Can enquiries be sorted so I only quote serious customers?
Yes. Every enquiry gets an automatic reply straight away asking for what you need to price the job, and the ones that answer come to you first, with the details together. The rest stay in a list you can check. For work priced by size, that reply can include a rough guide figure and a step to take it further. You still decide who gets a quote.
Isn't replying quickly enough?
A quick reply keeps a customer warm. It doesn't stop you spending evenings writing quotes for people who were only shopping around.
One business owner I spoke to knew exactly what he wanted: automatic early-stage quoting, where the customer gives the size of the room, gets an estimate, then has a step to take it further. His reason wasn't saving time. It was that it "cuts out the noise to real people who actually want business."
That's the real value. The questions in the first reply do the sorting. Someone who sends room sizes and photos within the hour is a different enquiry from someone who never answers.
Who decides what counts as serious?
You set the rules, not the software. Typical ones for a small trade firm:
- They've said what the job is and roughly how big.
- They're in the area you cover.
- They've said when they'd like it done.
- They've sent photos, if the job needs them.
An enquiry outside your area, or for work you don't do, can get a polite reply saying so, which is better for them than silence. If you'd rather check those first, they can be set to wait in the list for you instead.
How does it work, step by step?
- An enquiry arrives by your website form, your email, or a site that sends you leads.
- It's answered straight away from your own email address, with the questions you need answered for that kind of job.
- The reply is read and sorted: complete, missing something, outside your area, or not a job you do.
- Complete enquiries reach you in one list, or on your phone, with everything you need to quote in one place.
- Anyone who doesn't reply gets one reminder. After that they stay in the list but stop taking your attention.
- For work priced by size, the first reply can include a rough figure worked out from your own rates, clearly marked as a guide. The label matters: Citizens Advice describes a quote as a promise to do work at an agreed price, and an estimate as the trader's best guess. The automatic reply is worded as an estimate, and your real quote follows once you've seen the job.
What won't it do?
It sorts by what's been sent, not by who sent it. A short or clumsy reply isn't always a time-waster, which is why nothing is thrown away at the sorting stage and you can always look at what didn't make it through. It won't price work it can't measure: most building jobs need a visit, so there the reply gathers the details and offers times instead of a figure. And it won't write your quotes for you.
It's built to work with the email, form and calendar you already have rather than replacing them, but that depends on whether they can be connected, and I check before promising anything.
Keeping the list of enquiries isn't the same as keeping it forever. The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), the UK's data protection regulator, says you must not keep personal data, such as names, phone numbers and addresses, for longer than you need it. So decide how long old enquiries are kept before they're deleted. That decision is yours, as the business holding the details.
Who can set this up for me?
I'm Will Darbey, and Practical Automation is my one-person AI and IT consultancy for small businesses in south west London, and anywhere in the UK remotely. Handling quote requests and following up enquiries before your time is spent on them is the work I'm most confident building. If you'd like someone to look at how enquiries reach you now and where they get stuck, start with a free 30 minute call. Really no pressure.