A web enquiry that says 'need a quote for my business'
Your website's contact form says 'Name, email, phone, message'. The message field gets 'Need a quote for public liability, I'm a landscaper' or 'We need buildings cover for a block of flats'. It lands in the shared new business inbox. Somebody picks it up the next day, maybe the day after, and calls. The landscaper has already bought a policy online. The block of flats owner wants to know if you do residential property owners, and it turns out the block is above a takeaway, which changes which markets will look at it.
Good enquiries do come through. They are just mixed in with ones you cannot place, and all of them wait in the same queue.
Why enquiries go cold
Small commercial buyers ask several brokers at once, or buy online. Speed matters. But a broker cannot quote without the basics, and a generic contact form collects none of them. So the first contact is a fact-finding call, which needs a free broker, which takes time.
- Contact forms are the same for every class of business.
- Enquiries land in a shared inbox with no owner.
- There is no triage between enquiries you want and ones outside your appetite.
- Follow-up after the first call is up to each broker.
- Nobody tracks what happened to each enquiry.
What cold enquiries cost
Every enquiry that goes elsewhere is marketing spend with no return. Broker time goes on calls about risks you cannot place. And because outcomes are not tracked, you cannot tell which sources or trades bring good business, so the marketing budget goes where it always went.
Intake that asks the right questions
- We replace the generic form with short, class-specific enquiry forms for the lines you want, such as tradesmen, property owners, offices or your niche schemes, asking the few questions a broker needs to judge the risk.
- Email and phone enquiries are logged into the same structure, with an email reader that pulls out the key details for the broker to check.
- Each enquiry is routed by class, trade, size and region to the right team or broker, using rules you set, and enquiries clearly outside appetite get a polite, prompt reply you have written.
- The enquirer gets an immediate acknowledgement saying who will contact them, and can book a call slot online.
- Follow-up tasks are created for the broker, and anything untouched after a set time is raised to a team leader.
- Every enquiry is recorded with its source, outcome and reason if lost, and converted enquiries are passed to your broking system.
Enquiries, sorted before anyone calls
| Type of enquiry | Today | With structured intake |
|---|---|---|
| Good fit, full details | Waits in the inbox | Routed to the right broker straight away |
| Good fit, missing details | Fact-find call | Form asks for them up front |
| Outside appetite | Called, then declined | Prompt, polite reply |
| Niche scheme | Mixed in with everything | Routed to the scheme team |
New business, with an owner for every enquiry
Brokers start with the enquiries worth calling, already knowing the trade, the size and what cover is wanted. Enquirers hear back quickly and know who will call. And after a few months, you can see which sources and trades turn into clients, which is the information you need to spend your marketing money sensibly.
Is this where your enquiries go?
- Your website has one generic contact form.
- New business enquiries land in a shared inbox without an owner.
- Brokers spend calls on risks you cannot place.
- You do not know what happened to most enquiries last month.