ServiceM8 vs Tradify vs simPRO: what your job data can (and can't) tell you

If you're trying to work out which of your old quotes are still worth a follow-up call, the honest first step isn't analysis — it's checking whether your export actually says what you think it says. Every job-management platform models "still open" differently, and the wrong assumption here means chasing jobs that were already lost, or ignoring ones that weren't.

ServiceM8

ServiceM8 uses four job statuses: Quote, Work Order, Completed, Unsuccessful. There's no separate "declined" reason code — a quote that gets accepted moves to Work Order, one that gets rejected (or the job is cancelled) moves to Unsuccessful. A quote still worth chasing is one still sitting at status Quote, with a quote_sent date already in the past and no work_order_date or unsuccessful_date to show it ever moved. That combination — sent, and nothing since — is the signal, not the raw quote count.

Amount fields aren't always on the job record itself in every export style; some exports carry totals on a linked invoice/materials object instead of the job row. Worth checking on one real export from your own account before assuming a column means what it looks like it means.

Tradify and simPRO

Both platforms give you an explicit quote status field (accepted / declined / sent, or similar), which is more direct than ServiceM8's job-status model — but the same rule applies: a quote that's "sent" with no accepted or declined outcome, and no activity since the send date, is your candidate list. Anything with an explicit decline should come out before you do anything else, whichever platform you're on.

The mistake that skews the numbers

The most common error isn't a wrong platform assumption, it's date confusion — using "job created" instead of "quote sent" as the reference point, or mixing GST-inclusive and exclusive totals when adding up value. Both of those will make a dead-quote audit look bigger or smaller than it actually is. If a number surprises you, check the date field and the tax treatment before the conclusion.

This is exactly the kind of thing that's faster to hand off than to untangle yourself, especially across a full year of exports.