The first 24 hours after an enquiry: a checklist
Reply within five minutes with something, even if it is only to say you have got it. Within the hour, ask the two or three questions you need to price the job. Within the day, send the price or book the visit. Anything still sitting there tomorrow morning goes on a list with a date next to it, not in your head.
Minute one to five: acknowledge
The first message is not the sales message. Its only job is to stop them contacting the next business on the list. It takes one line and it can go out while you are still up a ladder or with a client.
"Hi {name}, thanks for getting in touch. I am on a job until {time} and will come back to you properly then. If it is urgent, call me on {number}."
Three things make this work: their name, a time, and a way to reach you sooner. Vague replies such as "we will be in touch shortly" do the opposite, because "shortly" means nothing and they keep shopping.
Hour one: ask the qualifying questions
Most enquiries do not contain enough to quote from. Rather than a long form, ask two or three questions in a single message. One message with three questions gets answered. Three messages with one question each get abandoned.
- What exactly do they want doing, in their words
- Where is it, so you know whether it is worth travelling to
- When do they want it, which tells you how serious they are
- Have they had it done or quoted before, which tells you what you are up against
The full set of questions, and the wording for asking them without sounding like an interrogation, is on questions to ask a new enquiry.
Hours two to eight: price it or book the visit
The aim is one of two outcomes before the end of the working day: a price in their hands, or a date in the diary to come and look. Anything else is a conversation that will need restarting tomorrow, and restarting is where enquiries die.
"Thanks {name}, that is helpful. I would rather come and look than guess at a number. I can be there {day} morning or {day} afternoon, which suits better? It takes about {time} and there is no charge for it."
The end of the day: put it somewhere with a date
Before you finish for the day
- Every enquiry from today has had at least one reply from a human
- Every one that is waiting on you has a next action and a date, written down
- Every one that is waiting on them has a reminder set for two working days' time
- Nothing is sitting only in your phone's notifications or your head
This is the step that gets skipped, and it is the one that decides how much of today's work you actually win.
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The checklist is easy on a quiet Tuesday. The enquiries you lose come in on the day everything goes wrong, which is exactly the day nobody follows a checklist. That is why the first message and the two-day reminder are worth automating even if you do everything else by hand. See how to reply faster to leads for the mechanics.
GoHighLevel sends the holding reply the second an enquiry arrives from any source, puts the enquiry on one list with a stage, and nudges you on day two if nothing has moved. You still do the selling. It just stops the ones you meant to get back to from quietly ageing out, which is what slow lead follow-up costs.
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Common questions
Is five minutes really necessary?
For the first acknowledgement, yes, because most people enquire with more than one business in the same sitting and the first useful reply frames the comparison. The full answer does not have to be that fast. The acknowledgement does.
What if the enquiry comes in at 10pm?
Send an automatic reply that says when you will respond, then respond then. Silence overnight is what pushes people to keep looking. An honest "we open at 8am and you are first on the list" holds most of them.
Should I quote by text or by phone?
Send the number in writing whatever else you do, because people compare quotes side by side and a spoken price gets misremembered. A call before the written quote is useful for understanding the job. A call instead of one is not.
How many times should I chase after the first day?
Two working days after the quote, then once more the following week, then leave it and put them on a list to revisit in a couple of months. Beyond that you are annoying people who would have said yes if they were going to.