An agency's new business lead spends Tuesday on four discovery calls. One is a genuine fit. One wants a website for a tenth of the agency's minimum. One wants a service the agency does not offer. One is a student doing research. Six hours, one real prospect.
Filtering agency enquiries early is one of the simplest ways to protect an agency's time. It does not mean ignoring poor fits. It means knowing which enquiries deserve a call and which deserve a helpful email.
Step 1: define a good fit
Write down what a good fit looks like:
- Services you offer.
- Minimum project size or budget range.
- Industries or types of client you work best with.
- Typical timelines you can meet.
This makes qualification consistent across the team.
Step 2: answer the question first
Prospects usually open with a question: do you do X, how much does Y cost, how long would Z take? Answer it before asking anything. The importance of answering fast is covered in agencies lose good clients to slow enquiry replies.
Step 3: ask four questions
After answering, ask:
- What is the project?
- When do you need it?
- What budget range are you working with?
- Who else is involved in the decision?
Budget is the delicate one. Asking for a range, rather than a figure, and explaining why helps. The approach is covered in qualifying by budget without being pushy.
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Step 4: sort into three groups
- Good fit: book a discovery call with context.
- Possible fit: a short email exchange to clarify.
- Not a fit: a helpful reply with alternatives.
Step 5: reply helpfully to poor fits
A prospect with a small budget or an out-of-scope project may become a good fit later, or refer someone who is. Reply with a clear, kind explanation and a suggestion: a freelancer, a template service or another agency.
Step 6: separate partners and suppliers
Some enquiries are not prospects at all: freelancers offering services, software vendors, other agencies suggesting partnerships. These should go elsewhere, as described in partner and reseller enquiries from your website.
Step 7: automate the first reply
SpideyChat for agencies answers questions from your services pages at any hour, asks your qualifying questions and captures the brief. Your new business lead then sees each enquiry sorted, with context. More on filtering enquiries is in an AI chatbot for agencies.
Reviewing the filter
Check every quarter whether the filter is working. Look at the projects you won and the ones you lost, and at the enquiries you filtered out. If some filtered-out enquiries turned into good clients elsewhere, your criteria may be too strict. If discovery calls still go nowhere, they may be too loose. A qualification process is only as good as the feedback that shapes it, so treat the criteria as a draft you revise rather than a rule set in stone.
It also helps to ask new clients what nearly stopped them from getting in touch. Their answers often reveal a question your website or first reply should have answered.
What changes
Discovery calls go to prospects who fit. Poor fits get a fast, helpful answer instead of waiting days for a call that was never going to lead anywhere. The team spends its new business time where it counts. Setup is covered in the installation guide and training guide.