The phone rings, and someone walks to the workshop
It is half past ten and front of house has taken nine calls. Six were customers asking how their car is getting on. For each one, the receptionist either looks at the management system, which says 'in progress', or walks into the workshop to ask the panel technician, who is under a car. The answer is usually 'it's in paint, should be Thursday'.
The customers are not being difficult. They have had an accident, they are driving a courtesy car or borrowing a partner's, and they have no idea what happens to a car in a bodyshop. Silence feels like nothing is happening.
Updates depend on someone having time to give them
Most shops intend to update customers at key points. In practice, updates happen when there is bad news or when the customer rings first. Job stages exist in your management system, but moving a job from 'panel' to 'paint' does not tell anyone outside the building.
- Statuses are updated by the workshop at the end of the day, or not at all.
- Ready dates change when parts slip, but the customer is not told until they ask.
- Different staff give slightly different answers, which makes customers ring back.
- Work providers also expect updates, sometimes through their own portal.
The hidden cost of 'just checking'
Each call is short, but together they take a large part of front of house's day, and they interrupt the workshop too. Calls about progress crowd out calls from new customers and work providers. A customer who cannot get through or gets a vague answer is more likely to complain to their insurer, and that complaint lands on your scorecard.
Satisfaction surveys after a repair tend to reflect how informed the customer felt as much as the quality of the paint.
There is a quieter cost as well. When the receptionist goes to ask, the technician stops, wipes their hands and walks over to look at the job card. Several times a day, across several technicians, that is workshop time spent answering questions a screen could have answered.
How we build repair progress updates
- We map the stages that mean something to a customer: car received, estimate approved, parts ordered, repair started, in paint, reassembly, quality check, ready for collection.
- Each stage is linked to a status change in your management system, or to a tap on a workshop tablet if statuses are not kept up to date there.
- When a job reaches a stage, the customer receives a short text or email in your shop's name, with the current expected ready date.
- If the ready date moves, for example because a part is delayed, the customer is told the new date and the reason in plain words.
- A tracking page, reached from a link in the message, shows the stage and date, so the customer can check at any time.
- Where a work provider needs the same update in its portal, front of house gets a prompt to enter it.
| Stage | Customer sees | Triggered by |
|---|---|---|
| Parts ordered | 'Parts ordered, expected ready Friday' | Parts order placed |
| Repair started | 'Your car is now being repaired' | Job moved to panel |
| Ready date changed | 'A part is delayed, new date Tuesday' | Ready date edited |
| Ready | 'Ready to collect, here is how' | Quality check passed |
Messages use your wording and tone. Nothing goes out that you have not approved as a template.
The phones, a few weeks later
Customers still ring, but more often about practical things, such as collection times, rather than to ask whether anything is happening. Front of house spends more of the day on new work and provider contact. The workshop is interrupted less.
Because updates are tied to real statuses, keeping statuses current becomes more important, and more obviously useful, to the people in the workshop.
Is this your front desk?
- Most incoming calls are customers asking for an update.
- Answering them means walking into the workshop.
- Customers hear about delays only when they ask.
- Your survey comments mention poor communication.
- Job statuses in your system are often out of date.