Use cases
Gas or electric? She asks before she books.
Your caller never fills in a form. She asks what the job needs while she has them on the phone, then books the slot and writes down every word of the answer.
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What will she ask a caller before she books?
Two or three short questions, chosen by you, asked out loud in the middle of the call. She asks what the job needs — gas or electric, upstairs or down, house or business — one question at a time, waits for each answer, and has the appointment on your calendar by the time they say goodbye.
The set is yours. You write the questions once for the jobs you take, and she works through them before the appointment is confirmed. What a caller says comes back word for word — she isn't grading anyone, and she isn't deciding anything from it.
From the caller's chair it doesn't feel like intake at all. It feels like reaching a front desk that knows the trade: somebody asks the obvious thing, listens to the answer, and gets on with the part they actually called about.
What does it sound like from the caller's side?
Sat · 10:12 AM — incoming call · you were loading the van
My new dryer got dropped off this morning. Do you hook those up?
We do. Is the new one gas or electric?
Gas. The old one was gas too, if that helps.
Got it. I have Monday at 11 AM or Wednesday at 2 PM. Which suits you?
Monday's good. It's Wes Okonkwo, and this number is fine.
Monday at 11 AM, Wes, callback 585-555-0119. I've written down that it's a gas dryer replacing a gas one.
10:13 AM — booked · the gas answer lands in your recap email
Conversation is illustrative.
Decide with your ears — not a sales deck.
Paste your website and talk to your own receptionist, free, in your browser.
Why is she asking me that?
Four questions an owner might save, and what each one is really for. The caller hears a sentence; you get back whatever they said.
| The question you saved | What it's really for | What comes back |
|---|---|---|
| Is the new dryer gas or electric? | Two different jobs, two different parts on the van. | "Gas — same as the old one." |
| Is the address a house or a business? | Parking, access, and who opens the door. | "A house. Park in the driveway." |
| Roughly how old is the unit? | Whether you're repairing it or pricing a replacement. | "Twelve years? It came with the place." |
| Who should we ask for at the door? | The person calling isn't always the person home. | "My daughter Nadia — she's there all day." |
Questions and answers are illustrative. You write your own set, and the wording stays yours.
What does the asking feel like from the other end?
Six things a caller notices, or doesn't, while she's collecting what the job needs.
- A question, then a pause. She waits for the answer before she asks the next thing.
- Plain words. Each question is one sentence you wrote, no longer than 160 characters, not a form read aloud.
- Their answer, in their own words. Nothing to spell out, nothing to choose from a list of options.
- "I'm not sure" is an answer. She writes it down, asks once more and more softly only if you marked the question required, and carries on with the booking either way.
- Five questions is the ceiling for any one service, and most sets are shorter than that.
- Then the read-back: the day, the time, their name, and the number to call them on.
Why does she ask before the booking, and not after?
Because after is a phone call you have to make. Once the caller has hung up, the detail you're missing costs you a callback, a voicemail nobody returns, and sometimes the slot itself. Asked while she has them, it costs the caller ten seconds and you nothing.
It also keeps your calendar readable. The event she creates carries the service, the caller's name and their number — a plain line you can take in at arm's length on a job site — and the answers stay off it, so a booked job never turns into a wall of notes you have to scroll.
They sit one screen away instead: the recap email for that call, the call's own page in your dashboard, and your Appointments page. You decide what she asks on the Intake page, and you can change the set between one call and the next.
What she never does while she's asking
She never holds the booking hostage. A question the caller skips is recorded as "not provided", and the appointment goes on your calendar anyway.
She never asks for a photo or a file. Everything she collects is spoken, because the phone call is the only place any of this happens.
She never turns a question into advice. If an answer pulls toward medical, legal or safety ground, she stops short of an opinion and writes the caller down for a callback instead.
She never invents a question. She asks the set you saved, and a required one gets a second, softer ask at most — never a third.
Frequently asked questions
Are intake answers in the calendar event?
No. The event she creates is the plain line you already read on your phone: the service, the caller's name and their number, so a booked job stays readable at arm's length on a job site. What the caller told her reaches you after the call, on your side of the account, never on the calendar itself.
What if the caller won't answer a question?
She books them anyway. A question you marked required gets one more, softer ask — never a demand. If the caller skips it again, she writes down "not provided", finishes the booking or the message, and you see the gap in the recap email. No lead is lost over a detail.
Can she ask a caller for photos?
No. Everything she collects is spoken, so a question has to be answerable out loud. She can't receive a photo, a file or a text message, and she never sends one either. If a job really needs a picture, she books or takes the message as usual, and you can ask for it when you call back.
Take the caller's side for a minute.
Paste your website and hear her answer as a caller would. Once she's yours, write the questions she asks before she books.
No card · No setup · Keep your number · No website? Start here
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