How to respond to commission enquiries: speed, first reply and tracking

This guide is for makers who work to order and handle their own enquiries: a furniture maker, a jeweller, a potter, a leatherworker, a luthier or a blacksmith, alone or with a small team. Enquiries arrive by email, website form, Instagram message or phone, usually while you are at the bench.

We cover how fast to reply and what the research says about speed, a first-reply template you can adapt, the questions worth asking for each craft, automatic acknowledgements, and a simple way to keep track of every enquiry until it becomes a commission or closes.

The aim is a reply that is quick, specific and moves the conversation one step forward, without taking you away from the work for long.

Key takeaways

• A 2011 Harvard Business Review article found that most companies answered online enquiries too slowly. Summaries of it report that firms replying within an hour were far more likely to reach a decision maker.
• For a small workshop, a realistic target is the same working day, with an automatic acknowledgement covering the gap.
• The first reply has four jobs: show you read the message, ask three to five questions, give a rough price range if you can, and say what happens next.
• Ask about the piece, the timing and the budget early. Makers such as KIND Jewellery ask for all three in their enquiry process.
• Keep every enquiry in one log with a date, a status and a next step. Two follow-ups are usually enough.

Why speed matters

In March 2011, Harvard Business Review published "The Short Life of Online Sales Leads" by James Oldroyd, Kristina McElheran and David Elkington. Its headline finding was that most companies were not responding to online queries nearly fast enough.

The full article is behind a paywall, so we rely on published summaries for the numbers. Those summaries, including a 2011 article that quotes it, report that the authors sent test enquiries to 2,241 US companies: 37% replied within an hour, 23% never replied, and among companies that replied within 30 days the average reply took 42 hours. In a separate study of 1.25 million leads received by 42 US companies, firms that contacted a lead within an hour were reported to be nearly seven times as likely to have a meaningful conversation with a decision maker as firms that waited one more hour.

Two cautions. The study looked at companies with sales teams, not craft workshops. And one of the authors ran a company that sold sales software, which had an interest in the result. So read the figures as a general direction and do not expect them to predict your own inbox. The direction is still useful: interest fades, and someone who wrote to three makers on a Sunday evening will often go with the first one who answers well.

What "fast" means when you are at the bench

You cannot answer within the hour while you are gluing up a carcass, setting a stone or throwing a run of bowls. You can set a rule you will keep:

• Same working day for enquiries that arrive before mid-afternoon.
• Next working morning for anything later.
• An automatic acknowledgement for the time in between, and for holidays, shows and kiln days.

Batch your replies. Two short blocks a day, for example before you start and after lunch, are easier to keep than answering each message as it comes. Turn off notifications outside those blocks if they pull you off the work.

Automatic acknowledgements

Most email services can send an automatic reply. In Gmail, for example, the vacation responder normally replies only the first time someone writes, and again if they write after four days while it is still switched on. You can also limit it to people in your contacts, though for enquiries you will want it to reach everyone.

A good acknowledgement is short and honest:

Thank you for getting in touch. I am in the workshop most of the day and reply to every enquiry by the end of the next working day. If you have photos, sketches, measurements or a date you are working towards, reply to this message with them and I will have everything in one place. You can see recent commissions at [link].

Keep the tone personal but do not pretend it was written by hand. Check it once a season so the dates and links stay right.

The first reply

The first real reply decides whether the conversation continues. It should take you five to ten minutes. Use the same shape every time.

1. Thank them and show you read it. Mention one detail from their message: the wood they named, the occasion, the room.
2. Say whether it is the kind of work you do. If it clearly is not, say so kindly and suggest where they might look. See qualifying commission clients for how to decline well.
3. Ask three to five questions. Not twenty. Pick the ones that change the price or the date most.
4. Give a rough range if you can. "Most of the rings I make in this style fall between X and Y" saves both of you time if their budget is far off. Work out your ranges with a method such as the one in how to price custom furniture.
5. Say what happens next. A call, a visit, sketches, a quote by a certain day.

A template you can adapt

Dear [name],

Thank you for your message about [the piece]. [One sentence that picks up a detail they mentioned.]

This is the kind of work I do, and I would be glad to help. So I can give you a useful answer, could you tell me:

1. [Size, quantity or fit question]
2. [Material or finish question]
3. When you would like it by, and whether that date is fixed
4. Roughly what budget you have in mind

For context, similar pieces I have made recently have been between [range]. The final price depends on the design and materials we agree.

Once I have your answers, I will [suggest a short call / send two or three sketch options / prepare a written quote] within [time]. My current lead time is about [X weeks] from the deposit.

