Inquiry Desk.

The work before the work.

Website inquiries arrive in the same inbox, whether someone wants a quote or needs urgent help. Staff have to read each message, copy it into a sheet, work out who should handle it, and reply. When the team is busy, a serious issue can sit behind an ordinary pricing question.

How the workflow handles it.

The workflow design starts with a webhook and a contact check. Valid inquiries are classified by intent and urgency, then passed on with a short summary and an owner. Sales gets the budget and timeline; support gets the reported issue. The n8n design connects Google Sheets for the log, Gmail for acknowledgments, and Slack for urgent alerts. Missing details stop the route before a reply is prepared. The preview above runs three preset inquiries locally so each branch can be inspected.

• Different routes for a new sales lead, urgent support, and an incomplete inquiry.
• A concise handoff with the customer’s request, priority, and next action.
• A proposed shared inquiry log, team assignment, Slack alert, and email acknowledgment.
• A review path for missing details or uncertain classifications, with duplicate checks before any action.

What the system enables.

Before

Every message needs someone to read it, copy its details, decide who owns it, and remember to write back.

With Inquiry Desk

The prototype demonstrates a ready-to-act handoff: a category, a priority, an owner, and an acknowledgment. Urgent and incomplete requests visibly take different paths.

What this project taught me.

The first version only saved a row and sent an email. That left the team doing the sorting anyway. Adding an owner, a priority, and a useful summary makes the handoff worth opening. The incomplete submission matters too: sending nothing is the right outcome when there is no valid address.