An enquiry arrives at half past ten on a Sunday night. It contains a photograph found online, the words how much, and a date eleven days away.
The baker cannot answer. Replying with six questions feels like an interrogation, replying with a range feels evasive, and replying tomorrow morning means somebody else has already answered.
1. Servings before anything else
The single largest driver of the figure, and the one detail enquirers never include. A photograph of a three tier cake says nothing about how many people are eating.
2. The date, and whether it is fixed
Weekends, holidays and wedding season are capacity constrained. A flexible date occasionally makes an impossible order possible.
3. The occasion
Weddings, children's parties and corporate orders have different expectations, different finishes and different tolerances, and the word changes the conversation.
4. The finish that photograph actually implies
Buttercream, fondant, hand painted, printed image or sugar modelling. These are hours of work apart and look similar in a small photograph.
5. Structural elements
Tiers, height, anything suspended, anything that has to travel. Structure is where cakes fail and where the labour hides.
6. Flavour and filling
Some combinations do not hold in a tiered structure and some carry a cost difference. Asking early prevents a promise you have to withdraw.
7. Dietary requirements
Gluten free, dairy free, nut free and whether it must be free from cross contamination. That last distinction is a completely different production process and must be established before quoting.
8. Delivery or collection
Whether it needs delivering, setting up on site, a venue contact and access. Delivery on a wedding day is a service, not a courier job.
9. Personalisation details
Names, ages, colours matched to something, and whether the spelling has been checked. Getting the spelling in writing at enquiry has saved more cakes than any technique.
10. Budget, asked directly
Enquirers have one and expect to be asked. A polite direct question about the figure they had in mind prevents a quotation that goes unanswered.
11. Publish the lead time and the minimum
Both, visibly. This filters the eleven day enquiry for a four tier wedding cake without anybody having to write an awkward reply.
12. Give a starting figure publicly
A from price by servings and finish. It costs nothing and it stops the enquiries that were never going to convert, which is the argument in ai receptionist pricing questions.
13. Use a structured form rather than an inbox
The detail required suits a form far better than an email exchange, which is the approach in handling custom order requests without losing them.
14. Capture it at the hour the enquiry arrives
An assistant that asks servings, date, occasion, finish, dietary needs and delivery, then hands over a complete brief, means the baker opens a quotable enquiry on Monday rather than a photograph. See features and the detail discipline in custom cake orders that need every detail.
15. Remember the corporate stream
Office and event orders repeat and are worth capturing properly, as covered in corporate catering enquiries small bakeries receive.
16. What a complete enquiry is worth
A quotation that holds, a customer who is not surprised, and a Sunday night enquiry that is still there on Monday. Start at try, and the sector view sits under restaurants.