How to respond to job leads

Winning a lead is mostly decided in the first message. Customers are usually talking to two or three people, and they form a view of who is professional long before anyone quotes.

How quickly should you respond?

Within the hour during working hours, and the same evening otherwise. If you cannot give a proper answer immediately, send two lines confirming you have read the job and when you will come back with detail. That alone puts you ahead of most of the field.

What the first message should contain

1. Confirm you understand the job, in their words — this proves you read it.
2. One or two specific questions that show expertise.
3. A relevant credential in a single line: years doing this type of work, registration, insurance.
4. What happens next — a site visit, a rough price range, or a firm quote by a stated day.

A message that works

"Hello — I've read through your bathroom job. Two quick questions: are the existing tiles on plasterboard or a solid wall, and is the soil pipe internal or on the outside wall? I've done around thirty full refits in the last two years and I'm insured to £2m. If you can send a photo of the wall behind the bath I can give you a firm price today, or I can come and measure up Thursday morning."

Following up

One follow-up after two or three days is professional. A second a week later is acceptable if you add something useful — availability, a similar job you have just finished, an alternative approach. Beyond that, leave it; people come back months later and you want to be remembered well.

Know when to walk away

• The budget and the scope are irreconcilable and the customer will not move on either.
• The job is outside your trade or your competence.
• The customer wants work done in a way you consider unsafe or non-compliant.