A good close rate is one that is higher than yours was last quarter and that makes money at your prices. Published benchmarks run from under ten percent to over forty, and they disagree because they count different things. The useful number is your own, and you can get it in half an hour from your last 20 quotes.
Close rate defined, and what it is not
Close rate is the share of quotes or proposals you send that turn into paid jobs. Ten quotes, three jobs: a 30 percent close rate. It is not lead conversion, which divides customers by every inquiry, including people who never got a quote. It is also different from win rate, which some people calculate only on deals that are decided, leaving out quotes still open. Pick one definition, write it down, and use it every time. This page uses won jobs divided by quotes sent, once the quote is at least 30 days old.
Why benchmark numbers disagree
One source divides by all leads, another by qualified meetings, another by proposals. One mixes software demos with roof repairs. One counts only referral work, which closes far more often than ads. When a page says the average is 20 percent or 30 percent, the honest next question is "of what?" For a small business the answer is almost never "of your situation." That is why this page quotes no industry statistics and has you count your own.
Compute your baseline from 20 quotes
Take your last 20 quotes that are at least 30 days old, so none are still being decided. For each, write down four things: the dollar amount, the date you sent it, the date of your first follow-up (or "none"), and whether you won it. A spreadsheet works.
The example is Lowry Electric, a three-person shop in Albuquerque. Its 20 quotes produced 7 jobs. That is 7 divided by 20, or 35 percent. If that were the whole story you would stop there. It is not, because the 35 percent hides two patterns.
Where counts go wrong, from real practice. Quotes you never logged: check sent mail for the word "estimate" or "quote" and add them. Quotes revised three times: count the job once, using the last amount. Jobs won by phone with no quote at all: leave them out, since they are not quotes. A quote that was a courtesy price for a friend: leave it out too, or note it, because it will never behave like the others. The point is a clean list of 20 comparable chances to win.
Set up the sheet with six columns: customer, date sent, amount, first follow-up date, lead source (inbound or outbound) and result (won, lost, no answer). "No answer" counts as lost for this purpose. A quote nobody ever replied to is a quote you did not win. Fill in the follow-up column from your sent mail, not from memory, since memory flatters.
Split it by size and by speed
First by size:
| Quote size | Quotes | Won | Close rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under $1,500 | 9 | 4 | 44% |
| $1,500 to $4,000 | 7 | 2 | 29% |
| Over $4,000 | 4 | 1 | 25% |
| All | 20 | 7 | 35% |
Bigger jobs close less often, which is normal. But look at the money: 4 small jobs at about $900 is $3,600, 2 mid jobs at $2,600 is $5,200, and the one large job at $6,000 is $6,000. The large quotes, which won least often, brought in the most dollars. A close rate that ignores size can push you toward the easy small jobs.
Now by speed of follow-up:
| First follow-up | Quotes | Won | Close rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| Within 2 days | 11 | 6 | 55% |
| After 5+ days, or never | 9 | 1 | 11% |
That is the pattern worth acting on. Lowry's quotes that got a prompt follow-up closed five times as often as the rest. Part of that is not causal, since keen customers answer faster. But it is the one split fully in your control, and it costs nothing to test.
What reliably moves it
Three things, in order of how cheap they are. First, the follow-up on day two, covered in how to follow up on a quote. Second, response time on the first inquiry; speed to lead explains why the first hour is different. Third, price clarity: a quote that lists exactly what is included, offers a good-better option, and has an expiry date is easier to say yes to than a lump sum.
Inbound versus outbound leads
Keep them in separate columns. An inbound lead asked for you, often along with two other firms. An outbound lead replied to your message, usually earlier in their thinking, and often with no competing quote. Their close rates differ for reasons that have nothing to do with your skill, and mixing them blurs both. Lead-level numbers are in lead conversion rate, and the full path is in how to convert leads into customers.
What to do with the number
Treat 20 quotes as a rough picture. With a sample that small, 7 wins could easily have been 5 or 9. Set one change for the next 20: reply with a follow-up to every quote within two days. Then count again. If the rate rises, keep doing it. If not, look at the size split. To see how the rate feeds into revenue per day, read sales velocity, and for which document to send in the first place, proposal vs quote. The stages a quote passes through are laid out in sales pipeline stages.
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