Cylinder reminders and ID chase for locksmiths
Quick summary
- You are at a door. Thursday's cylinder and the extra-key list still have to be chased.
- The list is a named address, a visit reminder, or missing ID. Not a second opinion on the door.
- Every call starts with the address or the name on the job. If they do not recognise them, the call stops.
- It does not say how long you will be. Missing ID is a yes or no. How the cylinder comes out is a callback.
- If they ask how to open the door, the assistant writes the question down and says you will look at it.
- SMS does the first reminder. The voice call is for the cylinder that has still not confirmed ID two days out.
TL;DR
You are at a door. Six cylinder files still need ID confirmed and Thursday's common door never named the manager. Nobody is going to spend the afternoon ringing. An assistant works the list you give it: address or name on the job, one purpose. It asks whether they will bring photo ID. It does not say how the cylinder comes out, whether they can open the door themselves, or when you will arrive. If they ask, it writes the question down and says the locksmith will look at the door. It will not ring a neighbour about someone else's lock.
Key takeaways
- Build each list from your own jobs: address or name, the number on the file, and one purpose.
- Do not put a personal mobile on a cylinder chase unless that number is the number on the file.
- Write the purpose as a reminder or a chase, not as a question about the door.
- If the client asks how to open the lock, the assistant ends the call and flags you to call back.
- Check the book before you speak a time. Do not read Thursday off last week's pad.
- Keep cylinder prices and any method off the script. You will look at the door.
The lists on the dash while you are at a door
This landing is not finished. Six cylinder files still need ID confirmed. Thursday’s common door never named the manager. You are not going to spend the afternoon ringing.
That is the outbound problem on this van. Not a campaign. Not a hunt for new work. A list of people you already know, an address you have already written down, and nobody free to ring because both hands are at a door.
The person who would chase, if you have one, is at the bench. The phone still has to do the second chase: will you bring photo ID, will the manager be there, we still have Thursday for the cylinder. Those calls do not happen. When someone does make them in a hurry, they reach a neighbour, or they start answering how the old cylinder comes out so the file can move.
One purpose per number
Each row on the list is one job and one reason.
ID. Photo ID at the door for the cylinder. Yes or no. A picture of the ID over the phone is not a yes.
Manager. Named person on site for the common door. Yes or no. A new time only if the book has one.
Reminder. We still have Thursday at 10:00 for extra keys, or for the cylinder. Will someone be there. Bring ID.
Not on this list: a cold call to see whether they want a shutter too. Not a “how is the door today”. Not a neighbour’s mobile you copied off the intercom.
If the person who answers does not recognise the address or the name, the call stops. You do not brief a neighbour about a lock.
What the chase is not allowed to become
They will ask how to take the old cylinder out before you come. They will ask how long you will be on Thursday. They will mention that they locked themselves out last night and ask whether you can “just explain it for next time”.
The assistant writes those questions down and ends the chase purpose. It does not answer them to be helpful. A recorded method on an outbound call is still yours. A recorded “the cylinder looks standard from the photo” is a sentence you then spend the visit taking back.
Missing ID is a yes or no. How the door is built is a callback. How long is a question you answer when you know the street that morning.
Do not put a method on the outbound script “in case they ask”. It will be said.
Building managers and the wrong mobile
A common-door job often has the manager’s number and three residents who would like to help. Only the number on the file gets the chase.
A cylinder in a rental has the owner, the tenant, and sometimes a host. Only the number you marked as the visit contact gets the ID reminder.
A lockout follow-up has the person who was on the landing. Do not ring the host in another country to ask whether the guest still needs the door, unless that host is the number on the file.
The assistant opens with the van name and the address. If they do not recognise it, goodbye. That is how a neighbour does not hear that the fourth-floor lock is in the book.
SMS first, voice when ID is still silent
Most reminders should be a text. Thursday 10:00, cylinder, bring photo ID, reply if that has changed. The voice call is for the file that has not answered two days out, or for the manager who never confirms in writing.
The SMS goes in the language of the original booking. A German visit with a Greek reminder is a missed ID line.
Do not put a price in the reminder. Do not put “you can open it this way if you get stuck” in the reminder. The text is the time, the type, and ID.
If they reply with a method question, that reply is a flag to you, not a new outbound script.
After Saturday night the list is not the inbound overflow
Sunday morning, the inbound phone is leftover lockouts. The outbound list is still Thursday’s cylinder and last week’s missing ID. Do not let the assistant mix them.
A chase that starts “we saw you rang last night, did you get in?” is a new inbound job wearing an outbound hat. If they then ask how to open it next time, you now have a method conversation you started.
Keep the outbound purpose narrow. If they volunteer a lockout, the assistant stops the chase, asks who is behind the door, and puts that on your phone. It does not finish the ID reminder while they are on a landing.
What you put on the list tonight
Address or name. The number on the file. One purpose: ID, manager, or reminder. The visit type already in the book. The language of the original call.
Not a photo caption. Not a cylinder figure. Not a method. Not a neighbour.
