Put every enquiry in one place

Enquiries arrive by web form, email, phone, social media and word of mouth. If each lives somewhere different, some will be missed. Route as many as you can into one list, and log the rest by hand as soon as they come in.

Give every enquiry an owner

“Someone will get to it” means nobody does. Decide who picks up new enquiries: one person, a roster or by type of work. If the owner is away, reassign rather than wait.

Set a target you can keep

Pick a realistic first-reply target, such as within four business hours, and make it visible. A target that the whole team can see, with overdue enquiries highlighted, does more than any reminder.

NovaSoft One’s lead inbox keeps every enquiry and its owner in one list, and on Professional plans lead response targets track the time to first reply and flag overdue leads.

Prepare your common replies

Most businesses answer the same five or six questions over and over: pricing, availability, service area, how the process works. Write good answers once, save them as templates and personalise the first line each time.

Ask better questions on your web form

A form that asks for the suburb, the type of job and the preferred contact time lets you reply with something useful the first time. See website enquiry forms that bring in better leads.

A roster that covers busy days

Small teams often struggle on days when everyone is on site or with clients. A simple roster helps:

  • Name one person each day who checks new enquiries at set times, such as 9am, 12pm and 3pm.
  • Give them permission to send a holding reply and book a call-back time.
  • Have a backup when they are on leave or sick.

Even a two-person business can use this: one of you covers mornings, the other afternoons.

What a good first reply includes

  1. Thank them and use their name.
  2. Show you have read their enquiry by referring to the details.
  3. Answer what you can now, or say when you will.
  4. Suggest a clear next step, such as a call, a visit or a quote.
  5. Make it easy to reply: a phone number and your name.

Keep it short. A useful three-sentence reply sent in an hour beats a perfect one sent tomorrow.

A worked example

A Melbourne landscaping business gets most enquiries through its website on weekday evenings. Previously, replies went out whenever the owner found time, often two days later. They set up three changes: website enquiries go straight into the CRM with the owner assigned, an automatic confirmation tells customers to expect a call the next morning, and the office manager calls back every enquiry by 10am. Within a month every enquiry got a reply the next morning, and the owner stopped answering emails at midnight.

Quick checklist

  • Route every enquiry channel into one list.
  • Name an owner for new enquiries each day, with a backup.
  • Set a first-reply target and make overdue enquiries visible.
  • Write templates for your five most common questions.
  • Send an automatic confirmation that says when you will reply.
  • Check enquiries at fixed times, such as 9am, 12pm and 3pm.
  • Review average response time every month and fix the cause of any slip.

Measure it monthly

Look at your average first-response time and the share of enquiries answered within target. If it slips, look for the cause: a busy season, an unclear roster or enquiries arriving in a channel nobody checks.

Common questions

How fast should a business respond to an enquiry?

The same business day at the latest, and within an hour where possible.

Is an automatic reply enough?

It confirms receipt, but a personal reply is what moves the enquiry forward.

What if we get enquiries after hours?

Send an automatic confirmation and reply first thing the next business day.

This guide is general information for Australian businesses, not legal, tax or financial advice. Check anything specific to your situation with a qualified adviser or the relevant government agency.