What to ask

Once your assistant is connected, ask for things the way you would ask someone in the office. Use the names you use in TradeSender. Every request on this page uses something an assistant can do. Quotes, invoices and prices need an owner's or office member's assistant. A technician's assistant works with that technician's own visits, time and time off.

The day ahead

• "What's on tomorrow, and who is on each visit?"
• "What have I got on Thursday? Give me the order, the addresses and any access notes."
• "Which visits this week have nobody assigned?"
• "Put tomorrow's visits in the best order to drive, starting from the yard."
• "Is anyone off next week?"

Customers and properties

• "Add a customer: Mrs Hale, 14 Orchard Lane, Ely, CB6 1AA, 07700 900123."
• "Add Chris Bell as a contact for Oak & Stone. His email is chris@oakandstone.example."
• "Put gate code 2580 in the access notes for Wren Street Apartments."
• "Which customers have no email address?"
• "What have we emailed Harbour Dental this month?"
• "Here is my customer list from my old spreadsheet. Check it against my customers and tell me what an import would add. Import nothing yet."

Quoting

• "Draft a quote for Samira Patel: hedge cutting, three hours, at my price in Services. Do not send it."
• "Quote Harbour Dental £180 for a one-off tidy of the front beds, valid for 14 days. Show me before you send it."
• "Book a quote visit at Wren Street Apartments for Tuesday at 2."
• "Which quotes have I sent that nobody has answered?"
• "James Wilson said yes on the phone. Record his quote as accepted by him and turn it into a job."

Booking work

• "Book the Harbour Dental job for Thursday at 9 for two hours, with me on it."
• "Move Friday's visit at Wren Street Apartments to Monday, same time."
• "Set up mowing for Samira Patel every two weeks, Tuesdays at 10 for an hour, starting next week."
• "Cancel tomorrow's visit for James Wilson and tell me what else he has booked."

Repeating visits need a plan that includes them. On the Free plan the assistant gets the same answer you would: "Your Free plan doesn't include repeating visits."

On a visit

• "Start my 9 o'clock visit and clock me in."
• "Finish the visit at Harbour Dental. Note: hedges done, green waste taken away."
• "How many hours did I log last week?"
• "I forgot to clock out on Tuesday. Change that entry to finish at 4:30."
• "Book me off from 22 to 24 December."

Getting paid

• "Which invoices are overdue, and by how much?"
• "Make an invoice from the Harbour Dental job and leave it as a draft."
• "Oak & Stone paid £240 by bank transfer today. Find the invoice and ask me before you record it."
• "Email the Harbour Dental invoice again with a short note that it is two weeks overdue. Show me the note first."
• "What does James Wilson still owe?"
• "Oak & Stone paid £378 for both their invoices in one transfer. Show me how you would split it, then record it."
• "How many jobs are waiting for month end, and what do their invoices come to? Do not run it."

Tidying records

• "Put hedge cutting up to £48 an hour in Services."
• "Are any customers in twice? List the pairs and change nothing."
• "Which finished jobs have no invoice?"
• "Archive the draft quote for Samira Patel."

When you ask an assistant to delete a customer, contact, property, job, draft quote or draft invoice, TradeSender archives it. A time entry, a booking of time off or a visit photo is deleted.

Stay in charge of what it sends

TradeSender tells every assistant to say what it is about to do and wait for your yes before it sends a quote, sends or finalises an invoice, records a payment, voids an invoice, runs month end or imports customers. That is an instruction to the assistant. TradeSender does not hold the email back if the assistant goes ahead. An assistant has no way to undo any of those.

These habits help:

• Say "draft, do not send". A draft quote or invoice reaches nobody. Read it in TradeSender, then send it yourself or tell the assistant to.
• Ask to see it first. "Show me the total and who it goes to before you send it."
• One customer at a time for anything that emails someone or records money.
• Keep your AI app asking. Most apps ask you to approve each change. Leave that switched on.
• Use exact names. Write "Oak & Stone" as it appears in TradeSender. TradeSender tells the assistant to look for an existing customer, property or job before it adds one, and the exact name helps it find the right one.

Money, dates and times

Type money in pounds: "£180", "£45 an hour". TradeSender keeps money in pence and tells the assistant so. Have it read a total back to you in pounds before anything goes to a customer.

Say days and times as you would say them: "Thursday at 9", "the week after next". TradeSender tells the assistant your workspace's time zone.

What it will say no to

An assistant cannot upload a photo, fetch a PDF, read website enquiries, or change settings or the team. The full account is in What an assistant can and cannot do.