Worked example
Have you ever returned an enquiry's call, only to hear they'd gone elsewhere?
They wrote on Tuesday. You rang on Friday. A faster firm had already said yes.
Fit
Is this you?
- Enquiries reach you by web form, email, phone and referral.
- They queue until someone has a free hour.
- Small-looking ones never get a second touch.
When we'd say skip it
A handful of enquiries a month? Answer them yourself. Already calling back within the hour? Keep doing it. We won't build speed you already have.
Recognition
Where it stalls
- Enquiry arrives
- Logged
- Looked intoSkipped whenever the queue is long.
- Qualified
- Passed to an owner
- First contact
- Follow-up
- Meeting
Speed decides who wins this work, and a queue takes the speed away.
The homework before the first call gets dropped. Follow-up rests on someone's memory.
Leads that look minor fall out. Nobody decided that. It just happened.
Seen in insurance agencies, with online quote requests. In wealth management, with referrals from a client's accountant. In home health, with hospital referrals that go to whoever answers first. In construction, with homeowners who asked three builders.
Answer
What we'd build: a first-hour lead desk
Each enquiry is looked into the moment it lands, then handed to the right person, ready.
What changes
- Every lead arrives with a short brief: who, how big, what they likely need.
- It goes to the right person, not the general inbox.
- A first reply waits in your voice, ready to approve.
- Follow-ups run on a schedule instead of on memory.
Gain
What it's worth to you
Count last month's enquiries. How many heard back the same day?
How many got a second follow-up at all?
Multiply the gap by what a new client is worth in year one. That is what the queue costs.
| New | 9 enquiries since last night |
|---|---|
| Ready | 6 looked into and routed, first replies drafted |
| Current clients | 2 linked to an existing household, passed to their advisor |
| Out of area | 1, with a polite reply drafted |
| Follow-ups due | 14 today |
No reply has gone out yet. Your people send each one.
Method
How it runs, in full
Open the full notes
When it starts
The moment an enquiry arrives, from any channel.
What it reads
Your web forms, the enquiry inbox and your CRM or agency system. Referral portals too, where you use them. We confirm each one with you first.
The steps
- Captures each enquiry, wherever it came from.
- Looks it up in public sources and your own records.
- Scores it against your idea of a good fit.
- Routes it to the right person with a short brief.
- Drafts a first reply in your firm's voice.
- Schedules follow-ups and reminds the owner.
Who signs off
A person approves every first reply and every follow-up.
What it never does
It never quotes, commits or advises. It never contacts a lead on its own. It never drops a lead without telling someone.
What we'd need
Access to where leads arrive, and to your CRM. Your rules for a good fit. Ten replies your best person wrote.
Usually comes with
- Proposals drafted from past work, so a warm lead gets a strong proposal fast.
- Client onboarding, so a new client's first week runs smoothly.
- Marketing reporting, so you see which sources send leads that close.
You become the firm that always calls back first.
Every enquiry hears from you while it's still choosing.
Your version will differ. Working out how is what a first conversation is for.
Next
Talk it through with a co-founder.
Free, about an hour, and no access needed. Bring your whole list.
A person replies, usually within one working day.