AI phone receptionist for awnings and pergolas
Quick summary
- You are on a terrace with the tape. Both hands are on the cassette. That is when the number on the van rings.
- The first question is motor or crank, new awning or wind sensor, café terrace or balcony — those are different visits.
- On a new terrace it books a measure-up. It never promises a weekend install from a photo of the façade.
- A café that opens the terrace in April will not wait on voicemail. They ring the next workshop.
- It checks the book you already use before it offers a morning, writes the visit in, and texts the window.
- In April, or after a windy night of torn fabric, several people ring at once. It answers every line at once.
TL;DR
It is April. You are on a café terrace in Koukaki with the tape on the cassette. The owner wants the fabric up before the weekend. The phone in your pocket rings. Someone has sent a photo of a balcony and wants a price today. Someone else's wind sensor will not retract the arm. A voice wants motor, not crank, and they want it Saturday. They will not leave a message. An assistant answers in the caller's language, asks motor or crank, new awning or a sensor, terrace or balcony, and books a measure-up only if that morning is free. It does not invent a figure from a photo. It does not promise Saturday's install.
Key takeaways
- Put the assistant on the number on the van and the workshop door, with a forward-on-no-answer rule, so a free pair of hands still takes the call.
- Teach it the first split: new awning, wind sensor, torn fabric, or a move of a visit already in the book — and motor or crank on a new one.
- Give it the sentence verbatim: it cannot give a price from a photo. The tape has to go on the wall. Saturday's install is not a greeting.
- Let it book measure-ups and short sensor looks. Keep the quote, the fabric spec, and the install day as a callback or a second booking after the tape.
- In April, and after a windy night, shorten the ring-time so the third café is not listening to a busy tone.
- Mark two kinds of visit: a measure-up that needs you on a terrace, and a short look at a motor or a wind sensor.
What an AI phone receptionist does in an awning workshop
It is April. You are on a café terrace in Koukaki. The cassette will sit above the door. Both hands are on the tape. The owner wants the fabric up before the weekend. The phone in your pocket rings. Across town the other person is cutting cloth in the workshop. There is no third pair of hands at the beige phone by the roller door.
You put the assistant on the number already on the van and on the workshop door. It answers when you cannot. Then it does one of two things. It books a measure-up that is actually free. Or it takes a request you will price after the tape has been on the wall.
The first question is not “what morning would you like?”. The first question is what kind of visit this is. A new terrace awning is not a wind sensor. Motor is not crank. A balcony cassette is not a pergola in a yard. Torn fabric over tables is not a Saturday install promised from a photo. An assistant that opens with a free hour will put a café’s weekend into a sensor slot and leave the person who needed a measure without a morning.
A caller who rang in English gets the confirmation in English. A caller who rang in Greek gets it in Greek. The assistant works in 70+ languages. The SMS follows the language of the call.
On a terrace with the tape, and the phone still ringing
One of you has the tape on a cassette line. The other is in the workshop with a roll of fabric. The published number still rings.
It is a burst. April, when cafés open the terrace and every owner wants fabric before the first weekend of tables. The morning after a windy night, when arms stayed out and three fabrics tore. The week a hotel sent two balconies out with your card. A second line with the same two hands still leaves the third caller on a busy tone.
The café that opens on Saturday will not wait on voicemail. They have your number and two other workshops in the same search. They hang up and dial the next one. The person whose wind sensor left the arms out all night will not leave a message either.
People whose fabric you already cut will often wait. A person who cannot get a measure-up, and a person who cannot start a sensor look, will not. If those two wait behind the wall you are already measuring, the new terrace is gone, and the torn cloth arrives as an angry visit at five — or the next shop has already put a tape on that façade.
Whoever takes the measure-up often takes the order. That is why a missed April call is not only a missed note.
Motor or crank, terrace or balcony — then the address
New awning, measure-up. They want a price for something you have not seen. A café terrace, a balcony, a shop front, a pergola in a yard. The assistant asks terrace or balcony, then motor or crank, then the address. It books a visit only if that morning is free. It does not invent a figure from a photo of the façade. It does not promise Saturday’s install. The quote is yours, after the tape.
Wind sensor. The arms will not come in, or they come in when there is no wind, or last night the fabric stayed out. A sensor look is shorter than a full terrace measure. Mark it as its own kind of morning, or you will spend an hour on a wall with someone who only needed a sensor. After a windy night they arrive together.
Torn fabric. Wind, a storm, a meltemi week, tables underneath. If the cloth is over people, that is a flagged note or a transfer to a phone you actually hold. It is not a guessed “we can be there in twenty minutes”. You decide whether to leave the cassette you are already on.
Pergola. A yard, a restaurant back, not a cassette on a wall. The assistant takes that as its own type if you marked it. It does not book a pergola into a twenty-minute sensor slot. It does not invent a kit from a courtyard photo.
People remember the terrace. They do not remember whether they want motor or crank. Ask that early. Then the address. One wall is enough to put the visit on the right façade. None is still a request, not a guess at six metres from a picture.
