Paper chase and survey reminders for solar shops
Quick summary
- You are on a terrace. The grid-paper list and last week's survey without a stair key still have to be chased.
- The list is a named roof, a morning reminder, or a missing paper. Not a second opinion on how many kilowatt-hours.
- Every call starts with the address or the name on the file. If they do not recognise them, the call stops.
- It does not quote production. A missing key is a yes or no. What the photo would have made is a callback after the tape.
- If they ask for a figure from the photo, the assistant writes the question down and says the figure comes after the survey.
- SMS does the first reminder. The voice call is for the roof that still has no key the morning after a grant week.
TL;DR
You are on a terrace. Nine grid letters are still unanswered and last week's survey still has no stair key. Nobody is going to spend the afternoon ringing. An assistant works the list you give it: address or name on the file, one purpose. It asks whether someone will be there with the key, or whether the missing paper has been sent. It does not say how many kilowatt-hours the roof will make, whether they are approved, or when the grid will connect them. If they ask, it writes the question down and says the figure comes after the survey. It can book a morning if that morning is free. It will not ring a tenant's mobile about a shared terrace that is not on their file.
Key takeaways
- Build each list from your own files: address or name, the number on the file, and one purpose.
- Do not put a tenant mobile on a communal terrace chase unless that number is the number on the file.
- Write the purpose as a reminder or a chase, not as a question about production.
- If the client asks for kilowatt-hours from the photo, the assistant ends the call and flags the installer to call back.
- Check the book before you speak a morning. Do not read Thursday off last week's pad.
- Keep payback years and last year's neighbour off the script. The figure comes after the tape.
The lists on the desk while you are on a terrace
The tape is still on the parapet. Nine grid letters are still unanswered. Last week’s survey still has no stair key. You are not going to spend the afternoon ringing.
That is the outbound problem in this shop. Not a campaign. Not a hunt for new roofs. A list of files you already know, an address you have already written down, and nobody free to ring because both hands are on a tape.
The assistant works only the list you give it. One purpose each. Will someone be there with the key. Has the plan been sent. Can we keep Thursday for the survey. It does not add “and while I have you, how many kilowatt-hours”.
Open with the roof, or stop
The call says the shop name, the address or the name on the file, and asks whether this is that person. If they do not recognise the roof, the call ends. A tenant who picked up the manager’s phone does not get a briefing on a shared terrace. A neighbour who answered a house mobile does not get a lecture on the papers.
Communal files are the usual trap. The number on the file is the owner or the manager. A tenant who saw the modules stacked will pick up anything. The assistant does not move the conversation onto their mobile unless that mobile is the number you entered.
One purpose, then the book
A key chase is a yes or no, then a morning if the book has one. A paper reminder is a drop you already wrote down, checked again before it is spoken. If Thursday has since filled with a survey, the assistant does not read Thursday off last week’s pad. It checks, or it takes a callback.
If they ask how many kilowatt-hours the photo would have made, the chase is over. The question is written in their words. The installer calls back. A reminder that becomes a photo-quote has no tape on the roof.
If they ask whether they are approved, or when the grid will connect them, those are callbacks too. The assistant does not fill the silence with last year’s neighbour.
March is not a paper month
March is surveys. The chase is yesterday’s terrace that still has no access, or a lead who said they would be there and were not. Shorten the list. Same-day flags stay on a phone you hold. Do not let the assistant work a long paper list while five March photos are waiting for a key.
April is letters. People still have a working roof. They forget. The chase is a drop and a plan, not a rescue.
August, if you chase holiday-house surveys, needs its own dates. Do not ring a coastal house in a week you cannot reach the village.
What you put on the list
Address. Name. Number on the file. Roof type. One purpose. Whether a morning is already in the book. Who should hold the stair key.
You do not put a production table. You do not put a payback. You do not put a tenant who once called about a red lamp on a shared terrace chase.
Export the files. Tick them. The assistant does not invent a fourth name because the afternoon looks quiet.
What a good outbound call sounds like
Shop name. Roof. Are you the person on the file. Purpose in one sentence. Yes or no. A morning that exists, or a note. Stop if they ask for kilowatt-hours. SMS of the reminder, not of a figure.
There is no “the photo is about ten kilowatt”. There is no approval. There is no tenant briefed about a terrace they cannot open.
