Notes for owners · Sales management
Five questions that tell you whether an enquiry is worth a visit
Five plain questions about the photo, the site, the person who will be there, the distance and the other quotes decide whether an enquiry gets a visit or a quote by message.
The GullySales team · Updated 17 Oct 2026 · 5 min read
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Imagine a caller asks a small fabrication workshop in Amravati (an invented firm) to come and see a staircase railing. The owner has two minutes to decide whether to spend a morning on the road. Five questions settle it. Can you see the job in a photo? Is the place ready? Who will be standing there? Is it inside the distance you serve? Who has quoted already? If three or more come back thin, send a quote by message and keep the morning.
Why bother when every enquiry feels like money?
A visit costs more than petrol. It is the drive, the tea, the measuring, the notes and the other call you did not take. Owners of small firms seldom count that, so every enquiry gets the same treatment. The person collecting rates for a landlord gets the same hour as the person who wants to start next month.
These questions are not a test the buyer must pass. They decide what you do next: visit, quote from a photo, call back later, or decline with thanks. Declining early is not lost business. It is time moved to a better enquiry. If you want a framework on budget and authority instead, BANT in plain words covers it; this post is only about whether a visit is worth making.
The five questions
| Ask | In the owner's words | A useful answer | A thin answer |
|---|---|---|---|
| The job | "Can you send two photos and the width of the stairs?" | Photos arrive, with one measurement | "Come and see, I am busy" |
| The place | "Is the staircase finished, with the final floor?" | Done, or a date it will be | "Still under construction, not sure when" |
| The person | "Who will be there when I come?" | The owner or a named person who decides | "My contractor will show you" |
| The distance | "Which locality is it? Is it near the highway?" | Inside your usual round | Two hours out for a small job |
| The others | "Have you had another quote? What did it cover?" | A rough figure and the scope | "Just checking rates" |
The order matters. Start with the photo because it is the easiest to give and sets the tone. Ask about the other quotes last, when the buyer is already talking.
How do I read the answers?
Count the useful ones. Four or five: visit, and fix a time when the decider can be there. Two or three: quote from the photo, say plainly what the quote assumes, and offer to visit if the buyer wants a firm price. One or none: a polite call-back date and nothing more.
One thin answer is not a verdict. A buyer who cannot send a photo may be calling from a bus. The pattern across the five is what counts.
Which answer should stop you straight away?
Some answers close the matter without a count.
- A job you do not do. Say so, and name someone who does if you can. The goodwill comes back.
- A place that is not ready. Measuring a staircase that will be re-tiled later gives you the wrong size. Ask them to call when the floor is done.
- A distance that eats the margin. Do not negotiate against yourself on the call. State your minimum job in that area and leave it there.
- A fit problem you have seen before. If your last three jobs from this kind of buyer ended in disputes, price that in or decline.
For example: a staircase railing visit in Amravati
This is the same invented firm. A caller says a house is being built and a railing is needed. The fabricator's old habit was to drive out the same day. Suppose on one such trip the fabricator found the staircase unfinished, the owner abroad, and a contractor who wanted only a number for an estimate. The trip burned about ₹600 in fuel and a morning. The visit produced nothing.
The new call runs the five questions. Photos: none yet, the caller says they will be sent tomorrow. Place: the stairs are cast but not tiled, so the final height is unknown. Person: the owner is away and the contractor decides. Distance: fine. Others: "Two people have given a rate per foot." That is two useful answers out of five, distance and the other quotes, and three thin ones.
So the fabricator does not drive out. Two of five is the "quote from the photo" band above, so the fabricator sends a message with a rate range for the style and what it assumes, the stair width and the final floor. The fabricator asks them to call once the tiling is done and the owner can be present. Say the contractor rings back after three weeks, with the owner on the line. The visit then takes twenty minutes. The order may follow or may not, and a second firm may well have quoted by then, but the morning was not spent on a closed staircase.
The mistake was treating the visit as the first step. The repair was to make the photo and the finished floor the price of the morning.
What do I do with the ones I decline?
Say no in one sentence. Give a reason about your range or your diary, not about the buyer, and offer a way back: a message they can send when the floor is done. If your trade charges for visits, say so on the first call and say whether the charge is adjusted against the job. Write the five answers beside each name. After a month or two you will see which answers tend to lead to orders in your trade, and that is worth more than any template.
When not to use the five questions
Skip them for walk-ins already at your counter, for repeat customers, and for jobs so small the questions would cost more than the visit. Do not read them out as a list either. Two or three, woven into the conversation, will do.
Putting the card by the phone
Write the five on a card by the phone, using your own trade's words, and give the same card to anyone else who answers enquiries. Use it on the next three calls and note the score beside each name. The sales process section shows where this sits between the first reply and the proposal. If you want your trade's answers turned into a working checklist, see lead qualification and tell us what you need.
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