Seven rules
- Reply within five minutes during working hours.
- One message, one idea. A long block gets broken up.
- A question at the end of every message, otherwise the thread stops on your line.
- Price gets quoted in the opening exchanges, as a figure or a range.
- Voice notes only if the customer sends them first.
- The same language the customer wrote in.
- After agreement, the summary and the bank details go out immediately, two messages back to back, without waiting for a reply.
The structure of a first reply
A short confirmation that you understood the job. One or two clarifying questions. A guide price or lead time, if the job is clear. A question at the end.
The most expensive pause in a written thread sits between the customer agreeing and the bank details arriving. We reviewed a thread where the customer wrote «I will take it» and got the details twenty minutes later. In those twenty minutes she found the time to think again.
What to do about the people who vanish
- First return the next day, with a new fact rather than «just checking in».
- Second after three days, with a different fact: stock, lead time, changed terms.
- Third after a week, with a direct question about the decision.
- After that the contact gets parked for a month and comes back as a new enquiry.
Templates
Templates belong on summaries, bank details and routine clarifications, meaning anywhere the text does not change. First replies are better left untemplated: that is exactly where a robot shows through, and exactly where conversion is decided.