If the assistant is efficient and still quotes production so the file can move, you own that number. Put the person who still has no key on tomorrow’s morning, and put the figure question on a callback with your name on it.
Rates live on the pricing section of the home page. They are not repeated here.
Who is not on the list
A lead who sent a photo last spring is not a chase unless you put them on the list as a survey reminder. Outbound here is roofs you already measured, letters you already sent, surveys you already booked.
A spouse’s mobile, a shop downstairs, the café that holds keys for the block — only if that number is the number on the file. A helpful neighbour is how a shared terrace gets described to the wrong person, and how a production request arrives from someone who does not own the roof.
Do not chase a paper drop and a terrace survey on the same script. The purpose line has to name the visit, or the person who picks up will answer for the wrong morning.
After the call
You see the purpose, whether they will be there, the morning if one was booked, and any question that stopped the chase. You do not see a completed production figure. You do not see an approval. You do not see a connection month.
If half the April list still has no plan after two weeks of calls, the problem is not the greeting. It is the number on the file, or an owner who is not the person who opens the stair. Fix the list. Do not lengthen the script.
The value of a recovered survey morning is yours to put in. The worked example above is arithmetic on stated assumptions. A shop that lives on terraces and a shop that lives on fields are not the same week. Put your own figure in.
AI receptionist, in-house staff, or a call centre
| CITT | In-house | Call centre | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Key chase after a grant-week survey | Yes, from your list | When someone has time | If you write a script |
| Grid-paper reminders | Yes | Yes | Sometimes |
| Starts with the address or the name | Yes | Yes | If you insist |
| Quotes kWh to hurry the key | Never — the figure comes after the survey | The installer does, on the roof | A risk if the script drifts |
| Answers whether they are approved | No — flags an installer | The installer does | Must not; sometimes does |
| Offers a morning the book does not have | No — checks the book, or takes a callback | If they check | Often from last week's pad |
| Rings a tenant about a shared terrace | No — only the number on the file | Only if you said so | A risk if the list was not read |
What unchased grid letters cost one week
Worked from these assumptions — change any of them and the answer changes:
- Two people, 16 open paper files in April, each waiting on a drop or a missing plan.
- This example treats 6 of those 16 as still unanswered two weeks after the letter.
- A morning that sits empty, or is pulled when the paper arrives at four, wastes about €180 of reserved time — put your own figure in, not ours.
- A two-week outbound chase recovers half of those missing mornings. Challenge this first; shops vary.
- 6 files still open on paper, two weeks out.
- Half recovered — 3 mornings that move on the paper they needed.
- 3 × €180 = €540 of reserved time protected, in one week of chasing.
- Several such weeks in the survey season — this example counts four.
About €2,160 a season of shop time, from calls that only ask whether the paper has been sent.
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 paper is missing?
It can name the item you put on the list — the plan, the supply confirmation, the stair key. It should not rebuild the file on the call, and it should not decide that a particular stamp means they are approved. If they ask how many kilowatt-hours the roof will make, that is a callback. The figure comes after the survey.
What if they ask for a production figure, on the chase call?
The assistant does not answer. It says the figure comes after the survey, takes the question in their words, and ends the chase. A chase that becomes a photo-quote has no tape on the roof, no note of a figure, and no installer attached. The transcript still helps — you return a real question rather than “they rang”.
Can it offer a new morning for the survey?
Yes, if you allow that purpose and if it checks the book before it offers a morning. It still does not tell them what the photo would have made. A reminder that starts quoting kilowatt-hours has stopped being a reminder.
Does it still ask for the address when we ring?
Yes. The call opens with the shop name, the address or the name on the file, and it stops if the person on the line does not recognise them. That is how you avoid briefing a tenant about a shared terrace, or a neighbour about someone else's array.
Can it chase papers from an existing client?
As a drop reminder, yes: we still need the plan, can you leave it Thursday, here is who should be at the desk. Not as a sentence that they are approved, and not as a connection month. “We still have Thursday at 10:00 for the paper drop” is reception. “The grid will take you in June” is a date the shop does not own.
Who decides who is on the list?
The shop. The assistant does not invent people to ring. You export or tick the files that need a reminder or a chase, with one purpose each. A list that mixes “where is the plan” with “see if they want a battery” is two jobs, and only the first one belongs here.
