PortaPottyBossPro Blog — Driver & Tech App

The Arrived Text: Letting the Customer Know the Tech Is On Site

An on-the-way text says the tech is coming. An arrived text says the tech is here. For some customers, the second text is the one that matters. It is the moment to walk out and open the gate, wave the truck around to the back, or point out the unit that got moved yesterday.

When the Arrived Text Goes Out

The arrival is the second half of the alerts from Automatic On-the-Way Texts From the Porta Potty Tech's Phone. When the tech gets to the stop, customers who chose the "when the tech arrives" alert get an automatic text. The tech does not type it or send it by hand. It goes out as part of working the route in the app.

That is one more reason to keep the app open and the route in order. A tech who works the stops the way dispatch laid them out keeps the customer alerts, the live map and the office board all telling the same story.

Who Wants Arrival Texts

Not every customer needs an arrival alert. The ones who do tend to fall into a few groups:

• Property managers and facility staff who have to open a gate or building
• Event organizers who need to escort the truck through a crowd or a back lot
• Supers who want to point out a unit the crew moved or ask for a relocate
• Homeowners with a unit for a party or a remodel who want to keep the dog inside
• Customers who simply like knowing when the work happened

Customers choose their own alerts: night before, when they are next, and when the tech arrives. Ask at sign-up which ones they want.

For construction accounts, the right phone number matters as much as the right alert. The billing contact at the head office does not need to know the truck just pulled onto a site across town. The super standing on that site does. Put the site contact on the site, and send the alerts to the person who can actually open the gate.

Arrival Texts Reduce Waiting

The tech's time on site is valuable. Every minute spent waiting for someone to walk down to a gate is a minute not spent on the next stop. An arrival text gets the customer moving the moment the truck pulls up, instead of when the tech finally gets someone on the phone.

Paired with the on-the-way text, the customer often meets the tech at the gate. That is the best-case stop: no waiting, no calls, no skip.

Arrival Texts Build Trust

When the customer gets a text that says the tech arrived, they have a record. If they later wonder whether service happened, they can look at their own phone. Combined with the completed job and the photo on the office side, there is very little room for doubt.

This matters for weekly service accounts. A customer who sees an arrival text every Tuesday knows the company shows up. That kind of steady reminder makes it a lot less likely they will shop around.

Replies Go to the Office

If a customer replies to the arrived text, "can you also move the unit closer to the trailer?", that reply lands in two-way texting at the office, tied to the customer. The office can call or text the tech with the request and update the placement notes so it sticks for next time.

Techs do not have to give out their personal numbers, and they do not have to have a text conversation while they are working.

Arrival on the Live Map

Customers using the customer app see the route on a live map and their place in line. When the tech arrives, the map reflects it. The office sees the same thing on its side with crew GPS, and the started job on the board. Everyone is looking at the same picture of the day. To see how crew GPS works from the office side, read Crew GPS on the Office Map: Knowing Where Every Service Truck Is.

Keep the Texts Honest

Automatic alerts and the live map are only as good as the route behind them. If a tech taps Start on three stops at once back at the yard, the office board says three jobs are underway when the truck has not left. Train techs to tap Start at the stop they are actually at and to tell dispatch when they change the order. It is a small habit with a big effect on how customers see you.

The Short Version

Customers who want it get an automatic arrived text when the tech reaches their stop. Work the route in order, keep the taps honest, and replies go to the office. For more, visit the PortaPottyBossPro driver and tech app page.