Customer Communication in a Porta Potty Business: Calls, Texts and Alerts
The phone rings all day in a portable toilet office. Most calls are some version of the same few questions. When is the truck coming? Was the unit serviced this week? Can you move the unit? How much do I owe? Every one of those calls takes someone away from other work. Good communication answers them before they get asked.
Communication Builds Reviews
Customers who feel informed are the ones who leave good reviews, as covered in Reviews and Referrals for a Porta Potty Business. Customers who feel ignored, even when the work was done right, are the ones who complain. The gap between those two is often just a text.
Automatic Alerts
The easiest communication is the kind nobody has to remember to send. In PortaPottyBossPro, the driver app sends automatic on-the-way and arrived texts to the customer when the tech starts and reaches the job. Customers choose which alerts they want:
- The night before their service
- When they are next on the route
- When the tech arrives
A super who gets a text saying the tech arrived knows the unit was serviced without walking out to check. An event organizer who gets a night-before alert stops worrying about the delivery.
The Customer App
The customer app answers the where-is-my-truck question without anyone in the office picking up the phone. On a service day, a customer can see today's route on a live map, for example "You're stop 12 of 20, the crew is 5 stops away." They can also request service, sign up for services and see pricing, update their card on file, see invoices and pay, and rate and refer.
Send every new customer a link to the app when they start. Customers who use it call less.
Two-Way Texting From the Office
Many customers prefer texting to calling, especially supers on job sites. Two-way texting from the office means the customer texts your business number and anyone in the office can answer. The conversation stays tied to the customer, so when someone else picks it up tomorrow, the history is there.
This also keeps techs from texting customers on their personal phones. When a tech leaves, the customer conversations do not leave with them.
Texting Allowances
Every plan includes a monthly text allowance, counted in segments sent and received: 500 on Start, 1,000 on Pro and 2,000 on Crew. Extra texts are available. Short, plain messages use fewer segments, so keep alerts and replies brief. That is better for the customer anyway.
Service Reminders and Email
Along with texts, PortaPottyBossPro can send automated service reminders and alerts by email. Some customers, like a contractor's office manager, prefer email for anything to do with billing. Use email for invoices and statements, and text for anything time-sensitive on the day.
When Things Go Wrong
Trucks break down, gates are locked, and storms close roads. When a service is going to be late or skipped, tell the customer before they notice. A quick text saying the truck is down and service will be tomorrow morning is almost always received well. Silence followed by a full unit is not.
When a tech skips a stop, they tap Skip with a reason, and the job stays on the Waiting List for rescheduling. The office should see the skip and text the customer the same day.
Billing Messages
Billing is communication too. Clear invoices with line items and sales tax per site, monthly account billing that labels each line with the site address, and online payment from the customer app all cut down on billing calls. Past-due follow-up goes out on its own, so the office does not have to make awkward calls for every late payment.
Set the Tone
Write down how your company talks to customers. Short, polite, plain. No slang. Answer within a set time during business hours. A consistent voice makes a small company feel organized, which is exactly what customers want from the people who service their toilets.
Keep a short written list of answers for the questions you get every day: what weekly service includes, how to request an extra pump-out, how to add a hand wash station, how to pay online. A ready answer is faster to send, and it means every customer gets the same correct answer no matter who is at the desk.
Site Contacts, Not Just Billing Contacts
On construction accounts, the person who pays the bill and the person standing next to the units are rarely the same. Keep both. In PortaPottyBossPro, each job site can have its own site contacts, along with gate and access notes. Send service alerts to the super who needs to know the tech was there, and send invoices and statements to the office that pays. Customers who get the right message at the right person stop calling to ask.
For the full set of communication tools, visit the Porta Potty Business Software page.
Fewer Where-Is-My-Truck Calls
Automatic on-the-way and arrived texts, a customer app with today's route, and two-way texting. Free for 14 days.
Start Free Trial