Use case · Trades
Customer enquiries in the trades
In the trades more enquiries come in than can be taken on - and many still go unanswered, because in the evening nobody picks up the phone any more. The loss is not in the enquiries that were declined but in those that never got a reply.
The entry point with the least risk
What is different here
What it actually turns on in the trades.
Pre-qualification is a question of geography
Travel, trade and order size usually decide whether a job pays. Those are three details that appear in almost no enquiry and have to be asked for before anything can be judged.
Appointments are the real bottleneck
It is not the price that decides but when somebody can come. A suggested appointment from the real calendar is therefore worth more than a fast quotation.
Emergency and project land in the same inbox
A burst pipe and a bathroom refit come through the same form. The separation decides who gets called within the hour and who within the week.
Systems we connect here
- Streit V.1
- pds
- Calendar
- Website form
- Phone system
If yours is not listed, that is not an exclusion. Where no interface exists, we build one - that is the most demanding part and it is our trade.
The rule that only applies here
In the trades you lose orders to silence, not to rejection. Reply within the hour and you beat the firm that calls back the next day.
The process
Where a person is needed - and where they no longer are.
- ClaudeLab from here
Step 01Person
Enquiry
Intake
Step 02ClaudeLab
Qualification
Deciding
Step 03ClaudeLab
Handover
Output
The difference
The same process, once as it is today and once with us.
Step 01 · today
Step 01 · with us
Step 02 · today
Step 02 · with us
Step 03 · today
Step 03 · with us
What we build
- Component 01
- Incoming enquiries are read and checked for completeness.
- Component 02
- Missing details are requested together in one reply, not one at a time.
- Component 03
- Assessment against your criteria - region, order size, service.
- Component 04
- A suggested appointment from the real calendar instead of a holding pattern.
Degree of autonomy
Follow-up questions and suggested appointments run independently. Rejections and anything touching price go past a person - a wrongly declined enquiry does not come back.
Where it does not fit
Where the first contact is itself the selling point - services that need explaining and rest on a personal bond - automation does more harm than good.
Frequently asked
Is this worth it in the trades?
In the trades you lose orders to silence, not to rejection. Reply within the hour and you beat the firm that calls back the next day. Whether it pays for you depends on your volume - the audit establishes that.
We use a different system from the ones listed. Does it still work?
Yes. The ones listed are those we most often meet in the trades - a list, not a precondition. Where no interface exists, we build one.
What do we have to provide?
The criteria that make an enquiry a fit for you - roughly is enough, we sharpen them together. Access to the form and the mailbox, and to the calendar as well if appointments are to be suggested. A decision on which replies may go out without a person looking at them. Nothing more is needed to start.
How will we know it works?
Across 100 real enquiries the "fit / not a fit" assessment agrees with yours in at least 90 %. No enquiry goes unanswered for longer than one working day. Rejections give a reason and sound like your firm, not like a machine.
How long does implementation take?
2 to 4 weeks - the entry point with the least effort.
Does the AI decide on its own?
Follow-up questions and suggested appointments run independently. Rejections and anything touching price go past a person - a wrongly declined enquiry does not come back.
When is this not worth it?
Where the first contact is itself the selling point - services that need explaining and rest on a personal bond - automation does more harm than good.
The same process, in general
This page shows the fit in the trades. The process itself is sector-independent - what matters is whether it repeats.
Customer enquiries in generalTell us where your time goes.
In the audit we record the process, work out what is worth automating, and you get a plan with fixed prices - credited against the build if you go ahead.