A useful enquiry workflow
- Capture the enquiry in structured fields.
- Confirm the customer received it.
- Check whether required information or files are missing.
- Route the request based on approved business rules.
- Create or update the CRM or tracking record.
- Assign a human task when expertise, pricing or judgment is required.
- Send approved follow-up when no response or internal action occurs.
- Record the outcome so the workflow can be measured.
Good candidates for automation
| Step | Automation role | Human role |
|---|---|---|
| Acknowledgement | Send a factual confirmation and next-step expectation. | Define approved language and exceptions. |
| Missing information | Detect empty required fields and request specific items. | Handle ambiguous or unusual project requirements. |
| Routing | Assign by location, service, account, value band or configured rules. | Own exceptions and commercial prioritization. |
| CRM update | Write structured fields, source and status. | Correct conflicts and make relationship decisions. |
| Follow-up | Trigger approved reminders after configured intervals. | Take over when the conversation becomes substantive. |
Keep these decisions with authorized people
- Final pricing and discounts.
- Engineering or technical assumptions.
- Legal or contractual commitments.
- Unusual risk or safety decisions.
- Negotiation and relationship-sensitive communication.
- Promises about delivery or project acceptance unless a reliable system of record explicitly authorizes them.
Measure the workflow, not just the number of emails sent
- Percentage of enquiries with complete required information.
- Time from enquiry to first useful human review.
- Number of manual touches before qualification.
- Follow-up coverage and overdue tasks.
- CRM write failures and exceptions.
- Qualified opportunities, declines and unresolved requests.