A follow-up tracker in Excel is one sheet with a row for every inquiry, a next step and a date on each row, and a column that tells you which rows need you today. You open it, read that column, and do what it says.
You can build one yourself, or start from the free file on the tracker page. This guide explains how it works and why each part is there. Most of the design comes from one question: how does a lead disappear from the list?
What a tracker is for
Quotes wait in text threads. A tracker pulls them into one list where each has a next step and a date. Nothing waits without a reason. If you can't say what happens next on a row, the sheet says so.
What the sheet needs
The Leads tab has eight columns you fill in, from Name to Status:
- Name
- Phone or handle
- Came in via
- What they want
- Last contact
- Next step
- Next step date
- Status (New, Quoted, Booked, Won or Lost)
Two more columns fill themselves in: Due, and Days since contact. Due is the one you read.
Type a real date in Next step date, like 10/28/2026. A date typed as words can't be counted. The sheet flags it as Fix date.
What each Due flag means
Due checks every row that has a name and shows one of six flags, or nothing.
- Overdue: the next step date has passed.
- Today: the next step is due today.
- Next 2 days: due tomorrow or the day after.
- Needs next step: Next step is blank.
- Needs date: there's a next step but no date.
- Fix date: the date was typed as words.
Overdue, Needs next step, Needs date and Fix date turn the row orange. Today turns it yellow. A Lost lead never shows a flag. A Won job shows nothing only when both Next step and its date are empty.
Why the sheet is built this way
Each part of the sheet closes a way for a lead to go missing. If you build your own, keep these.
Keep a Status column
Without a Status column, the sheet can't tell a finished job from a forgotten one. Won and lost jobs would keep showing as overdue, and the overdue count would run too high. Status lets finished jobs drop out of the flags.
Flag dates typed as words
Type "Tue" in a date cell and a plain date formula shows #VALUE!. Worse, that row quietly drops out of the overdue count. The sheet checks for words in a date cell and shows Fix date, so the row stays on your list until you type a real date.
A won job isn't a finished job
Winning a job and finishing it are different events. If the sheet clears every won job, a job that is won but not yet invoiced disappears, and the overdue invoice never shows. So Due checks the work, not the status. A won job with an invoice still to send stays overdue until you clear its next step and date.
Clearing the next step and its date is how a job finishes. Lost leads drop off on their own. The Summary tab counts "Missing next step or date", and those rows turn orange like overdue ones.
Blank cells need a flag too
A lead with a next step but no date, or with neither, would show nothing in Due and wouldn't be counted anywhere. That is how leads get lost. So Due says Needs date when the date is blank and Needs next step when the step is blank, unless the job is Won with both cells cleared, or Lost.
The same goes for a lead with a date but no next step. A date three weeks out looks fine, but if nobody knows what the step is, it's already a problem.
Print sideways
If you print the sheet, set it to print sideways, one page wide. Otherwise the columns split across pages and Due and Status land on a page of their own.
On the 14 sample inquiries, the Summary tab reads 4 overdue, 2 due today, 2 due in the next 2 days, 2 missing a step or date, and 0 dates to fix.
How to use it each day
Open the file at a time you'll keep, such as before your first job. Due only updates when the file opens.
- Read the orange rows first. Sort by Next step date if you like.
- Do each step, or send the message it calls for.
- Write the new next step and its date on the same row. When a won job has nothing left to do, clear both cells instead.
- Do the yellow rows, the ones due today.
- Open the Summary tab. "Missing next step or date" should read 0 before you close the file.
- Add anything new that came in today.
If the list is long, do the orange rows and stop.
What it can't do
It won't remind you. Due only updates when the file is opened, so if you don't open it, nothing happens. It won't collect inquiries. Texts, calls and Facebook messages still get typed in by hand. The sample dates age, so the sample rows look worse every day. Delete them before real use.
The file is made for Microsoft Excel. If you open it in another spreadsheet app, check the Due column against the six flags before you rely on it.
Get the file
The free Excel file is on the tracker page, with the download button and screenshots. It has no subscription and needs no email.
The full guide, The One-Person Back Office, covers this job and 17 more.