A bag of samples and then silence
A new cafe opening in town emails through the website asking about sourdough and pastries. The owner replies a few days later, arranges for the driver to drop samples on Thursday, and means to ring the following week. The following week is a bank holiday. By the time the call happens, the cafe has signed up with another bakery, which followed up the next day.
Meanwhile, a deli owner mentioned to the driver that they might want bread, and the driver told the owner, who wrote it on a scrap of paper that is now in the van.
Why enquiries slip away
A wholesale bakery owner works nights. Sales happens in the gaps, and enquiries arrive through several doors: the website, the phone, markets, drivers, other customers. There is no single list of who asked, what they tasted and when to call back.
- Enquiries arrive through the website, phone, drivers and markets.
- Samples are arranged ad hoc and not recorded.
- Nobody notes which products each prospect tasted.
- Follow-ups rely on the owner remembering.
- Prospects who said not now are never contacted again.
What the lost enquiries cost
Samples cost something too. A bag of sourdough, croissants and a cake or two, packed and delivered on a round, costs ingredients, time and van space, and a sample with no follow-up is simply a gift.
New accounts that went elsewhere, often for no reason other than a slow follow-up. Samples given away with nothing to show for them. And a sense that growth depends on the owner having spare hours, which they rarely have.
The enquiry tracker we build
- Website enquiry forms feed straight into the tracker, and drivers or market staff can add a lead from their phone in a few seconds.
- Each lead records the business, contact, what they are interested in, likely volume and where the lead came from.
- Sample drops are scheduled onto the right round on the right day, and appear on the packing sheet and the driver's drop list with the products to include.
- After the samples, the tracker reminds you to follow up, with a note of what they tasted, and drafts a short email with prices for those products for you to edit and send.
- Leads move through simple stages, such as enquiry, samples sent, followed up, trial order, account opened or not now, and not now leads get a reminder a few months later.
- When a lead becomes a customer, their details pass into the new account setup, so nothing is typed twice.
| Stage | What the tracker does |
|---|---|
| Enquiry | Captured from the website, phone, driver or market |
| Samples | Added to a round and packing sheet |
| Follow-up | Reminder with what they tasted |
| Not now | Reminder to try again later |
| New account | Details passed to account setup |
Growth that does not depend on memory
Every enquiry is on one list, with a next step and a date. Samples go out on the next round, not whenever someone remembers. Follow-ups happen while the samples are still fresh in the cafe owner's mind. And you can see which sources bring customers who stay, which helps decide whether the market stall or the website deserves more effort.
Drivers become part of it too. A driver who hears that a new cafe is opening on the round can add it on the spot, and see later whether it turned into an account.
Over a year the tracker also shows which products win accounts. If most new cafes sign after tasting the sourdough and the almond croissant, those are the samples to send first.
Is this how enquiries work at your bakery?
- Enquiries arrive in several places and are not listed together.
- Samples are sent without a follow-up date.
- You have lost a prospect to a quicker bakery.
- Drivers' leads are passed on by word of mouth.
- Not now prospects are never contacted again.