Much of the communication in small businesses has shifted to emailing. In certain ways it can be more convenient than talking on the phone. When it comes to a customer placing an order over email, or asking for a quote, it’s important to respond quickly. The main purpose for this is to simply let the customer know that you received their email.
Here is an example. It’s Monday morning, and a customer emails to ask if they can have 24 t-shirts printed by Thursday, and what the cost would be. You see the email Monday at 9 am. If you know it only takes you 1-2 days to do the order, your next thought might be regarding what you would want to charge them. If you then put that quote request on your list and then send the quote by the end of the day, you may have caused an inconvenience for your customer. The first thing you should do at minimum, and immediately, is respond. If you wait until the end of the day to respond, you are leaving the customer wondering if you even received their email. You don’t need to do the quote on the spot. Just communicate quickly that you received the request, then follow up with a second email. The customer will appreciate the communication and you’ll probably have a better chance of landing the order.