The decline rate is the share of quotes over the last 90 days that a customer actively declined.
Why it is separate from close rate
Close rate counts what you won. The decline rate counts what you were explicitly told no about — and the gap between them is everything that simply expired.
That distinction is the whole point of tracking it, because the two failures have opposite fixes.
A decline is a decision. The customer read the quote, considered it, and chose otherwise. That is a pricing, scope or trust conversation.
An expiry is silence. Nobody decided anything. The quote drifted out of relevance while nobody followed up.
What each one tells you to do
High declines, few expiries — your follow-up is working and your offer is not landing. Look at price against the market you are quoting into, at what is included, and at how the quote is presented. More follow-up will not help; you are already reaching people.
Few declines, many expiries — the opposite. People are interested enough not to say no and you are losing them to time. This is the cheaper problem to fix and the more common one.
High declines and high expiries — usually a lead-quality problem. You are quoting people who were never going to buy.
The trap of a very low decline rate
Almost nobody saying no can mean the pricing is too low rather than the offer being irresistible. Read it against pricing adequacy before treating it as good news.
A healthy service business loses a reasonable share of quotes on price. Winning everything means leaving money on every job you won.
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