Made-up business, sample enquiries. A concept by ALLOIC, built to show routine replies prepared by plain rules, with a person approving every one. Nothing here is sent or saved.

Answered in a minute.

It goes to the rules on this page and stops at Dana. Nothing is sent to anyone.

Plain rules read each enquiry, price it and draft the reply. Dana still presses send.

Drawing: Dana on a ladder at the gable window of a house, squeegee on the glass, a Brightgable van at the curb.
  • Window and eavestrough cleaning
  • Two vans, out of Courtice, Ontario
  • On the ladder from 8 to 5
  • Enquiries by form, email and text
  • Every reply approved by Dana

Watch one go through

Four steps by rule, each showing its working. Then it stops, because a person sends it. Pick any reply on Dana’s phone to see how it was made.

  1. Read
  2. Check
  3. Price
  4. Draft
  5. Dana approves

Read

Check

Price

Draft

Dana’s phone

Replies

You are Dana here. “Sent” is simulated.

The record

    Rules

    These are all the rules there are, in plain words. Nothing else reads an enquiry, and none of it is guesswork.

    Reading
    • A service is found from its own words: eavestroughs or gutters, downspouts, windows, “inside and out”, “outside only”.
    • House size comes from “bungalow”, “two-storey”, “three floors” and the like.
    • The town is matched against the list of towns on this page.
    • A day comes from a weekday, a date, “tomorrow”, “next week” or “before the storm”.
    • A phone number is ten digits, however it is spaced.
    • Every fact shows the words it came from. No words, no fact.
    Checking
    • The town must be switched on in the service area. If it is off, a polite no is drafted and no price is given.
    • Whatever was not found is listed as missing, and the draft asks for it.
    • The day asked for is looked up in the calendar. Two vans do three visits each, so a day holds six.
    • A sender who matches the customer book is a repeat customer; the last visit fills in what the message leaves out.
    Pricing
    • Each service starts at its bungalow price on the sheet.
    • Each storey above the first adds the storey figure for that service.
    • The lines are added, and the range is that sum less and plus the “either side” figure.
    • If the house size is missing, the draft gives the range for each size and asks which it is.
    Drafting
    • The reply says back what was asked, gives the range, and offers two open days from the calendar.
    • Anything missing becomes a plain question in the reply. Nothing is filled in on a hunch.
    • It is signed by Dana, because Dana is the one who sends it.
    Holding back
    • Words like “urgent”, “overflowing” or “storm coming” put a reply at the top of the queue.
    • A shop, office or storefront gets no price from the sheet. The reply says Dana will call back.
    • Two or more sales phrases, such as “SEO”, “backlinks” or “click here”, mark it as spam. It is held and never answered.
    Sending
    • No rule can send. A reply leaves only when Dana presses “Approve and send”.
    • She can edit it first, hold it, or decline it. Each choice goes on the record with the time.
    • If she edits, the record keeps what the rule wrote and what she changed.
    Following up
    • Three days after a quote is sent, one follow-up is scheduled for 9 in the morning.
    • If the customer answers first, it is cancelled on the spot.
    • There is never a second follow-up, and never one after a polite no.

    Change a price

    Every waiting reply that uses it is drafted again, and marked.

    Waiting replies and their sums

      Sample prices in Canadian dollars, before HST.

      Change the area

      Switch a town on or off. Replies to that town move between a quote and a polite no.

      Sketch of the towns Brightgable covers, along the north shore of Lake Ontario. Not to scale. Lake Ontario Sketch, not to scale

      Town names only. No addresses are asked for or kept.

      This session, counted

      Every figure is counted from what has happened on this page since it opened. Nothing is carried over and nothing is estimated.

      0enquiries came in. None went out without a person pressing send.