Responding to a new inquiry — the reply that keeps you in the running
Your reply often decides the job before a quote exists. Speed matters, and so do the questions you ask before you guess a number. Most solo operators lose work here without knowing it. The loss looks like silence.
Reply the same day, ideally within the hour, before you have a price. Acknowledge the inquiry and ask what you need to quote it. Then decide if the job is worth a visit. A fast, specific first reply wins more jobs than a slower one with a number. A short set of qualifying questions shows whether the job is worth quoting.
Most guides on this site start when a job is already worth quoting. They cover writing the quote, pricing it, and getting paid once it is done. This one covers what happens just before. A stranger calls, texts, or emails. For a few minutes, your handling of that message decides whether you get the job.
This is also the first step in your first jobs, if you are new to this.
The job is often won before the quote exists
A quote can be well priced and well written and still arrive too late. Most people who ask a trade for help ask more than one business on the same day. Your first reply shapes everything after it. It is not the cheapest or the most detailed. It is the one still in the conversation when the others go quiet. A slower business sends a proper number later. By then, the job is often booked with whoever answered first.
Nobody tracks this part of the job, so it slips. A missed follow-up on an existing invoice shows up as a red flag somewhere. A new inquiry that waited two days for a reply just looks like a job that never came in. An overdue invoice announces itself. An inquiry stays silent. The clock runs either way.
Reply first, quote second — never quote or silence
A new inquiry looks like a choice between two outcomes. Either you have enough to send a number, or you say nothing until you do. That view causes the delay. The real choice is smaller. Reply now with no price, and work out the number afterward. A reply that says “got this, here is what happens next” takes two minutes. It does most of the work a full quote does to keep the job alive.
This message differs from the one you send once the job is priced. That is fine. It has three jobs to do. Confirm that the inquiry arrived. Say what you need before you can give a number. Give a rough time for your next reply. The price and the visit can wait a step.
You may want to think it through fully before you reply. That feels responsible. On the other end, it reads as indifference. To a client, “I am working out a fair number” and “I have not looked yet” look the same. Both look like an empty inbox. Your reply tells them which one is true.
The first reply, in three lines
Here is the reply, personalized. Send it the same hour if you can. A same-day reply with no number beats a same-week reply with one.
Subject: Got your message, [Client name] — here’s what happens next
Hi [Client name], Thanks for reaching out to [Your business] — got your message and wanted to get back to you quickly. To put a proper number on this I’ll need a couple of things: [photos of the area, the address, roughly when you’re hoping to get it done]. Send those over and I’ll come back with next steps, usually within [a day or two]. Talk soon, [Your name]
The pack has four more scripts: a one-line text version, the qualifying questions, the rough-price answer, and the visit confirmation. Personalize them the same way at the full new-inquiry pack.
The five things you need before you can price it
A fast reply buys you time. Questions then turn a vague ask into something you can quote. Five things cover almost every job:
- What exactly needs doing, and where. A proper scope of work needs the same detail later. Gather it now. A vague answer today means guessing later.
- Access. Stairs, parking, a locked gate, a tenant who needs notice. Any of these changes how long the job takes before a tool comes out. See working in a client’s home for what to ask once the job is booked.
- Timing. The job may be urgent, flexible, or tied to something else, such as a move-in date or an inspection. This tells you how long it can wait behind other jobs.
- Who actually decides. Quoting the person on the phone wastes effort if someone else must sign off first.
- A rough budget, if they will give one. Some people will not share one. A range saves you from quoting a version of the job nobody was going to buy.
Ask all five in one message. One email with four or five questions reads as someone who quotes properly. The same questions across three replies read as someone stalling. One message also saves a busy client three rounds of back-and-forth. The printable new inquiry sheet lists these five in the order you would ask them over the phone. It has room to write the answers as you go.
Some jobs need fewer than five answers. A small, familiar job might need only the first two. Think of a repair you have done a hundred times, on a property type you know. A bigger or unfamiliar job is different. If you skip to a number there, you may revise the quote once you see the job. Or the scope may grow past what either side thought they agreed.
