How to turn a DM enquiry into a booking
A DM becomes a booking when you have agreed what you’re doing, when you’re doing it and what it will cost—and recorded that agreement somewhere you can find it again.
The conversation can stay on Instagram or WhatsApp. The job shouldn’t have to live there too. Someone asking “Are you free on Saturday?” is an enquiry. A confirmed date, an agreed brief and a clear next step are something you can plan around.
Start with the missing detail, not another form
Ask only for what you need to decide whether you can take the work. For a cake maker, that might mean the collection date, servings and design. For a magician, it could be the venue, performance time and length of the set. Neither needs the same checklist as a window cleaner.
Before promising a slot, check your existing commitments. If you are holding a date while the customer decides, record it as provisional and make clear when that hold ends. Don’t let a hopeful conversation look like confirmed work in your calendar.
Send one summary of what you’ve agreed
Messages arrive in pieces. The customer changes the time, sends a reference picture and asks about an extra. Bring the current agreement into one reply, so both of you can check the same version.
An example you can adapt
“Just to check we’ve got everything right: a birthday cake for 20 people, collected on Saturday at 11am, with the blue design we discussed. The total is £80. I’ll send the payment details and confirm the booking once the agreed next step is complete. Does that all look right?”
Illustrative wording and price. Use your own scope, payment arrangements and confirmation process.
Move the agreement into one booking record
Record the customer, the work, the date, the agreed price and the next action. Keep any reference images or important conversation details with that record. A screenshot alone can preserve a message, but it won’t tell you which jobs are due tomorrow.
Use a status you understand: enquiry, awaiting confirmation, booked or completed. If payment is still outstanding, record that separately. “Booked” and “paid in full” are not the same thing.
Close the loop when something changes
If the customer changes the date or the brief, update the booking and send a revised summary. Keeping the change only in the chat creates two competing versions of the work. The record should describe the latest agreement, with enough history to explain what changed.
Before finishing your day, check enquiries waiting for your reply and bookings waiting for a customer action. This is more useful than treating every unread message as equally urgent.
Where Ordely fits
We’re building Ordely around this handover: work agreed in DMs becomes a booking with the customer, dates and payments kept together. Our own bakery gave us the reason to start. The aim is to help you keep control without asking your business to work like someone else’s.
This is a workflow guide, not a claim that Ordely automatically reads or imports Instagram or WhatsApp messages. Ordely is in development; join the waitlist for updates.