JunkBossPro Blog — Junk Removal Software

Night Before, When They're Next, When the Crew Arrives: Customer Alerts for Junk Pickups

A junk job goes fastest when the customer is ready. The garage door is up, the car is out of the driveway, the dog is inside, and the last few bags are already by the curb. The easiest way to get there is to tell the customer exactly when the truck is coming. JunkBossPro does that with three alerts.

Alerts From the Customer App

The customer app and its live route map are covered in The Junk Removal Customer App: Live Route Map, Invoices and Service Requests. Alerts are the part of it that comes to the customer, so they don't have to check anything.

Each customer chooses which alerts they want. You don't have to guess who wants a text and who doesn't.

The Night-Before Reminder

The night before the job, the customer gets a reminder that the crew is coming tomorrow. For junk work, this is the alert that saves the most trips. It gives the customer a last chance to:

• Pull items out to the garage or curb if that was the plan
• Move the car so the truck can back up the driveway
• Open the gate or leave the garage code
• Tell you they need to reschedule, before the truck is on the road

A cancellation the night before is a slot you can fill from the Waiting List. A cancellation at the front door is a wasted trip.

When They're Next

On the day of the job, the customer can get a text when they're the next stop. This is the alert that gets the garage door open. It gives the customer enough warning to finish what they're doing, put the dog away and get outside, without having to wait around all day watching the street.

It goes out automatically as the crew works the route in the crew app. Nobody in the truck has to remember to send it.

When the Crew Arrives

When the crew pulls up, the customer gets an arrived text. For a customer who's home, it's the knock on the door. For a customer who isn't, like a landlord, a realtor or an adult child handling a parent's house from out of town, it's the confirmation that the crew is on site. Combined with after photos on the job, it gives an absent customer a clear picture of what happened and when.

Why Let Customers Choose

Not everyone wants three texts for one pickup. A busy property manager with five turnovers this week may only want the arrived text. A homeowner nervous about letting strangers into the house may want all three. When customers choose for themselves, the ones who want texts get them and the ones who don't aren't annoyed. It also means you aren't spending your monthly text allowance on alerts nobody reads.

Alerts go by text and email, so customers who prefer email can still get them.

When Customers Reply

Customers reply to alerts. “Can you also take the old grill?” “Running ten minutes late, garage code is 2210.” “Actually can we do next week?” Those replies go to the office through two-way texting, not to a crew member's personal phone. The office can answer, update the job, or pass it on to the crew. That's covered in Two-Way Texting and Automated Reminders in Junk Removal Software.

Alerts and Text Segments

Plans include a monthly text allowance: 500 texts on Start, 1,000 on Pro and 2,000 on Crew, counting texts sent and received, in the US and Canada. For most small junk companies, three alerts per job plus normal back-and-forth fits comfortably. If you're close to your allowance, letting customers turn off alerts they don't need is the easiest way to stay under it.

Keep custom messages short and plain. Fancy punctuation and long messages can count as more than one text.

Setting It Up

There isn't much to it. Make sure every client has a mobile number and an email on file, and that the address is correct so the route is right. When customers sign up through your website form or the customer app, they can set their alerts there. For customers you add yourself, the office can set alerts while on the phone with them: “Do you want a text the night before and when we're next?”

Ready Customers, Faster Jobs

Three alerts, chosen by the customer and sent automatically, turn a lot of locked doors and blocked driveways into ready jobs. To see how alerts fit with the crew app, the customer app and the rest of the system, go back to the JunkBossPro junk removal software page.