Enquiry handling
Enquiry Triage Matrix for a Small Service Team
Qualify a sales enquiry by checking service fit, the missing information and who can take the next decision. Route unsuitable requests appropriately and keep uncertain cases visible instead of treating every form submission as a qualified opportunity. Use this triage matrix before creating more pipeline stages.
Copy the routing record
- Request: source, received date and the customer’s actual description.
- Fit: service and coverage confirmed, unconfirmed or outside scope.
- Information gap: one specific fact needed for the next decision.
- Action: clarify, assess, route, decline or continue an existing conversation.
- Owner and backup: named people, not “the inbox”.
- Review: an agreed time to check the action, distinct from a promise to the customer.
Keep the original wording available. A summary should not replace evidence of what the person asked.
Five fictional requests, five decisions
- Outside your area: location confirmed; owner replies honestly about coverage rather than creating a deal to inflate the pipeline.
- “Need a quote”: service unspecified; ask which work and location before assigning a project value.
- Existing client requests an addition: route to the current project owner; record it as a proposed change, not automatically approved work.
- Well-defined potential project: suitable service and area; assign a conversation owner and the next assessment step.
- Urgent request: urgency stated by customer; confirm whether your business can assess it. Do not imply emergency cover you do not offer.
Set escalation and cover rules
Agree who can decide an exception and who handles an absent owner’s queue. A useful rule is “If coverage remains unclear, Lee asks the service lead; Sam covers Lee during leave.” “Escalate urgent things” does not identify a decision maker.
Choose review times appropriate to your operating hours and the request. There is no universal response deadline in this worksheet. If you publish a response commitment, make sure the people staffing the process can meet it.
Check the result, not just the label
At the next queue review, select a request and ask: who owns it, what are they doing, and what evidence allows it to advance? A record marked “Qualified” with no reason or next action is still ambiguous.
Keep commercial fit separate from delivery capacity. A request may be suitable but require a date you cannot offer. Record that constraint and explain it rather than treating silence as a routing decision.
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.Continue with: Service Discovery Call Agenda: Questions That Lead to a Clear Next Step · CRM Pipeline Stages: Define Exit Criteria Before Adding More Columns.
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