How to Reply to a Sales Inquiry: a 5-Step Process and a Sample Reply

BOTrento Team10 October 20268 min read

What a sales inquiry is and why the first reply decides so much

A sales inquiry is any incoming request that could turn into an order: an email from a web form, a message saying "send me a price", a phone call asking about availability, or a contact forwarded by a colleague. For the customer, it is often the first experience of your company. The first reply shapes their impression of whether you are reliable and whether you understand what they need.

Customers who are asking about an event, equipment hire or a service usually contact several suppliers at once. The one who replies is not necessarily the cheapest, but the one who responds clearly and shows the enquiry is under control. That is why it pays to separate two things:

• the first reply: a quick confirmation, clarifying questions and a date for the next step,
• the quote: prepared once you have the information you need.

If you wait to reply until the price is ready, you lose the time in which the customer is making up their mind.

The 5-step process: from incoming enquiry to quote

1. Log the enquiry and assign an owner

Every enquiry needs a row in your CRM or spreadsheet with the date received, the source, the contact and the name of the person responsible. Without an owner, an enquiry belongs to everyone, which means it belongs to no one. For more detail, see how to handle sales enquiries fast without losing any.

2. Send a first reply the same day

A short email: thanks, a summary of what you understood, your questions and a date. If some of your services have a fixed price, you can add an indicative range. Track your response time so you know where you stand.

3. Qualify the enquiry

Find out whether the enquiry is realistic for you: timing, scope, location, budget and who decides. An unqualified enquiry costs you time on a quote that has no chance.

4. Prepare the quote and set the follow-up date

The quote should answer what the customer actually said, not simply repeat a general price list. The moment you send it, record the date of the first reminder in your CRM or spreadsheet.

5. Chase and close the status

Every enquiry ends in one of four states: won, lost (with a reason), postponed with a date, or not a fit. An open status with no next step is a process failure, not the customer's.

Qualifying questions: a checklist before you quote

Do not send the customer a questionnaire. Choose two to four questions without which you genuinely cannot build the quote, and fill in the rest from what they have already written. Use this checklist internally:

• Date and duration: when, for how long, is the date fixed?
• Scope: number of people, amount of equipment, area, extent of the service.
• Location and logistics: address, access, installation, transport, operating restrictions.
• Budget: does the customer have a figure or a ceiling in mind? Ask openly, not accusingly.
• Decision: who approves the quote and by when will they decide?
• Comparison: are they enquiring elsewhere? What matters most to them: price, date, quality, service?
• Source: how did they hear about you (this helps marketing too)?

Example from an events company: an enquiry saying "we need sound for a company party" is not enough. The key questions are the date, the number of guests, the venue (outdoor or indoor) and whether they also want an operator. The rest can be added to the quote as options. The whole path from first contact to quote is covered in a managed process for sales enquiries in a small business.

A sample reply to a sales inquiry

Adapt the template to your industry. Replace the square brackets with specific details so the email does not read like an automated message.

Subject: Re: Enquiry about [what] on [date]: next step

Dear [Mr/Ms surname],

Thank you for your enquiry. I understand that you need [one-sentence summary: what, when, where].

So that I can send you an accurate quote, could you please confirm:

1. [question about scope]
2. [question about location or logistics]
3. Do you have a budget or a specific option in mind that we should work from?

Once you reply, I will send you the quote by [specific day]. If it is quicker for you, we can clarify this by phone: I will call you on [day, time], or let me know a time that suits you.

I am looking after your enquiry personally, so please contact me directly.

Kind regards
[name, position, phone]

What every reply must include

• a summary of the enquiry in your own words (the customer sees you have read it),
• no more than four numbered questions,
• a specific date for the next step (a day, not "soon"),
• the name and direct contact of the enquiry owner.

For other variants, such as a polite decline, a provisional price or a handover, see 5 email templates for replying to sales enquiries.

Follow-up: so the enquiry does not go quiet

Most "lost" enquiries are not actually lost; nobody simply went back to them. Simple rules are enough:

1. No answer to your questions: after a few working days, send a short reminder with the single most important question.
2. After a quote is sent: remind them with a concrete benefit (for example "the date is still free and we are holding the reservation until…"), not just "let us know".
3. Second reminder: offer an option or a phone call.
4. Closing: a polite email saying you are putting the enquiry on hold and that they are welcome to return at any time. Record the status in your CRM or spreadsheet.

On the same day every week, go through your records and look for enquiries with no next step or an overdue date. The cadence and wording of reminders are covered in detail in quote follow-up: when to chase, what to write and when to stop.

How BOTrento Chief of Staff handles it

The process above works as long as someone checks it every day. During peak season or holidays, the first reply, the logging and the reminders easily fall apart. BOTrento Chief of Staff turns them into a managed process:

• it monitors one sales mailbox and logs enquiries in your CRM or spreadsheet,
• it prepares a draft first reply with qualifying questions, a draft quote and follow-up reminders,
• nothing is sent without human approval: your salesperson approves every email and quote,
• the AI runs through your own API keys with the provider you choose; how to enter and remove them at any time is described in the help page on your own API keys.

We store data on servers in Germany (EU). The text needed for the task is processed by the model provider you choose with your own key, so this is not a closed computation on our server alone.

It is introduced through one measured pilot: one mailbox, one record system and one type of sales case, with agreed process KPIs such as first-reply time. In an internal pilot, 35 enquiries, 18 emails, 24 quotes and 15 actions were processed in 7 days. You can see how the process works in practice in the process demo, and the plans are set out on the pricing page.