She Asked Your Price in the First Message: 5 Steps to Take Before You Reply

A new inquiry lands in your inbox. A few warm lines about her home, what she loves about it, what is not working... and then the question. "So, what do you charge?"

And then, for so many of us, comes the pause. The reply sits there half written, and one question takes over: will answering this cost me the job?

If you are one of the solo interior designers, decorators, and stylists who knows that pause, this one is for you.

More and more often, the price question arrives in the very first message. Before a call. Before anyone has seen the space. That makes your first reply one of the earliest places a good lead can quietly go.

The good news? A reply is something you can plan. Once it has a shape, you can use it again and again.

In this post, you'll learn:

• why it helps to answer the price question straight away
• how to give your number a reason, in a sentence or two
• why your inquiry form belongs in your very first reply
• how to write this reply once and keep it ready

Step 1: Answer the question

She asked because she needs to know whether you are anywhere near what she had in mind. That is a fair question. And honestly, it is a good sign... she is already thinking about what this would cost, which usually means she is thinking about doing it.

So answer it. 👀

Tell her how you charge and where your projects usually start, in your own words and with your own numbers. If you work in a few different ways, name them briefly.

The reply that tends to lose her is the one that steps around the question. "It really depends, let's book a call first" can feel like the safe thing to send. To her, it can read as a dodge. And a dodge is a very easy reason to write to the next designer instead.

Step 2: Say what the number depends on

A number on its own is just a number. With a reason next to it, it becomes something she can actually think about.

Name the things that really move your price. The size of the project, how much of the work you take on, whether it is a full design or a smaller piece of help. Say those, and then stop. It also answers the question that usually comes next, before she has to ask it: why this much?

This is where your reply starts to sound like a professional studio. Keep it short {this part is so easy to overdo}. A long explanation can start to read like an apology for the number, and your number does not need one.

Step 3: Send her to your inquiry form

This is the step I keep coming back to, because it does so much quiet work.

Right after the number, point her to your inquiry form, with one friendly line on what it is for: a few questions about her home and what she is hoping for.

It gives her something easy to do next. It also shows you, early, whether this is your kind of project, before you have spent an evening on it.

And here is the part I love most. Her answers come in her own words: how she describes her home, what bothers her, how she wants it to feel. Those words can go straight into your proposal later, and when she reads them back, she can feel that you really listened.

So give your first reply one job: get her into the form.

Step 4: Offer the next step, and say what happens on it

Once the form is in, invite her to the next step, usually a call, and tell her what happens on it. What you will talk about. What she will know afterwards that she does not know now. How she books it.

People say yes to a call far more easily when they know what it is for. A vague "let's chat" asks her to give you her time before she knows why. A clear next step shows her you are already taking care of her.

And if she is not ready for a call yet, that is completely fine. Tell her the door is open whenever she is, and mean it.

Step 5: Write it once, then keep it

Here's what I keep seeing... most designers find this reply hard because they write it from scratch, every single time. New inquiry, new draft, the same round of second-guessing.

So write it once, properly, on a calm day. Your answer, your reason, the link to your inquiry form, your next step. Save it somewhere you can find it straight away.

Next time the price question arrives, open it, add her name and one line about her home, and send. It sounds sooo simple. It is, and that is the whole point {pinky promise}.

Recap: your first-inquiry checklist

1. Answer the question.
2. Say what the number depends on.
3. Send her to your inquiry form.
4. Offer the next step, and say what happens on it.
5. Write it once, then keep it.

You don't need more experience or a fancier website for any of this. Just one good reply, ready before the next inquiry lands.

And if leads are going quiet at the very first message, they may be slipping away somewhere else too.

The Lead Leak Finder is my free tool for finding out where. You go through your own client process, stage by stage, and see where your leads slip away.

👉 Find your leaks here