When someone sends an inquiry, they are rarely sending only one. They have found three or four businesses that look about right, filled in each form, and are now waiting to see who comes back. The first reply that is friendly, clear and useful has a real head start. By the time a slow reply arrives, the customer may already be talking to someone else, or have booked.
There is a simpler reason too. A person who has just sent an inquiry is thinking about their event right now. An hour later they are cooking dinner. The next morning they are at work. Reaching them while the question is still on their mind is far easier than winning their attention back.
What a good first reply contains
A fast reply only helps if it moves things forward. Aim to include:
- their name and their date, so they know a person read it
- whether the date looks free, or that you are checking it now
- a price or a price range, or the next step to get one
- one clear question, if you need something before you can quote
- how to book, and how to reach you quickly
Keep it short. A first reply opens a conversation. Save the full package list for the proposal.
A template for the first reply
Write two or three versions in advance and keep them to hand. Change the first line every time so it never reads like a form letter. Here is one to start from.
Hi [first name],
Thanks for getting in touch about [event type] on [date]. That date is currently free, and I'd be glad to help.
Bookings like yours usually come to between [price] and [price], depending on [hours, guest numbers or extras]. Could you tell me [one question, such as the venue or the start time]? I'll send a full quote as soon as I hear back.
If you'd rather talk it through, call me on [number] or just reply to this email.
[Your name], [business name]
When a date is already taken, reply just as quickly. Say so kindly, suggest another date or another service if you have one, and offer to pass them to someone you trust. People remember being helped, and they talk about it.
Out of hours
Many inquiries arrive in the evening and at weekends, which is often exactly when you are working at someone else's event. You cannot write a personal reply from behind a booth or a DJ desk, but you can make sure nobody waits in silence.
- Set up an automatic reply that goes out the moment an inquiry arrives, in your name and from your own address.
- Make it useful: thank them, repeat their date, say when you will reply properly, and link to your packages or booking page.
- Keep the promise. If it says "by 10am tomorrow", be there by 10am.
An automatic reply works best when it does not pretend to be you typing live. Most people are perfectly happy with an honest "I'm working at an event tonight and will come back to you properly in the morning."
Following up quiet leads
Plenty of leads go quiet without meaning no. They got busy, they are waiting on the venue, or your email landed in a folder they never check. A short follow-up is a service rather than a nuisance, as long as it is brief and gives them something new.
A simple rhythm suits most businesses:
- On day one, send a quick check that your reply arrived, with one new detail, such as a photo from a similar event or a package that fits them.
- On day three, ask whether they have any questions, and mention it if the date is in demand.
- On day seven, send a polite last note saying you will release the date, and that they are welcome to come back.
After that, stop. Mark the lead as lost, with a reason if you know it. Over a season those reasons show you whether you are losing on price, on speed or on something else entirely.
Make speed a habit
Treat five minutes as a target to aim for. What matters most is that no inquiry sits unseen. Get every source into one place, so you are not checking five inboxes. Turn on notifications for that one place only. If there is more than one of you, decide who answers on which days. And now and then, look back at last month's inquiries and how long each one waited for a reply.
Once they reply and say yes, the next job is making it easy to pay. See taking deposits without losing customers.
Doing this in Occanovo
Occanovo puts website forms, Facebook and Instagram lead ads, Google Ads lead forms and directory emails into one list, and can send an instant reply in your name to every new inquiry. A lead still waiting for an answer gives you a task on the first, third and seventh day, and an automation can email anyone who has not answered a proposal. See leads and inquiries and automations.