A new enquiry arrives, the owner phones back, the conversation goes well and then nothing happens. Two weeks later nobody remembers what the person wanted. The first call is where most of that is lost. It has no outline, no record and no clear ending. A simple structure fixes all three without making the call feel like an interview.
What the first call is for
The call has one job: to find out whether you can help and whether the work is worth doing for both sides. It is not the place to quote a price, show every service or win the customer. If you do most of the talking, you will learn little. Aim for the customer speaking for about two thirds of the time.
If enquiries reach you through a form or a shared mailbox, a fast reply is the first step; handling website enquiries in one working day covers that. This article starts at the moment the phone rings or the video call opens.
Before the call: five minutes
- Read the enquiry again and note what the person actually wrote.
- Look at their website, if they have one. Know what the company does.
- Check whether they are already a customer or have been in touch before.
- Open an empty note with the ten questions below, so you do not rely on memory.
- Agree who takes notes if two people attend. One person asks, the other writes.
Ten questions in five groups
You will not ask all ten every time. Use them as a list to return to when the conversation stalls.
The situation
- What happened that made you get in touch now?
- How do you handle this today, and who does it?
The goal 3. What would a good result look like in three months? 4. How will you know it has worked?
The limits 5. Is there a date this has to be ready by, and why that date? 6. Do you have a budget in mind, or a range you would not go beyond?
The people 7. Who decides, and who else needs to agree? 8. Have you spoken to other suppliers, and what did you think of them?
The risks 9. What has gone wrong in similar projects before? 10. Is there anything I should know that would make this hard?
Question 6 makes many owners uneasy. Ask it plainly: "So that I suggest something realistic, is there a range you are working with?" Nothing is lost if the answer is "not sure". Either way, you now know whether to talk about a small first step or a larger project.
During the call
- Let the person finish. Repeat back what you heard in one sentence before you move on.
- Do not give a price in the first call unless the work is standard and you have a price list. A figure given in the moment is hard to take back; see handling a price objection for what happens when it is challenged later.
- Say clearly if something is outside what you do. A short, honest "we are not the right fit, but here is who might be" builds more trust than a vague maybe.
- Keep the call to 20–30 minutes. A longer call usually means the questions were not focused.
A short note within an hour
Right after the call, write five lines while it is fresh:
- Who and what: name, company, one sentence on what they want.
- Why now: the trigger, in their words.
- Limits: date, budget range, who decides.
- Our view: fit, partly fit or not a fit, and why.
- Next step: what, who and by when.
Send lines 1, 3 and 5 to the customer as a short email: "Thanks for your time today. As I understood it..." This does two things. It catches misunderstandings while they are cheap to fix, and it gives the customer a written record of the next step. Keep your own view (line 4) internal. If the contact later becomes a project, the same note can feed a one-page brief for a software project or a proposal.
Agreeing the next step
Never end with "we will be in touch". Agree on one of these before hanging up:
- Send a proposal. Say what it will contain and the day you will send it.
- A second call or meeting with the decision maker, with a date in the calendar.
- A small paid first step, if the situation is unclear and a short piece of work will answer it.
- A polite stop. If the fit is poor, say so, thank them and, if you can, point to someone better.
Whichever you choose, write down an owner and a date. If you promised something, put it in the calendar the same day.
What to record about the person
Keep only what you need to do the work: contact details, the company, what they asked for and what was agreed. If you store notes about people, the Information Commissioner's Office has guidance for small organisations on handling personal data. Avoid private remarks in the shared system; anyone may later read them, including the customer if they ask.
When the call is not a good fit
Some enquiries are too small, too far from your work or too demanding for the price. Decide early. Write a short, kind reply the same day: what you understood, why you cannot take it on and, if you know one, a suggestion. A clear no is better for the customer than a slow silence, and it protects your time for work that suits you.
What to do this week
- Put the ten questions on one page and keep it next to the phone.
- Create a five-line note template in the place where you keep customer records.
- After your next first call, send the short email within an hour.
- End every call with a next step, an owner and a date.
- After a month, look at how many first calls led to a second step and which questions helped most.
If you change only one thing, send the written note after the call. It costs ten minutes and removes most of the guessing on both sides.
Sources
- Information Commissioner's Office, Advice for small organisations: handling personal data about customers and enquiries.
- GOV.UK, Marketing and advertising: the law: rules on what you may say to customers when promoting and pricing services.