Inquiries

An inquiry starts with the prospective customer and the person who made contact. A photographer records the source, date and owner before promising a price or a delivery date. The inquiry can move from New to Contacted and then to Qualified or Unqualified. The reason on an unqualified inquiry matters: a studio can distinguish a poor fit from a customer who simply did not respond.

• Record. Record the client and contact names as received, plus an email or phone for follow-up.
• Set. Set an owner when the inquiry arrives so a dated activity can be assigned.
• Review. Review status and source together before converting a qualified inquiry.

Agree how the team checks for an existing client and contact. Use the same naming and contact rules across web, referral and phone requests. Decide which person can mark an inquiry qualified and what information they need before conversion. During setup, rehearse reuse of existing customer and contact records. Check that a repeat conversion returns the same linked records before the team relies on that handoff.

Photographer and Sales Coordinator should agree how they recognize a returning customer from the recorded name, email and phone. Studio Manager should decide when an unqualified reason is required and who reviews a request marked Duplicate. Choose a referral and an inbound call for the first review, since their source and contact details arrive in different ways. Assign the next call before closing the intake review. This keeps the owner visible when the customer responds later.

A referral asks about a portrait session and prints. The photographer records the person, source and a call due tomorrow. After the call, they mark the inquiry Contacted and capture the requested session and product scope in notes. When the request is qualified, they check whether that customer already has a client record. The photographer links the existing client and contact to the booking opportunity, then records those links on the inquiry. On a second review, the team uses those same records instead of creating another pursuit.

Open the inquiry after qualification and compare its customer and contact links with the opportunity. For a repeat request, search for the existing client and contact before recording any new ones. If the person is new but the client exists, add the contact to that client. Keep the original inquiry available so Studio Manager can see its source and outcome. The photographer should leave with a dated activity and a named next step.

• New Inquiries — Requests awaiting a first response, with source and owner visible.
• Qualified Inquiries — Requests ready for a customer and opportunity link.
• Inquiry Status Board — A status view for the studio review.

See the connected process and implementation for the first rehearsal.