The First Business to Reply Usually Wins the Job

Try this next time you need something doing that you can’t do yourself.

Enquire with three businesses and watch what happens.

One replies in five minutes.

One replies tomorrow.

One replies on Thursday, opening with “sorry for the delay”.

Who gets the job?

Almost always the first one, even if they’re not the cheapest and even if the Thursday one has better reviews, because by the time Thursday comes round the problem’s been sorted, the deposit’s been paid and you’ve got on with your life.

Why speed beats everything

When someone enquires, three things are true.

Their problem is at its most urgent (that’s why they enquired NOW).

They’re thinking about you, right this minute.

And they’re almost certainly enquiring with someone else too, because you’re rarely the only tab open.

Every hour that goes by, all three fade.

The urgency drops, their attention moves on and someone else answers.

Reply in five minutes and you catch them while it all still matters.

Back in 2007, a study by InsideSales.com and an MIT professor found the odds of qualifying a web enquiry dropped 21 times if it was rung after 30 minutes instead of 5 (Lead Response Management Study).

Is that pushy? No, it’s just being there when they need you.

“But I’m working all day”

I know, and that’s exactly the point.

The businesses winning on speed aren’t sat by the phone.

They’ve set things up so the first reply goes out for them, while they get on with the job.

A reply the second they enquire. Someone fills in your form and gets a friendly text and email straight back, something like “Got your message, I’ll ring you properly by 4.” It takes seconds to send and buys you hours.

A text when you miss a call. You can’t answer, so the caller gets “Sorry I missed you, I’m with someone. Text me what you need and I’ll get back to you.” Without it, plenty of people just ring the next number on Google.

The follow-up you never forget. A quote goes out, a polite nudge follows two days later and a last friendly one a week after that, and it all stops the moment they reply.

None of this replaces you.

You still make the call, do the visit and price the job.

It just makes sure the door’s still open when you get there.

The maths

Say you’re a tutor and you get 20 enquiries a month from parents.

You win 5 of them.

If replying faster wins you just two more a month, that’s 24 extra families a year - from people who were already asking you, before you’ve spent a penny on new marketing.

Now multiply that by what a family is worth to you over a school year (go on, work it out, I’ll wait).

Speed is the cheapest growth there is.

Your job today

Fill in the contact form on your own website, from your phone, like a customer would.

Time how long it takes for anything to come back.

Then ring your own number when you know you can’t answer, and see what happens.

If the answer to both is “nothing”, that’s your first fix, and it’s a quick one.

Want to see what else is slipping?

Whether your enquiry form actually reaches you is one of the 27 things I check in Your Web Review, along with your website, Google profile, reviews and socials.

You get a video of me going through it all and the three things I’d fix first.

No big sales pitch.

Get your free Web Review

And if you’d like one short email every Sunday on making your marketing easier, get the Marketing Memo. It’s free.