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Quick answer
Have the AI build a simple spreadsheet with one row per bid: customer, job, amount, date sent, next follow-up date and status. A formula flags today's follow-ups. Five minutes each morning, then use the follow-up setup to draft the message.
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At a glance
All outcome figures are estimates from cited sources, not independent verification by us.
- What it is allowed to do
- Adds sheet rows
Adds rows to your own Google Sheet.
- Time saved (estimate)
- About 30 minutes to set up, then 5 minutes a day.
- Difficulty
- Beginner
- Tools needed
- Claude, ChatGPT, Excel or Google Sheets
- Typical cost
- Free AI tiers can build the tracker; Excel or Google Sheets. Prices: Not stated in sources.
Reviewed Nov 2, 2026
Basis (estimate): Estimate only: based on the steps above, not timed.
What does this setup do?
Build a one-sheet bid tracker with AI that flags which bids need a follow-up today, which are still waiting, and which you won or lost.
Who is it for?
Contractors and small crews who send bids from a phone or laptop and lose track of which ones never got an answer.
How do you set it up?
Tools
- Claude or ChatGPT to build the sheet
- Excel or Google Sheets
- Your last 10 to 20 bids
Steps
- List your recent bids: customer, job, amount and the date you sent each one.
- Ask the AI to build the tracker with the prompt below. Anthropic says Claude can create Excel files with working formulas.
- Paste in your bids and check every amount and date against what you actually sent.
- Each morning, filter for rows marked FOLLOW UP TODAY. That is your list.
- Draft each follow-up with the quote follow-up setup, approve it and send it yourself.
- Update the status the moment you hear back, so won and lost bids drop off the list.
Example output
Illustrative. Your results will differ.
- Waiting: 7 bids, $38,400
- Smith deck | $3,400 | sent Oct 26 | next Oct 28 | Waiting | FOLLOW UP TODAY
- Lee roof patch | $1,250 | sent Oct 30 | next Nov 3 | Waiting |
Where to paste this prompt
Claude → Project knowledge & custom instructions
Copy-paste prompt
Adapt bracketed fields to your situation.
Build me a bid tracker spreadsheet (Excel) with one row per bid and these columns:
Customer | Job | Amount | Date sent | Next follow-up | Status (Waiting, Won, Lost) | Notes
Rules:
- Next follow-up = Date sent + 2 days for the first follow-up; I will update it after each one.
- Add a column Action that shows FOLLOW UP TODAY when Next follow-up is today or earlier and Status is Waiting, otherwise blank.
- Add a summary at the top: bids waiting, total value waiting, won this month, lost this month.
- Leave the rows empty for me to fill in. Do not invent customers or amounts.
Explain each formula in one line.Newsletter
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What usually goes wrong?
Where agents tend to stall on this job. More patterns in Where AI gets stuck.
- Formulas break when someone types text in a date column. Ask the AI to add date checks.
- Forgetting to move the follow-up date after each touch.
- Tracking bids in two places.
Which chat tools work with this prompt?
Paste the prompt into any of these assistants (free or paid tiers).
- Claude
- ChatGPT
Common questions
- How do contractors keep track of bids they sent?
- One row per bid with the date sent, a next follow-up date and a status, plus a formula that flags today's follow-ups.
- Can AI build the spreadsheet for me?
- Yes. Ask for the columns and formulas, then fill in your own bids and check them.
- Will it send follow-ups for me?
- No. It tells you who to follow up with. Draft each message with AI and send it yourself.
Where should you go next on this site?
What tips make it smoother?
- Log the bid the same day you send it, or the tracker stops being trusted.
- Keep a lost-reason note; patterns show up after a month.
- Sort by amount when you only have time for a few follow-ups.
Where do the claims come from?
Summaries use public sources linked below, not independent verification. How setups are picked.
- Read Anthropic’s write-up (support.claude.com)
Anthropic: Create and edit files with Claude: Excel spreadsheets with working formulas; upload CSV and other files for analysis (read 2026-11-02 from a search result excerpt of the page)
Related setups
- Follow up on quotes that went cold
Draft a short follow-up sequence for quotes that got no reply: a day 2 check that it arrived, a day 7 nudge with something useful, a day 14 last check, and a day 21 message that closes the quote.
- Turn messy job notes into a clean quote
Turn rough job notes into a clean, itemized quote with your terms, ready to save as a PDF and send.
- Capture estimate leads and draft quote follow-ups
Log every estimate or quote request into a tracking sheet, then draft follow-ups when a lead has waited too long for a quote, without auto-sending mail.