“Can you just give me a rough price?”
Almost every inquiry asks this. Dodging it costs you more than answering it. The honest answer is a band. Give a range wide enough to be true without a site visit. Name the one thing that would move it up or down. Offer to firm it up in person. “Jobs like this usually run [a range], depending on [access, condition, size]. I would need to see it to give you an exact number.” That is a real answer. It also protects you from a figure you gave before you saw the job.
Sometimes the ask is only for someone to come and look, with no clear job yet. A same-day visit and nothing else is agreed. Treat that as its own line item. A call-out fee covers the time of the visit. A trip that turns out to be nothing is then still paid.
Before you agree to the visit, check that the trip is worth it. The free minimum job price calculator adds up the drive, the setup, and the paperwork against your own rate. Then the band you give matches what the job costs you to take on.
The jobs worth turning down
Some inquiries are not worth quoting. Pretending otherwise wastes time on both sides. The job may be outside your service area. It may be smaller than the drive is worth. It may not be your trade. Each is a good reason to decline. Say so plainly and quickly. A prompt, specific no costs a client almost nothing. It often earns you the next referral. A business that says a clear no reads as more trustworthy than one that stopped replying.
Subject: Not able to take this one on — but thank you
Hi [Client name], Thanks for thinking of [Your business] for this. [This one’s outside my usual area / smaller than what I typically take on / not quite my trade], so I don’t think I’m the right fit this time. [If useful: a specific person or type of business to try instead]. Hope it gets sorted quickly. All the best, [Your name]
When the client sends photos
Many clients send photos with the first message. Ask for a few more, then reply with a range or a visit offer. The guide on quoting a job you have not seen has the list.
Book the visit, then get the quote out
Once the questions have answers and the job is worth a proper number, the inquiry stage is done. Confirm a time for the visit. Sort out what you need on site in advance. Then price the job. Two guides cover what comes next. Read how to write a quote that wins the work. Then read how to price a job so the number holds up. They cover line items, a deposit, and a number that holds once the work starts. The free quote & estimate generator builds that quote directly. The free terms & conditions builder covers the deposit and cancellation wording to agree before anyone starts work.
The inquiry is not the quote. It is the few minutes that decide whether you write a quote at all.
Make it a habit, not a scramble
The whole stage uses the same few moves, each time a message comes in, whoever it is from:
- Same hour: send the acknowledgement, even with no number yet
- Same message: ask the questions that decide if it is quotable
- If asked directly: give a band, name what moves it, offer the visit
- Once booked: confirm the visit with what you need on site
- If it is not a fit: decline in one line and mean it
- Once you have enough: move it into a proper quote
Copy the two scripts above, or all six at once. Fill in your details at the top of the new-inquiry templates. They personalize the same way as the rest of the site’s scripts.
Every new inquiry, tracked from the first message
You still write and send the reply yourself. BizBinder keeps the inquiry from getting lost. Requests arrive by email or a form, or you type one in after a phone call. All of them land on the same requests list. Your two-minute reply then no longer depends on remembering which text thread it was in. Once you are ready to quote, that same request becomes the job.
You are on the list.
A person reads every request. You will hear from us within one business day.
- 01 A person reads your note — not a queue.
- 02 You get an invite as spots open.
- 03 Your admin starts filing itself.
The free library is open while you wait. Nothing in it needs an account.
- tool Minimum job price & travel-time calculator Count the drive, the setup, and the paperwork. The tool shows what a small job must bill to hit your rate. It also shows if your planned quote is above or below that.
- tool Lead source check Enter what each source of enquiries won, cost, and took. The tool shows the win rate, the revenue, and the cost per won job for each source. It ranks them from cheapest to most expensive.
- printable New inquiry sheet — the printable intake for when the phone rings One page for the moment a job starts. It holds who called, the five questions that decide if the job is quotable, and a date to follow up.