They enquired at 2pm. You replied at 8. They'd booked someone else by 3.

It’s 2.15pm. Someone fills in your website form. You’re on a roof, in a client meeting or halfway through a quote. You see it at 8pm on the couch, write a careful reply, and hear nothing back.

They didn’t ignore you. They’d booked someone else by 3, because that business replied first.

This guide covers two things: replying fast, and replying in a way that tells you whether the job is worth chasing. The second one is where most of the time goes.

Speed matters, and it fades fast

The best-known research on this was published in Harvard Business Review in 2011. The researchers sent test enquiries to 2,241 US companies and timed the replies. Only 37% replied within an hour, and 23% never replied at all.

A second study in the same article looked at 1.25 million leads. Firms that tried to contact a lead within an hour were nearly seven times as likely to qualify it as firms that waited even one more hour. Against firms that waited a day or more, they were more than 60 times as likely.

It’s older US data, but the lesson holds: an enquiry is warmest the moment it lands.

A fast reply that asks the right question beats a perfect reply that arrives tomorrow.

What a good first reply does

A fast reply doesn’t need to be a full answer. It needs to do four things, in four or five sentences:

1. Confirm you got it, from a real person’s name.
2. Answer one thing they’ll want to know. Do you do this work, do you cover their area, roughly when could you start?
3. Ask the one question that tells you whether it’s a good job for you. This is lead qualification, and it’s what most replies skip.
4. Offer a next step. A time to talk, a booking link, or the detail you need to quote.

The third step is the one that saves you hours. Without it, you find out on a site visit or a 45-minute call that the budget is half what the job costs, or that they’re collecting six quotes for a job that starts in a year.

What a good qualifying reply looks like, by industry

The right question depends on what makes a job worth doing in your business. These are examples to adapt, not scripts.

Trades and home services

What you need to know: Is it in your area? Is it urgent or planned? What exactly is the job? A photo usually answers all three.

“Hi Jess, thanks for getting in touch about the switchboard. Yes, we do upgrades and we cover your area. Is anything not working right now, or is this planned work? If you can send a photo of the current board, we’ll give you a rough price and a time. Sam”

Pass it straight to the owner when: something isn’t working, there’s a safety concern, or it’s a commercial job.

Builders and subcontractors

What you need to know: What stage the project is at (an idea, drawings, permits approved), roughly when they want to start, and whether there’s a budget in mind. Plenty of builders avoid asking about budget. Asked politely, it’s a favour to both of you.

“Hi Mark, thanks for sending through the plans for the rear extension. Are the drawings approved yet, or still being finalised? And do you have a rough budget in mind? It helps us tell you honestly whether we’re the right fit before you spend time on a site visit. If it suits, we can look at the site on Wednesday at 10am. Priya”

A gentle warning sign: no drawings, no timeframe and “just after a ballpark”. Reply kindly, share a rough cost range if you publish one, and don’t book a site visit yet.

Wholesale, suppliers and manufacturers

What you need to know: Are they an existing account? What products, in what quantities, delivered where and by when? For new customers, whether they’re a trade buyer or a one-off.

“Hi Tom, thanks for the request for 40 of the 50mm stainless ball valves. We have them in stock and can deliver to your Parramatta site by Thursday. Is this for your existing trade account? If so, I’ll apply your pricing and send the quote within the hour. Lena, Sales”

Route it when: the order is over a set value, the customer has a named account manager, or it’s a product that needs a technical check.

Professional services

What you need to know: The problem in their words, the size of the business, when they need help, and whether the person writing makes the decision.

“Hi Anna, thanks for reaching out about a review of your sales process. We’ve done similar work for firms of around 25 people. Is there a date driving this, like a new financial year or a new sales hire? I’d suggest a 20-minute call to see if we’re a fit. Tuesday 10am or Wednesday 3pm? David”

Good to know early: whether they’ve worked with a consultant before, and what didn’t work.

