In short: every open inquiry has one stage and one owner. Reply the same day, follow up twice, then close it with a reason. Spend 15 minutes a week checking what slipped.
Use a few clear stages
| New | The inquiry arrived and nobody has replied yet. This list should be empty by the end of each day. |
|---|---|
| Contacted | You replied and are waiting for the customer. |
| In conversation | You are going back and forth about details, dates or options. |
| Quote sent | They have a price or proposal and are deciding. |
| Won or lost | Closed. For lost inquiries, write down why: price, timing, no reply, or went elsewhere. |
Keep it to five or six stages. If your team argues about which stage something is in, you have too many.
Give every inquiry an owner
- Whoever is on duty takes new inquiries and puts their name on them.
- The owner replies, follows up and closes the inquiry. Nobody else replies unless asked.
- When someone is away, their open inquiries are handed to a named person, not to “everyone”.
- The business owner checks the inquiries with no owner every week.
A follow-up schedule that isn’t pushy
| Same day | Your first reply: answer their question, then ask one question that moves things forward. |
|---|---|
| 2 days after your last message | A short check-in that makes replying easy. |
| 5 days after your last message | A last note that leaves the door open. |
| After that | Mark it lost with a reason. If the timing was the problem, check in again in a few months. |
Stop at once when the customer replies, books or asks you to stop. Each new message from you starts the count again.
Messages you can copy
First reply
Hi Carla, thanks for asking about a kitchen renovation in Antipolo. For a kitchen about 12 square meters, our projects usually come to [price range], depending on materials. Could we visit to measure and give you a firm quote? We’re free [two dates]. – Joey, Santos Renovations
Check-in, 2 days later
Hi Carla, just checking you saw my message about the site visit. If neither date works, tell me what does and I’ll fit it in. – Joey
Last note, 5 days later
Hi Carla, I don’t want to crowd your inbox, so this is my last note for now. If you go ahead with the kitchen later, reply here and we’ll pick up where we left off. – Joey
Write the way you talk to customers. If they write in Filipino or Taglish, answer the same way.
A 15-minute weekly review
- Inquiries still in New, or with no owner.
- Customers waiting on a reply from you.
- Quotes sent more than a week ago with no answer.
- Bookings for next week that nobody has confirmed.
- This week’s lost reasons. If one keeps coming up, fix that.
What to measure
Track how long your first reply takes, how many inquiries get a reply the same day, how many become customers, and your most common lost reasons. Measure for a month before you change anything, so you can tell whether the change helped.
How Sprntr helps
In Sprntr’s CRM, each inquiry is a record with its stage and full history, and your team gets a reminder when one waits 30 minutes. With Sprntr Premium, you can assign each inquiry to an owner, and the follow-ups above can go out on their own, on the days you choose, stopping as soon as the customer replies. AI also drafts each first reply for your team to check. See what runs on its own.
Next steps
- Read how a website and CRM work together.
- See the setup for professional services, where follow-up matters most.
- Tell us about your business and we will set it up for you.