered on the SMS page.
The inbound side is a rule, not a routine: “text me when a property manager asks for a cleaning quote” sends you a text a few minutes after a request arrives. See text alerts for important emails.
The honest caveat
It reads the mail in the inboxes you connected and nothing else. A bid sent from a colleague’s mailbox, uploaded to a client’s procurement portal, or emailed for you by field service software is not in your Sent folder, so it is not on the list. And it is a report: it tells you which bids are waiting, and you still write the follow-up. alfred_ is a paid product; plans are on the pricing page.