A sentence the assistant is not allowed to say
“Can you put it up this weekend if I send a photo?” is the question on this phone. It comes in April from every café that opened the chairs. It comes from a balcony that wants shade before the in-laws. It comes from a hotel that photographed ten rooms.
The assistant does not answer it. Not with a Saturday. Not with “a motor terrace is usually this”. Not with “we can do the weekend if you confirm now”. A date said before the tape has been on the wall is a date the shop then has to take back when the drop is wrong, the motor will not sit, or the wind on that street needs a sensor they did not mention.
The line you give it is short: the quote comes after the measure-up. A photo does not show the wall. Saturday’s install is not booked from this call.
“Is motor worth it?”, “will the sensor hold in a meltemi?”, and “can you match last year’s colour from the picture?” are still spec questions. The assistant names the topic so the callback is useful, and refuses the kit and the date.
Do not put a price list in the notes. It will read the list out.
April, wind, and everyone at once
April is terraces. By nine, cafés have started ringing. You are already on a wall. The pad is already a list of façades.
A windy night is sensors and torn cloth. By eight, three terraces will not retract and a balcony cassette has ripped.
A hotel afternoon is ten balconies, all wanting a look, all expecting a number from the same photo of the corridor.
The assistant has to treat that burst as several conversations, not as a queue behind your tape. A measure-up in that hour is a morning in the book. A sensor-only call is a shorter visit. If the assistant parks the café that wanted a new motor behind the tenth sensor report, that café rings the next workshop.
Shorten the ring-time before forwarding in April. After a windy night the third caller should not hear a busy tone. A Tuesday in August is people asking for holiday-flat fabric, and one person left in the workshop.
A price nobody can give from a photo of the façade
When someone describes an awning on the phone — they think six metres, motor, beige, they sent a picture from the pavement — the tempting answer is a number. The assistant does not give one.
Width, drop, wall type, whether a motor will sit, wind on that street, fabric, cassette or open, first floor or terrace — all of those change the work. A number quoted before anyone has put a tape on the wall is a number you then spend the measure-up taking back.
It can repeat a published call-out or a visit fee you typed in and marked as speakable. Unseen terraces, a full hotel, a pergola, a motor conversion — those do not get a number on this call. The assistant takes the request and books the measure-up. Last year’s price for the next café is not this wall. The assistant does not quote it.
If they press — “just a round figure, I have the other shop on the other line, and we open Saturday” — the assistant still refuses. Book them as soon as a morning is free. Flag it if fabric is already over tables.
Standing under torn fabric
Some of these callers are on a terrace with chairs out, with cloth hanging, with lunch coming. They want to know whether to crank it in, whether to cut the arms, whether you can come now.
The assistant is not on the terrace. It cannot see the cassette. It cannot decide whether the motor is still live.
What it can take: the address, motor or crank, whether tables are underneath, and a name. What it can repeat, if you typed the line in: do not cut the arms; someone who can see the van will call. Come-now or this-afternoon is yours, after you know where the crew is.
If they say the fabric is on people, or a motor is sparking, that is a transfer. You give the assistant a short list: cloth on tables, motor sparking, arms stuck out. It collects a name and a number while it is connecting. It does not tell them which way to force a crank.
A caller who is already home, with a photo of a balcony on their phone, is a measure-up request and, if a morning is free, a time.
Sensors, pergolas, and “motor or crank?”
Wind sensor. Not retracting, retracting too much, or they never had one and last night taught them. The assistant takes the address. It does not say the sensor is finished from a description. It does not tell them to disable it.
Motor versus crank. They want to open from inside, or they want the cheaper handle. The assistant records which they asked for. It does not pick the kit. The tape on the wall decides whether a motor will sit.
Pergola. A yard, not a cassette. Different visit, different crew if you split it. Do not let the assistant drop a pergola into a balcony slot.
Install Saturday. They have already had a quote, or they think the photo was the quote. The assistant does not put an install in the book because a terrace opens this weekend. If a signed quote exists, that is a different visit type, from a list you control. If it does not, this is still a measure-up.
August needs its own dates. Do not let the assistant book a measure-up into a week when the workshop is dark.
How CITT handles it
- Your number stays on the van and on the workshop door. A forwarding rule sends what you do not answer. Calls the shop picks up never leave, and are never charged.
- Every line is answered at once. An April morning is several conversations, not a stack of busy tones.
- It knows the shop you described. What you make, whether you do pergolas, whether you take hotels, who is out on Monday.
- It asks new awning, sensor, torn fabric or move first, then motor or crank and terrace or balcony, then the address, and only then looks at the book.
- It takes a photo-price as a measure-up request, never as a figure or a Saturday said out loud.
- It checks the real book before it offers a morning, and writes the visit into the same calendar the shop already uses.
- It confirms by SMS, in the language of the call — 70+ languages — and can remind them to clear the terrace of chairs for the tape.
- It escalates torn fabric over tables, a sparking motor, a price question, and an install-before-the-tape as a tagged note or a transfer.
- You get the transcript, the summary, the address, and whether they asked for motor or crank.
What it will not do
It will not invent a price from a photo, a description, or last year’s next café. It will not promise Saturday’s install before the tape has been on the wall. It will not pick motor or crank for them. It will not tell them to disable a wind sensor. It will not tell them which way to force a crank. It will not treat a measure-up, a sensor look and an install as the same morning.