Then let the assistant work that list while you finish this door. You get the transcript, whether they confirmed, and the questions it refused.
Rates live on the pricing section of the home page. They are not repeated here.
When Thursday is still in the book and ID is not
Two days out, the cylinder is still sitting on Thursday at ten. Nobody has said they will bring photo ID. If you do nothing, you climb to the fourth floor in Ampelokipoi, they have no ID, and you lose the hour you could have given to extra keys at the bench.
That is the chase that earns its place. Not a marketing call. A yes or no on a named address. If they say they will bring a licence, the assistant writes that into the note. If they say they cannot make Thursday, the assistant checks the book and offers a free cylinder hour, or takes a callback if the book is unreachable.
If they say they will “send a photo of the ID now”, the assistant does not accept a picture as the check. It notes what they said. The check is at the door.
Photos that are documents, not a method
You asked for a photo of the door because you want it on the file before you travel, not because the assistant will read a method off the picture.
The chase names the item. “We still need confirmation you will bring photo ID to Panormou 47.” That is ID. “Does the photo show how to take the cylinder out?” is a method. The second sentence does not belong on this call.
If they send the photo during the chase, the assistant thanks them and says the locksmith will look at it. It does not name a method on the line.
A file that moves because ID is confirmed is a file that keeps Thursday. A file that moves because someone guessed the door from a picture is a file you will undo on the visit.
What a good outbound week looks like
The inbound phone still takes lockouts. The book still holds cylinders. The dash list is shorter on Wednesday than it was on Monday, because five people were asked a yes-or-no and three answered.
You did not spend the afternoon ringing. You did not brief a neighbour. You did not record a method. You did not quote a cylinder from a door photo.
The three who answered either confirmed ID or moved the hour while there was still time to give it to someone else. The two who did not answer are still on the list for one more pass, then they come off, because a chase that never reaches anyone is not a reason to keep Thursday blocked.
That is the work. Address, one purpose, stop when they ask about the door.
AI receptionist, in-house staff, or a call centre
| CITT | In-house | Call centre | |
|---|---|---|---|
| ID chase before a cylinder visit | Yes, from your list | When someone has time | If you write a script |
| Extra-key and common-door reminders | Yes | Yes | Sometimes |
| Starts with the address or the name | Yes | Yes | If you insist |
| Names a method to hurry ID | Never — you look at the door | You do, after you see it | A risk if the script drifts |
| Answers how long you will be | No — flags you | You do, when you know the street | Must not; sometimes does |
| Offers a visit the book does not have | No — checks the book, or takes a callback | If they check | Often from last week's pad |
| Rings a neighbour about someone else's lock | No — only the number on the file | Only if you said so | A risk if the list was not read |
What unchased ID confirmations cost one week
Worked from these assumptions — change any of them and the answer changes:
- One van, 11 open cylinder or common-door files, each waiting on ID, the owner, or the manager.
- This example treats 5 of those 11 as still missing two days later.
- A file that sits incomplete, or is pulled when they arrive without ID at ten, wastes about €95 of reserved time — put your own figure in, not ours.
- A two-day outbound chase recovers half of those missing files. Challenge this first; vans vary.
- 5 files still open on paper, two days out.
- Half recovered — 2 files that move on the ID they needed, this example rounds down.
- 2 × €95 = €190 of reserved time protected, in one week. Use 3 if your recovery is better.
- Several such weeks a year — this example counts six.
About €1,140 a year of van time, from calls that only ask whether they will bring photo ID.
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
Can it tell them which ID to bring?
It can repeat the line you wrote — photo ID at the door. It should not decide which document counts, and it should not ask them to send a picture of the ID over the phone. A check at the door is yours. If they ask whether a photocopy is enough, that is a callback.
What if they ask how to take the old cylinder out, on the chase call?
The assistant does not answer. It says the locksmith will look at the door, takes the question in their words, and ends the chase. A chase that becomes a method conversation has no person at the door and no view of who is listening. The transcript still helps — you return a real question rather than “they rang”.
Can it offer a new time for the visit?
Yes, if you allow that purpose and if it checks the book before it offers a time. It still does not tell them how the cylinder comes out. A reminder that starts pricing the door has stopped being a reminder.
Does it still ask for the address when we ring?
Yes. The call opens with the van name, the address or the name on the job, and it stops if the person on the line does not recognise them. That is how you avoid briefing a neighbour about a lock, or a tenant about a manager's common door.
Can it chase extra keys from an existing client?
As a reminder, yes: we have a time this week, will you bring the lock, here is the ID line if the keys are for a door we have not seen. Not as a sentence that they should try to open anything first. “We still have Thursday at 10:00 for the extra keys” is reception. “You can get in this way until we come” is opening advice.
Who decides who is on the list?
The van. The assistant does not invent people to ring. You export or tick the jobs that need a reminder or a chase, with one purpose each. A list that mixes “will you bring ID” with “see if they want a shutter too” is two jobs, and only the first one belongs here.
