Three enquiries, three different prices
A builder emails asking for a price on a 1.5 tonne excavator and a dumper for a week. A web form asks for a scissor lift next Tuesday. A caller wants a price on a 9 tonne excavator with a breaker for a month. Each is dealt with by whoever is free. One gets a price from the rate card, one gets the rate a rep gave the same customer last time, one gets a price with transport forgotten.
Some enquiries get a reply in minutes. The email waits until the afternoon, by which time the builder has booked elsewhere.
Why enquiries are slow and inconsistent
Answering a hire enquiry properly means three checks at once, and each lives somewhere different.
- Availability is in the hire system, the workshop and people's heads.
- Rates depend on the customer: rate card, account rate, or a rate a rep agreed.
- Transport cost depends on the site location and the machine's size.
- Web and email enquiries sit in an inbox while phones are answered first.
- Quotes given by phone aren't written down, so the customer and the desk remember different figures.
What slow and inconsistent quotes cost
Enquiries that go to whoever replied first. Customers who get different prices on different days and lose trust. Transport given away because it was left off. And no record of how many enquiries you win or why you lose the rest, so rate decisions are made blind.
Busy periods make it worse. In spring and summer, when demand is high, the desk is flat out with bookings and off-hires, and the enquiries that would be most profitable wait longest for an answer.
An enquiry desk we build
- Enquiries from phone, email, web form and messages land in one queue. Phone enquiries are logged in a quick form while on the call.
- Email and web enquiries are read to pull out the machine, dates, site postcode and customer, ready for the desk to check.
- The desk sees availability for that category and dates, from the hire system and workshop status together.
- The applicable rate is shown for that customer: account rate, rep-agreed rate or rate card, with who agreed it and when.
- Transport is calculated from the site postcode and the machine's transport class, using your delivery charge rules.
- A written quote goes to the customer by email or text with a link to accept, and accepted quotes become bookings in the hire system.
- Unanswered quotes are followed up on your schedule, and lost reasons are recorded.
| Part of the quote | Where it comes from |
|---|---|
| Availability | Hire system and workshop status |
| Rate | Customer account, rep agreement or rate card |
| Transport | Site postcode and machine transport class |
| Quote record | Sent in writing and stored |
| Outcome | Accepted, lost with reason, or expired |
What the desk has afterwards
Every enquiry is answered from the same facts, whoever picks it up. Customers get a written quote they can accept with one tap. Transport is never forgotten. And the enquiry report shows which categories you lose on price and which on availability, which is what fleet and rate decisions need.
Signs your enquiries need this
- Web and email enquiries wait while phones are answered.
- Different staff quote different rates to the same customer.
- Transport is sometimes left off quotes.
- Phone quotes aren't confirmed in writing.
- Nobody knows how many enquiries convert.