Guide

How Australian training providers can follow up course enquiries, within ASQA and Spam Act rules

By Frenz Adrian Sarabia, founder of G-SYNQ · Updated 13 October 2026

Short answer: Reply to every course enquiry straight away with a personal automatic message that asks one question, whether it's for them or for their team, and gives a link to see dates and book. Then follow up in person. Keep guarantees out of every message, record consent before any marketing goes out, and have the provider approve every word.

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This is a method guide. I haven't published a result from a training build, and I won't suggest one. What follows is how I'd set up the follow-up for a training provider, with the rules I'd check, linked to the regulators' own pages. I'm not a lawyer and this isn't legal advice, so check your own situation with your adviser.

Where do course enquiries slip?

An enquiry about a course usually arrives while the person is comparing providers and dates. If the first reply waits until your admin person is free, the person has often moved on to the next provider. I've written about why in how fast to reply to a new enquiry. For a training business there's a second gap: two different people send the same kind of enquiry. One is an individual asking about a course for themselves. The other is a manager asking about a group for staff. They need different next steps, and a generic reply serves neither.

What should the first reply ask?

One question that routes the enquiry, plus a way to act straight away. As an illustration only:

Hi Sam, thanks for your enquiry about [course] at [provider]. Is this for you, or for a team? You can see upcoming dates and book here: [link]. I'll reply personally as soon as I'm free.

Put the same question on the enquiry form as a choice, so the answer lands in its own field in the CRM and the right follow-up starts. An individual gets dates, a booking link and reminders. A team enquiry gets a task for you to send a group quote, because I wouldn't automate a price you haven't agreed.

What should the rest of the follow-up do?

1. They book or enrol. A confirmation, then reminders a day before and an hour before, carrying the practical details you supply.
2. They miss the session. A friendly message with a link to rebook, and a task for your team.
3. They enquired but didn't book. A short follow-up, then a task for a person to call.
4. They ask you to stop. Every message stops, and the contact is marked.

The automatic messages go by email, and by SMS where the person has ticked the consent box on the form. I don't set up WhatsApp.

What does ASQA say about marketing by a registered training organisation?

This section applies only if you're a registered training organisation. ASQA's Information and Transparency Practice Guide covers the revised Standards, which ASQA says came into full effect on 1 July 2025. It says advertisements and marketing materials published or disseminated by the organisation, a third party or an expert it engages must:

• include the registration code or a link to where it's shown on the National Register;
• accurately represent the services, and distinguish nationally recognised training from other training;
• include accurate information about any financial support available;
• when they refer to a training product, include its code and title as published on the National Register.

The same guide says an RTO must not make verbal or written guarantees that a student will complete a training product, or will get a particular employment outcome that isn't within the organisation's control. It also says licensed or regulated outcomes may only be represented where the relevant industry regulator has confirmed them.

The practical effect for me is simple. If I write your messages, I'm a third party writing your marketing. So your automatic replies and reminders never promise an outcome, never invent a course code or a funding claim, and use course details you supply and approve. Whether a given automatic reply counts as marketing material is for you and your compliance adviser to decide. I treat them as if it does.

What does the Spam Act require?

The ACMA's guide to avoiding sending spam says that to send marketing messages you must first have consent, and that you need it even when someone else sends the messages for you. Express consent can be a form or a ticked box, you keep a record of who gave it, when and how, and it's up to you to prove it. Inferred consent is not as reliable. Each message must identify the business that authorised it with correct contact details, and every commercial message needs an unsubscribe option that is honoured within 5 working days, and doesn't make the person log in or give extra personal information.

So I add a consent checkbox to the enquiry form, record who ticked it and when, name your business in every message, and make one unsubscribe stop everything.

Who approves the wording?

You do, every time, before anything goes live. I draft the structure and the plain parts, like confirmations and reminders. Anything about a qualification, funding, a licensed outcome or a job outcome is yours to supply or rewrite.

What results can you expect?

G-SYNQ has worked with one Australian client before, a B2B training business, and no results from that work are published, so I don't quote any. What I can offer a training provider is the system and the care with the rules above, not a number.

A checklist for your training business

The way I work with Australian businesses in general is on the Australia page. For a clinic version of the same idea under different rules, see clinic enquiry follow-up in Australia.