Enquiry response starter: what to reply in the first ten minutes

Take an invented case. A shopkeeper in Mysuru sends a message at lunch: "Need a board for my shop, how much?" The signage maker replies with a brochure and a price list. The shopkeeper never answers. The reply was not rude or slow; it just answered a question nobody had asked. A first reply has three jobs: show that a real person has seen the enquiry, show that you read it, and ask for the one or two facts you need before you can quote. It does not sell, attach a brochure or recite the price list.

What to leave out of the first reply

No company history, no list of services, no brochure. The buyer asked a question, and a reply that buries it under a profile tells them nobody read it. Leave out promises you cannot keep as well, such as a quote time you have not worked out. If you write "by evening", evening has to happen.

Starters you can send by hand

Three channels, three lengths. Copy them into your phone notes and edit the brackets each time. Editing is what makes the reply sound like a person, so do not turn these into template buttons.

A web form. You get a name, a number and a line of text. Reply on WhatsApp to the number, using the name and echoing a word they wrote.

Hello [name], this is Meena from [business]. Thanks for
asking about [what they wrote]. Two quick questions so I can
give a proper answer: [question 1]? [question 2]?

A phone call. The first half minute belongs to the buyer. Give your name and the business, ask what they need, and write it down before you answer.

"[Business], Meena speaking. Tell me what you are looking for."
...
"So you need [say it back in their words]. Two things I should
ask: [question 1], and [question 2]? I will message you the
details after this call so you have them in writing."

Then send that message within the hour. The call earned a hearing. The message turns it into a record and protects you if the details are disputed later.

A WhatsApp message. People type in fragments, so match the length. A long reply on WhatsApp gets a thumbs-up or nothing.

Hi, thanks for writing to [business]. I can help with [what
they asked]. To give you the right option, could you tell me
[question 1] and [question 2]?

If they send a photo or a voice note, say so: "I have seen your photo." Cannot play a voice note just now? Say "I will listen shortly and reply", and then do it.

How to choose the two questions

Decide the two questions for each product or service once, so anyone on the team can use them. The rule for choosing is simple: each question must be one whose answer changes the quote or the date. If the answer would not change either, drop it. Leave the budget out of a first reply; it can read as sizing the buyer up before helping.

Some pairs to start from. A fixed-price item: which size or model, and by when. A job that needs a visit: where is the site, and what do you want changed. A bulk or repeat order: how many, and how often. An enquiry for something you may not do: what is it for, and has anyone else been asked. In that last case, say so plainly in the first reply and, where you can, point to a better route.

The question that did not fit the trade

Back in the invented Mysuru case, the signage maker rewrote the reply to ask two things: the size of the board and the shop's location. That worked for hoardings. It failed for shopfronts, because the shopkeeper had no size to give. Several replied "not sure" and the thread died.

For that kind of job the first question changed. The maker now asks for a photograph of the front of the shop taken straight on, and for the width of the shopfront in paces or in tiles if no tape is handy. The second question became when the board is needed, since many shops want it before a festival opening. More buyers replied, and quotes sat closer to the final invoice because the quote came from a picture instead of a guess. Photos still came in crooked and in poor light, so for large boards the maker visits anyway.

The limit is plain. A buyer who wanted only a rate on a board of a standard size, and left when asked for a photo, was never going to talk. This reply loses a few of those, which is acceptable.

When ten minutes is the wrong target

Some enquiries cannot be answered well so quickly: a technical drawing, a tender, a custom job needing a costing sheet. For these the first reply is an acknowledgement with a human name and what you need from them. Do not aim for ten minutes when the honest answer needs a day. Aim for a message that says what is happening.

The longer argument on timing is in the note on how quickly a team should respond. The rest of our sales work sits under sales.

Write two questions for your three commonest jobs

Tonight, list your three most common enquiry types, write the two questions for each, and paste the scripts into your phone notes. The enquiry response starter service writes this wording around your own products, and tell us what you need is how that starts.