Enquiry handling
Enquiry Cover Handover: Keep Follow-up Moving During Absence
Covering a colleague’s enquiries should not require guessing what was promised. Use this handover sheet before leave or a temporary change of owner, and return it with the decisions made during cover.
The copyable handover sheet
- Conversation: customer reference and a link to the authorised shared record.
- Current position: last meaningful exchange, not just the latest message date.
- Commitment: what was promised, by whom and when.
- Next action: a verb, information needed and review date.
- Cover owner: named person and backup.
- Decision limits: what cover can decide and who approves an exception.
- Return note: action taken, reply received and remaining work.
Use one row or entry per active conversation. Keep access through individual authorised accounts rather than adding passwords to this sheet.
A fictional three-conversation handover
Oak Office: location received; Jo promised to confirm service coverage on Tuesday. Cover: Priya asks the service lead, replies and records the decision. No authority to promise a start date.
River Studio: proposal sent; customer will discuss it internally on Friday. Cover reviews on Monday unless a reply arrives earlier; no need to send an unrelated reminder during that discussion.
North Workshop: customer requested a change to existing work. Cover records it and asks the project owner; the proposed addition is not treated as approved scope.
Replace notes that require mind-reading
“Follow up with Oak” hides both the commitment and the missing decision. “Confirm whether Oak’s location is covered; service lead to decide; Priya replies Tuesday” tells cover what to do.
Link the actual proposal or conversation version. “The file in my downloads” is not a handover location. Check that cover can open the shared record before the absence starts.
Return ownership deliberately
When the colleague returns, review what changed rather than silently moving the queue back. Identify replies requiring action, new commitments and exceptions still awaiting approval. State when cover responsibility ends.
For a sudden absence, the manager should reconstruct only the necessary commitments from authorised records and mark uncertainty. Do not invent a promise to make a missing note look complete.
Continue with a related resource
Use the example with your own facts, assign an owner and review the result before relying on it. These resources are available without creating an account.
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