Getting paid over text
The 5 Questions Every Customer Always Asks
By the end, you'll have the five answers customers always want, written out with exact numbers, ready to paste or feed to your chatbot.
You check your phone and there are six new messages. Five are the same question asked five different ways: "how much does it cost?", "what's the price on this", "how much do you charge for that". The sixth is the only one that actually needs you to think.
If you run your business through text messages, this happens every day. These aren't random questions: they're always the same five. And you answer them from memory, with slightly different words each time, which quietly changes what you said last week.
The problem isn't that people ask. It's that you improvise the answer every time, instead of writing it once so it stays the same no matter who answers: you, your employee, or the chatbot.
The five that keep coming back
You don't need to guess them: they're always the same five, no matter your trade. Write them once, in the exact wording, and you'll have the answer ready whenever someone asks, and know exactly what to feed the chatbot if you ever connect one. That's the subject of What the Chatbot Answers on Its Own, and When It's Your Turn.
- 1How much does it cost
It's the most common one. The written answer includes the number, not a range: "starting at $40" leaves the door open to haggling. If your price changes case by case, write the starting price and the exact condition that raises it. A Straight Price, Paid in One Step covers how to price without dancing around it; here what matters is having the sentence ready, not deciding the price all over again every time someone asks. - 2If you have an opening
The mistake is answering "let me check the calendar." If your availability changes every week, don't write it as fixed: write instead where to check it, a link to your booking calendar, so you're not the one answering that part every time. - 3If you travel to the customer or where you're located
Whoever asks this has usually already decided to buy from you; they just need to know if the location works. Don't save it for last: say it in full, with the service area and whether you charge a travel fee. - 4How do you pay
Cash, card, Apple Pay, tap to pay, or a payment link before anything else. Write it the same way you'd say it in person, without the "it depends." Whoever asks this is already ready to pay; don't cool them off with a question you could have answered yourself beforehand. - 5Do you also do...
This is the scope question: whether you do the specific variation the customer has in mind. Don't answer with your whole catalog; answer yes or no, and if it's no, say who to send them to.
- You change the price or the opening without noticing depending on the day
- You're slow to respond because you have to think it through first
- Whoever texts at eleven at night doesn't get an answer until the next day
- You answer the same way whether it's you, your employee, or the chatbot
- You respond instantly, any time of day
- Only the question that isn't one of the five reaches you
Which one to choose: Write them down before you have a chatbot or a dashboard: the day you connect one, you'll already know what to feed it. The exception is availability if it changes every week: leave that out of the written answers and point to the calendar instead, rather than fixing a line of text that goes stale in three days.
In Yodai the bot does this for you: it answers with your prices and your hours, and hands the chat over when someone asks for a person. See how the WhatsApp bot for your business works.
- The five questions that always come up: price, availability, travel or location, payment method, whether you do the specific variation
- A written answer for each one, with the number and the exact condition, not a range
- One single message that combines them all, ready to paste or feed to the chatbot
- Only the question that isn't one of the five reaches you
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