Questions people ask

Enquiries and old contacts that went quiet: a weekly follow-up routine

A small firm with no sales team can answer new enquiries the same day and catch everything else with one short list a week: replies still owed, then enquiries that went quiet, then people who have moved or been promoted, each with a reason to write and a line to open with. In one training client’s records in September 2026, 36 people had asked about a course and never came, 12 conversations were waiting on a date, a price or a reply, and 2 people were waiting for an answer on LinkedIn. Fully Sealed, a monthly CRM clean-up and follow-up service, dates and lists every enquiry with a line to send, and turns every point in its monthly report into a dated to-do in the client’s own CRM.

Fully Sealed · figures checked October 2026

How many enquiries go quiet, and why?

In one training client’s records in September 2026, 36 people had asked about a course and never came: 19 never booked, and 17 booked and did not turn up. Another 12 conversations were waiting on a date, a price or a reply, one of them a request for a quote for 12 people.

One training client’s LinkedIn account held 24,515 messages in September 2026, and every one was read: most were people selling, but 2 people were waiting for a reply and 8 who had asked about training had gone quiet.

A CRM can hold a next step for every contact, but only if someone sets one, so an enquiry with no date waits until someone happens to look.

When does an enquiry go cold?

The odds of a useful conversation with someone who has enquired fall sharply after the first hour. A study of 1.25 million sales leads at 42 US companies, reported in Harvard Business Review in March 2011, found that firms that tried to contact a potential customer within an hour of an enquiry were nearly seven times as likely to have a meaningful conversation with a decision maker as firms that tried even an hour later, and more than 60 times as likely as firms that waited 24 hours or longer. In the same article, an audit of 2,241 US companies found that only 37% replied to a web enquiry within an hour, and 23% never replied at all.

For an enquiry that has already gone quiet, the next good moment to write is when there is something new to say: a new date, a place on a course, or the price they asked for.

Who should you write to, and what should you say?

Write first to anyone waiting for your reply, then to people with a reason to hear from you now, and keep each message short: one reason, one question, one date. Fully Sealed suggests these lines to open with:

Which old contacts are worth a message now?

The old contacts worth a message now are the ones whose situation has changed: promoted into a job that buys, moved to a new organisation, due a refresher, or simply not spoken to in a year.

In one training client’s CRM in September 2026, 156 people who already knew the business had been promoted into the jobs that buy, and 2,887 contacts had moved to a new organisation while the CRM still showed the old one. Both were found by matching the CRM against the client’s LinkedIn connections, which show each person’s current job. A note to say congratulations is the natural way in.

How do you keep follow-up going while everyone is out delivering?

Answer new enquiries the same day, and keep everything else to one fixed sitting a week, working from a list that is already made. A weekly routine Fully Sealed suggests:

1. Replies owed: anyone still waiting on a date, a price or an answer.
2. Enquiries that went quiet, most recent first, each with something new to say.
3. People on the move: a congratulations note to anyone promoted or newly moved.
4. Refreshers due this month, grouped by organisation.
5. One person you have lost touch with.

With Fully Sealed the list is made for you: every point in the monthly leak check becomes a dated to-do in the client’s own CRM, every enquiry is dated and listed with a line to send, and the leak check names five people to call this week, most urgent first. In one client’s CRM, every point in his September 2026 report became a dated to-do on the right person: 90 of them. What is left for the firm is the sending, in its own words.

Where these facts come from: James Oldroyd, Kristina McElheran and David Elkington, “The Short Life of Online Sales Leads”, Harvard Business Review, March 2011, which reports both studies; Fully Sealed’s own work for one training client, September 2026, with every name taken out. All checked in October 2026.