Reading Your First Month of Job Cards: What to Check Is Being Captured Properly

You added call cover, the phone has rung out a few times since, and now there is a pile of job cards, texts and messages in your inbox. The temptation is to glance at them, see that work is coming in and move on. Don't. The first month is the best time to find small gaps, because every gap you spot now stops costing you jobs later.

Set aside an hour with a cup of tea and go through the cards in order. You are not judging whether the service "works". You are checking that each card gives you enough to act on without ringing the customer back to ask what they meant.

Start with how the cards reach you

Before reading individual cards, understand the route they take. It helps to know how an AI receptionist for trades passes jobs on: bookings, quotes and messages arrive by text and email as they happen. If you only ever look at one of those, you may be missing half the picture. Read both for the review, and note whether the same job appears in each in the same detail.

Check the postcode first

The postcode decides whether a job is yours at all, so check it first on every card.

• Is it a full postcode, or only the first half? A partial one makes it hard to judge travel time.
• Does it fall inside the area you actually cover? A card for a job well outside your patch suggests the coverage rules need tightening.
• Did you turn away anything you would have taken? Edge-of-area postcodes are where owners most often find the rules are too strict or too loose.

If the coverage area was described to your provider in general terms, such as "about half an hour from the yard", now is the time to replace that with specific towns or postcode areas.

Read the job description like a stranger

Cover the customer's name and read only the description. Could you price it or plan the van stock from that alone?

A good description says what is wrong, where in the property and whether it is urgent. "Boiler problem" is thin. "Boiler showing an error, no hot water" is something you can act on. If many cards are thin, tell your provider which questions you wish had been asked. For a rewire you might want property type and number of rooms. For a roofing quote, whether it is a leak or a full replacement.

Verify the contact details

This is the dullest check and the one that costs you most when it fails.

1. Ring or text the number on a few cards. Does it reach the right person?
2. Check the name is spelled sensibly, especially for repeat customers.
3. See whether a callback time or preference was noted, and whether you could tell if the caller wanted a call or a text.
4. For missed-call text conversations, confirm the number you see is the one the person was actually using.

If an address is needed for the job, check it was asked for. A postcode alone is fine for screening, but you will need the full address before anyone turns up.

Look at bookings against your diary

Where jobs were booked straight into the diary, compare the slots with your real availability. Look for double bookings, slots that ignore travel between jobs, and times you would never offer, such as early starts on a day you keep free. Any of these means the diary rules need adjusting.

Also check what the caller was told about call-out charges or quotes. It should match what you have said you quote, no more and no less.

Review the emergency and out-of-hours handling

Find the cards marked as emergencies. Were they genuine? Did the right person on call get notified, and quickly? Equally important, look for jobs that were urgent in your opinion but were not flagged. Ask your provider to change the rules if the line sits in the wrong place for your business. Remember that gas, electrical or flooding situations may need advice beyond a booking, so be clear in your rules about what should go straight to a person.

Check the diversion rules

Think about when calls were diverted. You can set rules so that calls go across when you are engaged, out of hours, or only as overflow. Ask yourself:

• Did calls go to cover that you would rather have taken yourself?
• Were there calls you missed that were not covered?
• Do the rules suit how your week actually runs, or how you imagined it would?

Turn findings into a short change list

Don't fix things one by one as you spot them. Write a single list: coverage tweaks, extra questions, diary limits, emergency wording, diversion timing. Send it in one go. Because the service is run and tuned for you, a clear, specific list is far more useful than a general "it's mostly fine".

Then diary a repeat review for a month later. The aim is for each card to be something you can act on in under a minute.