To make customer communication easier, you can send and receive messages with your customers from within the Workshop Module.

The Workshop Module will also notify you if you have unread SMS/text messages from your customers.

Sending an SMS/text message to a customer

There are three ways to send an SMS/text message to a customer from the Workshop Module.

1) Use the Quick SMS / Quick Text button

This is the best option if you would like to write a message for your customer related to a specific Workshop Job, and you don't want to use a template.

With the Workshop Job open, click the Quick SMS / Quick Text Message button within the job details area:

This will open a panel at the side of the screen.

You can type your message to the customer in the field at the bottom. You can also click the Image icon to attach image files to your message:

Click the Send icon to send your message.

You will see your sent message appear in the panel. If you send a message from within an open Workshop Job, you will also see the order reference or number on the message:

2) Use the SMS/text button

This is the best option if you would like to use one of your SMS/text templates, rather than typing a unique message for the customer.

Open the job details and then click the SMS/text button in the top-right:

This will open the Customer Communications window. You can now choose a template from the drop-down list:

3) Send a message from the notifications button

You can also send a message to a customer after reading a response from the ‘Unread Messages’ button. Please see the section below for more information on this feature.

Reading replies from your customers

You will be notified in the Workshop Module if you have any unread messages from your customers. You will see an ‘Unread Messages’ button appear, like so:

Click on this icon, and you will see the names of customers who have sent you an unread response.

Click on the customer you wish to view.

The customer's reply will show in bold text and as ‘Unread’:

Once you have read the message, click on the message body. This will change the text from bold to regular, and mark the message as ‘Read’:

You can mark messages as ‘Unread’ again by clicking on the message body. This is useful if you would like a colleague to read the reply, for example.




 

Opening orders from the 2-way SMS panel
 

When viewing the 2-way SMS panel in the Workshop Module, you can open linked orders.

The functionality of these depends on the order type and state.

Let's take a look at some scenarios:

Unscheduled Workshop Job:
 

If the message sent is in relation to an Unscheduled Workshop Job, and you open the linked order you will receive the following message;

By selecting ‘Yes’, you will be taken to the Unscheduled Job panel where you can find that particular job.

Scheduled Workshop Job:

When you choose to open the linked order, it loads the Workshop Job details;


 

Open POS order  (Layaway/Special Order):

If the linked order is an open Layaway or Special Order it shows a hyperlink using the Order Reference or Order ID;
 

Clicking on this hyperlink opens the Registers page in the Point of Sale and then recalls that order;


Completed Point of Sale order (Layaway/Special Order):

If you view an SMS message for a Completed Layaway or Special Order, the Linked Order is no longer hyperlinked;