What these calls sound like
The order is the split, then motor or crank, then the address, then a morning the book can honour, then the refusal said out loud. There is no round figure over a façade nobody has measured. There is no “we can do Saturday” to a person who sent a picture from the pavement. There is no “twenty minutes” to a terrace with cloth on the tables.
If the assistant is friendly and still answers the weekend question, you own that date. Put the person who rang about the Koukaki terrace at 11:10 on a measure-up, not on the next shop’s Saturday.
What you set up first
Put the assistant on the number on the van with a forward-on-no-answer rule, so a free pair of hands in the workshop still takes the call. Then the split, motor or crank, and the sentence that forbids a price and a Saturday from a photo.
Write down what you actually make and whether you take pergolas this month. Give it the fields you want on every note: address, terrace or balcony, motor or crank, whether they sent a photo, whether fabric is over tables. Mark two kinds of visit: a measure-up that needs you on a wall, and a short look at a motor or a wind sensor.
Give it the same-day phone list: cloth on tables, motor sparking, arms stuck out over a street. Do not give it a metre tariff it would read out. Write one line that forbids photo-prices, weekend installs before the tape, and kit advice. Add who is out on Monday, April hours, August dates, where the van may wait.
Rates live on the pricing section of the home page. They are not repeated here.
AI receptionist, in-house staff, or a call centre
| CITT | In-house | Call centre | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Answers while the tape is on a cassette | Always | Only if they can let go of the arm | Yes |
| Several callers in April | Every line at once | One, then a busy tone | Depends who was rostered |
| Asks motor or crank, terrace or balcony first | Yes — before it looks at the book | Yes, if they heard the start | Often jumps to what morning |
| Promises a weekend install from a photo | Never — books the measure-up | Only after the quote is signed | Tempted, if the café is shouting |
| Invents an awning price from a façade picture | Never | Quotes after the tape | Often reads a range |
| Speaks the caller's language | 70+ languages | One or two | Whoever is on that shift |
| What it will not do | Price unseen work, or book Saturday over an open measure | Can look at the wall | Reads whatever is on the sheet |
What one unanswered April morning costs a two-person awning shop
Worked from these assumptions — change any of them and the answer changes:
- Two people, a Tuesday in April. One of you is on a terrace with the tape. The other is cutting fabric in the workshop.
- About 16 inbound calls that morning. Six arrive while both pairs of hands are on cassette or cloth.
- Of those six, 3 are new measure-ups for a café terrace. 2 are torn fabric after wind. 1 is a wind sensor that will not retract.
- A café terrace awning that becomes an order is worth about €2,800 of work here — put your own average ticket in first. This is the number to change.
- This example assumes 2 of the 3 terrace callers do not leave a message and ring the next workshop on the listing.
- 3 new terrace measure-ups reach nobody on a normal April Tuesday.
- 2 of them do not call back.
- 2 × €2,800 = €5,600 of work that morning that never reached the book.
- A morning like that once a week through April and May — this example counts eight such weeks — 8 × €5,600.
About €44,800 a year on those assumptions, from the spring window alone. Change the ticket, the conversion, and how many April weeks look like that.
What it costs
CITT is pay as you go: no packages, no minimum, no contract. The current rates — the monthly fee per number and the per-minute rate — are on the pricing section of the home page, which is the only place they are published.
Frequently asked questions
Do I have to change the number on the van?
No. The number on the van, the workshop door, the cards, and the Google listing stays yours. You add one forwarding rule — every call, or only the ones still ringing after the seconds you choose. If you pick up, the call never leaves and is never charged.
Can it give a price if they send a photo of the terrace?
It must not. A photo does not show the wall, the drop, whether a motor will sit, or the wind on that street. It takes the address and whether they mean motor or crank, and books a measure-up if that morning is free. You price what the tape has been on. If a starting figure must not be said until you have seen the wall, do not give the assistant that figure.
They want it up this weekend before the terrace opens. Can it book Saturday?
It can book a measure-up if Saturday mornings are in the diary. It cannot put an install on Saturday because a café is in a hurry. An install is a crew, fabric that has already been made, and a morning that wind can cancel. After the quote is signed, you — or the assistant, from a list you gave it — book the fit.
Motor or crank — can it tell them which to buy?
No. It records which they asked for, or that they have not decided, and books the measure-up. Whether a motor, a crank, or a wind sensor belongs on that wall is yours, after the tape. A sentence that picks the kit on the recorded line is a sentence the shop then owns.
The fabric tore in the night and the terrace is open. Can it send you now?
It can put the call in front of a human who can see where the van is. It will not invent “we will be there in twenty minutes”. Torn fabric over tables is a flagged note or a transfer, not a guessed arrival. You decide whether to leave the cassette you are already measuring.
What do we actually see afterwards?
A transcript, a short summary, whether this was a new awning, a wind sensor, torn fabric or a move, motor or crank, terrace or balcony, the address, and whatever was booked or left for you. Confirmations go out by SMS in the language of the call.
