Every enquiry needs an owner, a next action and a date.

Why enquiries slip

In a busy service business, messages arrive by phone, WhatsApp, email and the website. Everyone sees some of them. Nobody owns all of them. The result is familiar: two people reply to one customer, while another waits three days.

The fix is not a bigger system. It's a rule your whole team can repeat: no enquiry exists without an owner, a next action and a due date.

The three fields

1. Owner — one named personNot "the office" or "sales". One person who is accountable for the next step, even if they hand it on.
2. Next action — a verb and an object"Call to confirm access", "Send quote for geyser replacement", "Book site visit". If you can't write it as an action, the enquiry isn't understood yet.
3. Due date — when it must happenA real date, and a time where it matters. An enquiry with no date is an enquiry nobody will look at again.

A worked example

Rules that make it stick

• Assign on arrival. Whoever first sees an enquiry either takes it or assigns it — immediately.
• Every touch updates the next action. Finishing an action without setting the next one leaves an orphan.
• Close deliberately. Use a small set of reasons: booked, quoted, referred, not suitable, or no response after the attempts you agreed.
• Review overdue items daily. A five-minute look at anything past its due date catches most slips.
• Agree a fair number of attempts. For example, two calls and one message over three working days, then close politely.

Copy the template

Use it in a shared sheet, a notebook or your job system. The structure matters more than the tool.

ENQUIRY RECORD
Received:        [date and time]
Customer:        [name]  ·  [phone]  ·  [suburb]
Channel:         [website / call / WhatsApp / email / referral]
Request:         [what they need, in their words]
Fit:             [suitable / check first / not for us]

OWNER:           [one named person]
NEXT ACTION:     [one verb + object, e.g. "Call to confirm access and book quote visit"]
DUE:             [date, and time if it matters]

History
- [date] [who] [what happened]

Closed as:       [booked / quoted / referred elsewhere / not suitable / no response after agreed attempts]

Where Automate fits

In Automate, enquiries from connected channels land in one inbox on the customer record, so assigning an owner and a follow-up date is part of normal work. The method above works without it — but it is easier when everyone looks at the same list. Next, read how to turn a suitable enquiry into a clear quote.