How to Reply to a Sales Enquiry by Email: 5 Templates for Situations You Face Every Week

BOTrento Team4 October 2026 · Updated 13 October 20269 min read

What every reply to an enquiry must contain

Whatever the situation, after reading your email the customer should know three things: that someone is dealing with their enquiry, who that person is, and what happens next. Before you hit send, run through this short checklist:

• Greeting and a reference to the enquiry – a name, a date or the type of event, so it is clear this is not a mass reply.
• A named person – not "the sales department", but the individual who owns the enquiry.
• A next step with a deadline – "I will send the quote by Thursday" beats "we will be in touch".
• No more than three questions – if you need more, offer a short call.
• Clear terms – with a provisional price, state what is included, what is not and how long it is valid.
• A record in your system – after sending, log the status and the date of the next step in your CRM or spreadsheet.

The last point is the one most often skipped, and it is exactly why enquiries get lost. We cover it in more detail in how to handle sales enquiries fast without losing any.

Templates 1 and 2: acknowledgement and follow-up questions

Template 1: Acknowledging the enquiry

Use it when you cannot give a substantive answer straight away, for example because you are on site at an event or waiting for equipment availability. The aim is that the customer is not left in the dark and does not start writing to your competitors in the meantime.

Subject: Your enquiry – [event type], [date]

Dear Ms [surname],

Thank you for your enquiry about [event type / rental] on [date] at [venue]. I am handling it personally and am checking the availability of [equipment / team] for your date.

By [day, time] I will send you confirmation of the date and a provisional price. If there is anything I should know in the meantime (budget, number of guests, specific requirements), simply reply to this email.

Kind regards
[name], [phone]

Template 2: Follow-up questions

An enquiry like "we need sound for a company event" is not enough for a quote. Ask only what you cannot price without, and number the questions so the customer can answer point by point.

Subject: Re: Sound system – [date] – 3 quick questions

Dear Mr [surname],

Thank you for your enquiry. The date of [date] is currently free. So that I can send you an accurate quote, I need to know:

1. How many guests do you expect, and is the venue indoors or outdoors?
2. Will the programme be speech only, or also live music or a DJ?
3. Do you need a technician on site for the whole event?

If it is easier to talk it through, I can call you tomorrow morning. I will send the quote within one working day of receiving your answers.

Kind regards
[name], [phone]

Template 3: the provisional price

Many customers lean towards whoever first gives them a rough idea of the price. A provisional price does not have to be a final quote, but it must be clearly bounded so that no dispute arises later. Why speed and a checked date matter most in peak season is explained in event agency enquiries in peak season.

Subject: Provisional price – [event type], [date]

Dear Ms [surname],

We are provisionally holding the date of [date] for you until [date]. Based on what we know so far, the indicative price comes to:

€[amount] excl. VAT

Included: [equipment, transport, installation, technician].
Not included: [e.g. power at the venue, operation beyond X hours].

I will send the final quote once [number of guests / schedule] is confirmed. If the scope and price work for you, a short reply is enough and I will prepare the order documents.

Kind regards
[name], [phone]

Tip: always say until when you are holding the date. It is fair to the customer and gives you a natural reason to follow up.

Templates 4 and 5: declining and handing over

Template 4: A polite decline

Declining an enquiry is better than not replying. The customer will remember that you were professional and may come back with a better-suited job. Don't over-explain, and leave the door open.

Subject: Re: Enquiry [event type], [date]

Dear Mr [surname],

Thank you for contacting us. Unfortunately we have no free [equipment / team] capacity on [date], so we could not deliver the job to the standard we would want.

If the date could move, or for your future events, I would be glad to prepare a quote. Simply reply to this email.

Kind regards
[name]

Template 5: Handing over to a colleague or partner

Use this when the enquiry belongs to someone else in the company, or when you cannot deliver it yourself but know a reliable partner. The key is that the customer does not have to explain everything again.

Subject: Your enquiry – handing over to my colleague [name]

Dear Ms [surname],

Thank you for your enquiry about [event type]. This type of job is handled by my colleague [name], whom I have copied in. I have passed on all the information from your message, so you do not need to repeat anything.

[Colleague's name] will contact you by [day]. If anything comes up, I am also available.

Kind regards
[name]

When referring someone to an external partner, tell the customer it is a different company and pass on their details only with their consent. Practical principles are summarised in the GDPR and AI checklist for enquiries, quotes and sales emails; for specific situations, we recommend consulting a lawyer.

How to roll out the templates in your team, step by step

A template on its own solves nothing if everyone uses a different version and nobody knows who replied to what. You can set this up in a single afternoon:

1. Review your recent enquiries and sort them by the kind of first reply they needed. You will see which of the five situations are most common for you.
2. Adapt the templates to your industry – add typical questions, standard price inclusions and phrases that work for you.
3. Store them in one shared place, not in individual colleagues' signatures or drafts.
4. Agree a rule for the first response – for example, that every enquiry gets at least Template 1 within a set time.
5. Link each template to a next step in your records – after Template 2, "waiting for customer reply"; after Template 3, "follow up when the date hold expires".
6. Check once a week how many enquiries are awaiting a first reply and how many quotes have no follow-up.

One more thing: always edit the template so that it includes at least one concrete detail from the enquiry. Customers can tell a reply written for them from a completed form.

How BOTrento Chief of Staff handles this

Templates save typing, but they do not ensure that every enquiry actually gets a reply, that the provisional price matches real availability, or that the follow-up happens on time. That is the work BOTrento Chief of Staff takes over as a managed process:

• It recognises the type of enquiry in your mailbox and prepares a draft reply based on your templates.
• Nothing is sent without human approval. Every draft email or quote is checked and sent by someone on your team.
• It records the status in your CRM or spreadsheet and reminds you of the next step, so no enquiry is left without an owner.
• It runs on your own API keys. You pay for AI directly at the model provider you choose; see the help page on your own API keys. We store data on servers in Germany (EU), and the text needed for the task is processed by the model provider you choose.

It starts with a 14-day free trial, with no payment card and no API key of your own. The 14 days begin with your first successful data upload (import or mailbox connection), and you have 7 days to prepare. In an internal pilot, the process handled 35 enquiries, 18 emails, 24 quotes and 15 actions in 7 days. See how it works in the process demo from enquiry to quote; plan scope is in the pricing overview.