Positive replies, marked as leads for you to answer

What counts as a positive reply

A reply is a lead when it moves things forward, in one of these ways:

• They ask for samples, prices, a meeting or a call.
• They ask a real question about the product.
• They agree to try it, taste it or stock it.
• They hand you to the person who decides: "I have passed this to our buyer", or "email purchasing@".

What does not

We keep the bar high, so your leads list is worth reading. These are not leads:

• A bare "thanks" or "received" with no next step.
• "We will keep you in mind" with nothing concrete.
• An automatic acknowledgement from a shared inbox.
• A complaint, however politely worded.

Why we keep the bar high

A leads list full of thank-yous and out-of-office messages wastes the afternoon you set aside to answer stores. A list that holds only stores asking for samples, prices or a call is one you can work through in order, starting at the top.

Handoffs count, because they are often the best reply you will get. An owner who writes "this is one for our buyer, I have passed it on" has done half the work for you. Write to the buyer, mention the owner by name, and keep it short.

How we read a reply

Before deciding, we strip out the quoted email underneath, so we judge what the store actually wrote rather than your own pitch. Replies are read in whatever language they arrive in. Every reply is sorted as positive, negative, an opt-out or an automatic reply, and anything we cannot read the first time is tried again.

If we get one wrong, mark it yourself. You know the store better than we do.

What happens with a lead

1. 1You get an emailIt shows the store and what they wrote, so you can decide from your phone.
2. 2It lands in LeadsIn Flow, the store appears as a card in Leads on its own, ready for the sample and the first order.
3. 3A reminder if it waitsIf you have not answered in 12 hours, we remind you, and again 48 hours later.

Your move

A lead is a store that wants to hear more, and the next message should come from you. The assistant can draft it; you send it, from the same mailbox and the same thread, in your reply inbox.

A good first answer is three or four lines. Thank them, ask the one question you need answered, and suggest the next step with a day attached. If they asked for prices, send your line sheet now: they asked, so the link is welcome. If they asked for samples, ask where to send them and book a day to check in once they land.

Answer within hours. Offer samples only to stores that ask, and ask for the format ("bottles, cans or a mix?") and the address in the same message. Never promise a visit you will not make. For alcohol, where posting samples is not always allowed, "happy to bring you a sample" works better.

A store that is not interested stops getting emails, and an address that turns out to be dead is blocked as a bounce. Our guide to getting your product into stores covers the sample stage in more depth.