A Prompt Card for Site-Visit Bookings: What to Ask the Caller to Have Ready

When you work alone, the phone rings while your hands are full. You might be up a ladder, halfway through a job or driving. The first call has one job: get a visit in the diary. It isn't the place to price the work or solve the problem.

A short card beside the phone, or pinned in your notes app, keeps those calls on track. Here is a card you can copy and adapt, with notes on why each prompt earns its place.

The card

Work down it in this order.

1. Postcode and address

• "Can I take the full postcode and the first line of the address?"
• If you work to a coverage area: "Let me check we cover you first."

2. The job in one sentence

• "What's happening, or what do you want done?"
• "Is it a repair, a replacement or something new?"
• "Is it urgent, or can it wait for the next free slot?"

3. Access

• Will someone be home, or do we need a key or lockbox code?
• Parking nearby, or permit restrictions?
• Stairs, narrow passages, a loft hatch or a locked side gate?
• Any pets?
• If it's a flat: a managing agent or entry system?

4. Who decides

• "Will the owner or anyone else need to be there or agree to the work?"

5. Photos

• Ask for a couple: the problem area, the wider room, anything that shows the layout.
• Give them the number or email address to send to.

6. Read it back

• Repeat the address, the job type, the day and time, and who will be there.

Why the order matters

The postcode comes first because it settles whether the job is in your patch at all. If it isn't, both of you save time. Asking for the first line of the address, not just the town, means you can look the place up before you commit.

The one-sentence description comes second because you are sorting the call into a type: a fault, a quote for new work, or an emergency. Each needs a different kind of visit. Decide in advance what counts as an emergency in your business and what you do with those calls. Write that rule at the bottom of the card, so you aren't inventing it under pressure while someone describes a leak.

Access is where visits go wrong

Most of the card's value sits in the access section. A locked gate, a loft hatch behind a wardrobe or a building with an entry system can sink a visit before you've picked up a tool. None of these questions are awkward, and callers usually appreciate that you're thinking ahead. Tick them off as you go and note the answers, because you'll want them again on the morning of the visit.

The person on the phone may not be the person who decides

A tenant, a family member or a property manager may ring you, and they may not be the one who approves the work. The prompt "Will the owner or anyone else need to be there or agree to the work?" takes seconds. It stops a visit ending with "I'll have to ask my landlord." If the answer is yes, ask whether they can be present, or on the phone, at the time you're coming.

Photos help, but they don't replace the visit

Photos let you bring the right materials and judge how long to allow. They won't do the visit's job for you, so don't quote from them. Say what you'd like to see, and make the sending easy by giving a number or address there and then.

Keeping it light on the call

A card shouldn't turn the call into an interrogation. A few habits help:

• Say what you're doing: "I'll ask a few quick things so I turn up with the right kit."
• Let the caller talk first, then fill gaps from the card rather than reading it out line by line.
• If they don't know an answer, write "not known" and move on. Don't leave a blank, because a blank looks like something you forgot.
• Keep the card to one side of one page so you can see it at a glance.

If you want the reasoning behind each prompt in more detail, this piece on what the caller should have ready when booking a site visit covers what to get from the caller and how to ask without sounding like you're interrogating them.

Make it yours

Print the card, use it for a while, then mark it up. If a certain question keeps producing surprises on site, move it up the list. If one never matters for your type of work, cut it. A good card is short enough that you'll actually use it, and specific enough to your trade that a missed answer is obvious at a glance.