With quotes

I would love to hear from some other designers out there or the managers who help with their work to find out about this. What do you do when you spend time dealing with someone for a design project quote and then never hear back from them, or do, but its months down the line.

Its like why am I wasting my time if people are getting quotes now for things 6mo from now.

1. Train yourself to ask the client about the project timetable. If they haven't one . . . well that tells you something about their organizational practices and attitude toward the project, doesn't it?
2. Add a "sell by" date to your quote (e.g., "This bid is valid until [a date six weeks from now, or six months, or whatever length of time makes you comfortable]).
*This sometimes spurs clients to act before the deadline has passed.
* It will protect you if a client should bring you a year-old proposal and want you to work at the same price no matter what.
* You can consider the bid rejected if you don't hear by that date.

The timetables are always there, but the client does not always come back and that's what I need to work on, I just need to find out why. Sell by date sounds like a good idea but how you do phrase that to a possible client?