You know the feeling when you get a new inquiry in your inbox? It’s exciting, right?! Landing a new inquiry means your marketing efforts are working! Woohoo!
But getting a new inquiry is also a little bit stressful – now you have to close the sale!
I used to drop everything when I got a new inquiry and take time to respond to it right away. Even if it was 11pm or I was on vacation, responding quickly was my first priority.
Now? I don’t worry about responding ASAP anymore. I have a booking workflow that responds automatically to inquiries, tells potential clients the next steps and makes me look good, too.
Let’s dive into how to create an effective booking process for your business, from contact form to inquiry reply to follow up emails!
Ready? Let’s do this!
Your Contact Form
The questions you ask in your contact form are actually super important! If you ask too many questions in the form, potential clients will be less likely to fill it out. If you don’t ask for enough information, you’ll make more work for yourself later.
When people search for a business owner to partner with, they are likely communicating with several different business owners. They don’t have time to answer a million questions. Make it easy for people to get in touch with you!
At this stage, most people just want to see if you pass their vibe check and if you’re in their price range. Don’t overcomplicate the form!
This is what a contact form looks like for me:
- Full Name
- Email Address
- Confirm Email Address
- What are you inquiring about? (Here there’s a dropdown with the different services I offer. They get an automatic reply based on their selection)
- Message
It’s short and simple. I want to know their name, why they inquired and how to get in touch with them and to confirm their email address in case they had a typo the first time.
Your Initial Reply
I can’t stress enough the importance of your first email to a potential client. It sets the tone for your entire relationship!
Are you someone who is high-energy, optimistic and loves bright colors? Communicate that in your response!
Do you enjoy creating luxurious, high-end experiences for your clients? You absolutely want to communicate that as well.
No matter what, your response should be short and sweet. If it takes them too long to read about your process they simply won’t do it and will likely move on to the next person on their list.
If you have a unique process, you absolutely can and SHOULD share about it! But I recommend sharing about it with a link for them to read more about your process instead of putting it directly in the email so they aren’t overwhelmed by paragraphs of text.
Automate Your Response
Your initial reply to your potential client needs to be automatic. This way they can find out key information about you and figure out if you’re someone they want to work with. Not everyone will want to work with you and that is 100% okay! Be yourself and you’ll attract the customers you want.
You can set up the response email to go out automatically through an email service provider or by using a lead capture form through your CRM.
Here’s what you want to include in your initial response:
- Excitement/gratitude about their inquiry
- A brief word about yourself (seriously, keep it short!)
- A link to your pricing page
- A link to your process or policies
- A link to an FAQ page or a few blog posts on your most frequently asked questions
- A questionnaire to get more information about their project
Each of these six elements are critical to making it easy for your clients to work with you.
Today’s clients like to be informed with clear understanding what it will really be like to work with you. If you make it too complicated, they will move on to someone else.
And when it comes to linking to FAQ/blog posts and sending a questionnaire, these two sections will qualify the leads so that you only spend time on the clients who are super excited and ready to work with you.
An FAQ page allows you to save time and energy asking questions potential clients may have, while a separate client questionnaire gives you the ability to spend your time and energy on people you already know are ready and excited to work with you!
Above all, make it easy for your clients! This process allows you to tell them their exact next steps – and don’t forget to tell them when they can expect to hear back from you!
Follow-Up Emails
If someone hasn’t filled out your questionnaire, send an automatic reminder with your CRM system! This way you don’t have to worry about who’s replied and who hasn’t. The only tasks that show up on your to-do list should be communicating with inquiries that have already filled out your questionnaire.
With their questionnaire responses in hand, craft an amazing email that is sure to make them want to work with you.
Start the follow-up email off with more excitement and gratitude for their inquiry. Let them know you really appreciate that they took the time to answer the questionnaire. Show them they are valuable to you!
Next, connect with them on a personal level. If there was anything you personally resonated to from their questionnaire responses, let them know. Customers today want to feel connected to you. They love having things in common with you!
If they have any questions for you, take time to answer them excitedly and earnestly. Be sure to get specific and don’t leave out any questions they asked.
Finally, be sure to end your email with a question. This will increase their chances of responding because it gives them an action item. We LOVE a good action item.
Instead of saying: “Let me know if you would like to move forward”
Say this: “Would you like me to prepare a booking proposal for you?”
Instead of saying: “Let me know if you have any questions.”
Say this: “What questions do you have that I can answer for you?”
Send a Booking Proposal
The final step is to send them a booking proposal with an invoice and contract. If you use a CRM this step is a breeze!
An effective booking process will save you time & give you more joy
Gone are the days of writing email after email answering the same questions. Give your clients the information they want and make it easy for them to work with you.
Follow up with a sincere email that connects with them personally. And end your emails with a question so they have an easy action item.
Getting an effective booking process down will save you HOURS of work. You also won’t worry about people ghosting you because the people you follow up with will be those that are already interested in working with you.
Instead of your inbox being a stress-filled pit of inquiries, it will be a joy-filled pool of people excited to work with you! Doesn’t that sound amazing? You’ve got this, my friend!
Article written by Christi Johnson
CEO & Founder + Launch Strategist & Systems Architect at Christi Johnson Creative and Leader of the Rising Tide Greenville chapter in South Carolina.