Kind regards, [Name]

Use the client's own words for the piece. If they wrote "a little cabinet for my records", do not reply about "your bespoke storage unit".

What to ask, craft by craft

The best questions are the ones whose answers change the price, the date or whether you can do the job at all. Some examples:

Craft	Questions worth asking early
Furniture	Where will it go and what are the measurements? Which timber or finish do they like? Is there a date, such as a move or an event?
Jewellery	Ring size, if known? Metal and stones, and are any of them the client's own? Is there a fixed date such as a proposal or wedding?
Ceramics and glass	How many pieces, and will they be used daily or displayed? Food-safe or dishwasher use? Colour references?
Leather and textiles	Dimensions or body measurements? What will it carry or how will it be worn? Hardware and colour preferences?
Instruments	What does the player play and what sound or feel are they after? Any instrument they already like? Is this their main instrument?
Metalwork	Indoor or outdoor? Fixing points and site access? Any drawings, photos of the space or building rules to respect?

Real makers ask the same kinds of things. Sebastian Cox, a London furniture studio, asks clients to state any required delivery date at the enquiry stage. KIND Jewellery asks for design ideas, the timeline including any proposal date, and a budget so it can suggest suitable materials.

When to call instead of writing

Email suits short facts. A call or a video chat suits anything with feeling or many unknowns: a piece that marks a family event, a complex fitted job, a client who writes long, uncertain messages. Fifteen minutes on the phone often replaces a week of back and forth.

After any call, send a short written summary: what you understood, what you agreed and what happens next. That summary becomes the start of the brief and, later, the quote.

Track every enquiry

Enquiries get lost when they live in four inboxes and your head. One list fixes most of that. A spreadsheet, a notebook or an app all work, as long as there is only one.

Column	Example
Date received	3 Nov
Name and channel	Anna K., website form
What they want	Walnut desk, 140 cm
Wanted by	Late February, flexible
Budget given	Yes, mid range
Status	Replied, waiting for measurements
Next step and date	Follow up 10 Nov
Outcome	Quote sent / commissioned / declined / went quiet

Use a small set of statuses and stick to them: new, replied, call booked, quote sent, won, lost, closed. Every open enquiry should have a next step with a date. If it does not, it is already going cold.

Once a quarter, look back. Where did the enquiries that became commissions come from? Which ones went quiet, and at what step? That tells you where to spend your time and whether your first reply needs work.

Following up without nagging

People go quiet for ordinary reasons: they are comparing makers, waiting for a partner, or busy. A polite follow-up helps them decide.

• First follow-up, about a week later: "I wanted to check you received my message about the cabinet. Happy to answer any questions, or to talk it through on the phone if that is easier."
• Second follow-up, a week or two after that: "I will close this enquiry for now so I can plan the workshop. If the timing changes, just reply here and we can pick it up again."

The second message makes it easy to say no or not yet, and it often gets a reply. After that, mark the enquiry closed and note why. Do not keep chasing.

Common mistakes

• Answering a vague enquiry with a firm price. You will either lose margin or lose the client when the real scope appears.
• Asking too many questions at once. Long lists feel like homework. Ask what matters now and save the rest for the brief.
• Replying in a different channel from the one they used, without saying why. If you move a conversation from Instagram to email, tell them.
• No next step. Every reply should end with what happens next and when.

Once an enquiry turns into a serious conversation, the next steps are deciding whether it is a good fit and putting a written quote together. See qualifying commission clients and how to write a quote for a commission.

Sources

• The Short Life of Online Sales Leads, Harvard Business Review (March 2011): authors, date, headline finding that most companies respond to online queries too slowly, author affiliations
• The Short Life of Online Sales Leads, BYU ScholarsArchive: bibliographic record and abstract
• Lead Response Time Statistics: What Was Measured, The Innovative Native: secondary summary of the HBR figures (2,241 firms, 37% within an hour, 23% never, 42-hour average, nearly seven times as likely to qualify)
• Are you letting online leads go cold?, SmartCompany (July 2011): 2011 article quoting the HBR figures (2,241 companies, 37% within an hour, 23% never, 42-hour average among companies replying within 30 days) and the separate study of 1.25 million leads at 29 B2C and 13 B2B companies
• Send an automatic reply when you're out of office, Gmail Help: how often the automatic reply is sent and the contacts-only option
• How to commission, Sebastian Cox: asking for the delivery date at enquiry stage
• Bespoke engagement rings, KIND Jewellery: asking for ideas, timeline and budget at enquiry