Sunday afternoon. A couple who got engaged at Christmas are working through a list of planners. Each message says the same thing, which is whether the planner is free on a Saturday in September next year.
By Tuesday, when the emails are read, they have had two replies and spoken to one of them.
The teardown: why the simplest question is lost
Planners work at events during the weekend and on client delivery during the week. The enquiry arrives at the one time nobody is at a desk, and it is a question that becomes irrelevant the moment someone else answers it.
Failure one: availability is invisible
A calendar, or even a note saying which months are filling, lets a couple self-serve. Most planners publish nothing, so every enquiry requires a person.
Failure two: the reply takes days
A date question needs an answer in hours. Couples are working through a list in a single sitting and the planner who replies on Tuesday is replying to someone already in conversation with a competitor.
Failure three: nothing is captured beyond the date
Date, venue if booked, approximate numbers, event type and budget range. Capturing these at the same moment turns a yes into a consultation rather than another exchange.
Failure four: an unavailable date ends the conversation
Being booked is not the end. Offering an associate, a recommendation or a different service level keeps a couple who liked you, and referrals from a graceful no are worth having.
Failure five: provisional holds are not offered
Holding a date briefly while a couple decides is a small commitment that converts strongly, and most planners either do it inconsistently or not at all.
Failure six: weekends are the whole market
Most events happen at weekends, and most enquiries are sent then. A business whose enquiry handling stops on Friday is effectively closed during the hours when its customers are most active, which is the purest version of the problem.
Failure seven: nobody says what happens next
Whether a consultation follows, whether it is free, how long it lasts and whether it can be online. Couples want to know what they are agreeing to.
Failure eight: the date is not treated as qualification
A date twenty months out and one in nine weeks need completely different responses, and the timescale tells you which service and which urgency applies.
What to publish
Which periods are busy, how many events you take, how far ahead you book, what happens if you are unavailable, what a consultation involves and how quickly you respond.
Capture the rest while they are there
Budget and scope should be gathered at the same moment, which is the qualification described in event enquiries with a date but no budget.
Venues face the same pattern
It is covered in wedding venue enquiries that need dates and numbers.
Supplier questions follow the booking
They are covered in supplier and venue questions planners answer daily, and automated qualification is covered in how event planners qualify enquiries with a chatbot.
Getting started
Publish your booking capacity and response times, then answer the date question and capture the rest at any hour including all weekend. SpideyChat for planners answers from your published pages. Try SpideyChat on your own site, or read about capture on the features page.