Accounting and bookkeeping

What you need to know: The type of entity (sole trader, company, trust), what they need (tax returns, BAS, bookkeeping, set-up), and whether there’s a deadline or overdue work.

“Hi Chris, thanks for getting in touch. Happy to help with your company tax return and quarterly BAS. Are your books up to date in Xero, or is there some catching up to do first? Either is fine, it just changes how we start. Here’s a link to book a 15-minute intro call. Mel”

Keep the first reply general. Leave any advice about their situation until you’ve onboarded them properly.

Tours and experiences

What you need to know: Dates, group size, and anything that changes the trip, like mobility, dietary needs, children or the language they’d like the tour in.

“Hi Kenji, thanks for asking about the coastal walk on 14 March for six people. We have space on that date. Is anyone in the group under 12, or does anyone need an easier route? Once I know, I’ll hold the spots for 48 hours while you confirm. Alice”

Speed matters more here: overseas visitors often enquire with several operators at once, in a different time zone.

Say no quickly, too

Qualifying isn’t only about finding good jobs. It’s also about letting go of poor fits fast and politely. Outside your area, too small, not your kind of work? Say so in the first reply and suggest who might help. You save them a wait, and you save yourself a site visit.

How to take it to the next level

Once your first replies are fast and ask the right question, the next gains come from sorting and following up, not from replying faster.

1. Sort every enquiry. Use your own rules: hot (urgent, good fit, ready to go), warm (good fit, no rush) and not a fit. Hot ones should reach the right person’s phone immediately. Our Lead Sorter does this.
2. Send it to the right person. The estimator gets building enquiries, the account manager gets existing customers, the owner gets anything over a set value.
3. Cover nights and weekends. An instant reply confirms you got it and sets expectations. The full reply is drafted overnight and waits for your approval in the morning.
4. Follow up when they go quiet. A friendly nudge on day 2 and day 5, then stop. Most quotes don’t need a hard sell. They just need someone to check in.
5. Record what happened. For each enquiry, note where it came from, whether you won it, and if not, why. After a few months, you’ll know which questions predict a good job and which marketing brings you the right people. Our Lead Source Tracker does this.
6. Let AI draft, and you approve. With your service area, your common questions and your tone written down, AI can draft a tailored reply in about a minute and send it to your phone to approve. That’s what our Instant Enquiry Reply does. If you only get a few enquiries a week, saved replies and a booking link are probably enough, and we’ll tell you so.

What stays with a person

• Anything a customer reads. AI drafts can be confidently wrong about prices, dates or what you do. We build so that a person approves anything customers see.
• Prices and promises. Don’t let an automatic reply quote a price or commit to a date nobody has checked.
• Marketing consent. Someone asking a question hasn’t agreed to your newsletter. The ACMA lists adding people to marketing lists after a one-off enquiry as a common mistake.
• Personal information. Enquiries include names, addresses and phone numbers. The OAIC recommends, as best practice, not entering personal information into publicly available generative AI tools. Use tools set up for your business.

This is a plain-English overview, not legal advice. Check the ACMA and OAIC guidance, or ask your adviser.

What you can do this week

• Time yourself. How long did your last ten enquiries wait for a first reply?
• Pick your one question. The one that tells you fastest whether a job is worth doing. Add it to every first reply.
• Write two saved replies for your most common enquiries, each under five sentences, with a booking link.
• Decide what counts as hot, and who gets those enquiries straight away.
• Write your polite no, so turning work down takes 30 seconds, not a guilty evening.

Sources

• The Short Life of Online Sales Leads, Harvard Business Review, March 2011
• Are you letting online leads go cold?, SmartCompany, July 2011 (summarises the study’s figures)
• Avoid sending spam, ACMA
• Telemarketing and e-marketing: common issues and mistakes, ACMA
• Guidance on privacy and the use of commercially available AI products, OAIC