The enquiry-to-reply audit
Pick ten recent enquiries — a mix of ones that turned into customers and ones that didn't. For each, write down the exact time it was submitted and the exact time someone in the business first saw it. That gap, on its own, is often the single biggest number in this audit; a lead sitting unseen for six hours in a shared inbox has usually already looked elsewhere by the time anyone notices it.
Step 3 to 4: reply and follow-up
Next, record when the first reply actually went out, and whether it answered the question asked or just acknowledged receipt ("thanks, someone will get back to you" is not a reply that moves a deal forward). Then check for a follow-up: if the customer didn't respond within two or three days, did anyone from the business reach out again, or did the thread simply go quiet? Most lost enquiries aren't lost at the first reply — they're lost in the follow-up gap that nobody owns.
Step 5: name the owner
For each of the ten, write down who was actually responsible for that enquiry at each stage. If the honest answer is "nobody specifically, it goes to a shared inbox," that's the finding — a shared inbox without a named owner is close to not having a process at all. The fix from here is almost always the same: one person or one clear rule per stage, a maximum reply-time target that's actually tracked, and a scheduled follow-up that happens automatically rather than relying on memory.
Run this audit before any marketing spend conversation — a clearer, faster reply process usually recovers more revenue than a bigger lead-generation budget feeding the same gaps.
Frequently asked
Pick ten recent enquiries — a mix of ones that turned into customers and ones that didn't. For each, write down the exact time it was submitted and the exact time someone in the business first saw it. That gap, on its own, is often the single biggest number in this audit; a lead sitting unseen for six hours in a shared inbox has usually already looked elsewhere by the time anyone notices it.
Next, record when the first reply actually went out, and whether it answered the question asked or just acknowledged receipt ("thanks, someone will get back to you" is not a reply that moves a deal forward). Then check for a follow-up: if the customer didn't respond within two or three days, did anyone from the business reach out again, or did the thread simply go quiet? Most lost enquiries aren't lost at the first reply — they're lost in the follow-up gap that nobody owns.
Run this audit before any marketing spend conversation — a clearer, faster reply process usually recovers more revenue than a bigger lead-generation budget feeding the same gaps.