Your service advisor is at the counter, on the phone and in the bay
One person can't do all three. GreetKeeper takes your overflow, gets the year, make and model, and books the diagnostic instead of losing that caller to the shop down the road.
Caller
“My check engine light came on last night and the car's shaking when I stop at lights. It's a 2016 Civic.”
What happened next
- Captured 2016 Honda Civic, check engine light plus rough idle at stop
- Booked a diagnostic Wednesday 1:00pm, diagnostic fee quoted at $120
- Noted the caller needs a ride back to work after drop-off
Eight in the morning is a queue at the counter and a queue on the line
Drop-off hour puts three customers in front of your advisor and four more on the phone. The ones on the phone hang up first, because they've somewhere to be.
Those morning callers are booking the work that fills your bays next week. Someone who can't get through at eight tries the next shop on the way to the office, and by nine they've got an appointment somewhere else.
The status call is the other half of it. Customers with a car in your shop ring to ask whether it's ready, and each one interrupts your advisor mid-write-up. It's a fair question and a terrible use of the one person who knows the answer.
GreetKeeper picks up your overflow, books the diagnostics and takes the vehicle details properly, so your advisor spends drop-off hour with the person standing in front of them.
Getting the year, make and model before anything else
You get no useful conversation without those three, and customers volunteer them badly. It asks in order.
Year, make, model, and roughly the mileage
It asks plainly and reads back what it heard. Your tech knowing it's a 2016 Civic with 140,000 miles before the car arrives changes what comes off your shelf.
Get the symptom in the customer's own words
Shaking at idle, a grinding on left turns, a smell after driving. Verbatim beats a checkbox here, because the phrase your customer uses often points straight at the fault.
State the diagnostic fee, not the repair
Your diagnostic charge is a fixed number, so it says it out loud. It won't guess what a repair will cost, because a phone estimate that misses becomes an argument at your pick-up counter.
Sort out the logistics
Drop-off time, whether they're waiting, whether they need your loaner or a lift. Those decide whether the appointment actually happens.
What it can write into your shop system
Your calendar takes a direct write, and your shop system gets a complete note from every call.
| Tool | How it connects | What that means |
|---|---|---|
| Google Calendar | Writes directly | Direct write, for shops scheduling bays as calendars. |
| Outlook Calendar | Writes directly | Direct write, same behavior. |
| Shopmonkey | Email or webhook | The booking is captured in full and entered by your advisor. |
| Tekmetric | Email or webhook | Year, make, model and symptom arrive together, ready for the repair order. |
| Mitchell 1 | Email or webhook | Your advisor keys in the appointment from the call summary. |
| AutoLeap | Email or webhook | The customer's own description of the fault arrives with the booking time. |
One recovered diagnostic a month covers it
Compare it to one booked job, then pick the tier that fits your bay count.
| Plan | Monthly | Calls included | After that |
|---|---|---|---|
| StarterFor a single location taking calls one line at a time. | $49 | 200 | $0.45 per call |
| ProfessionalBooking, routing and transfers included, not an add-on. | $149 | 750 | $0.35 per call |
| ScaleFor busy phones and longer opening hours. | $349 | 2,000 | $0.25 per call |
Starter is $49 a month for 200 answered calls, then 45 cents each, which suits you if you're three bays forwarding the morning rush and lunch. Six bays with a busy status-call load usually means Professional at $149 for 750 calls, then 35 cents.
Counting calls rather than minutes matters in your shop. A customer explaining an intermittent noise takes four minutes and costs you the same as a quick booking, which is the opposite of how per-minute services price it.
Turn the call into a ready repair order
What reaches your screen is the customer's own description of the fault, word for word. Treat it as a booking with context attached, and your tech knows what to listen for.
List your diagnostic fee and any fixed-price services, and those are the numbers it says. Everything else waits until the car is on a lift.
Write a status-call rule. The assistant takes the name and the vehicle and promises a callback, so your advisor answers them in one batch after drop-off.
What shop owners ask
Can it tell a customer if their car is ready?
Most shops route status calls to a message, with the name and vehicle captured, so the advisor answers them together once the morning settles.
Will it quote a brake job?
It states the fixed-price services you list and your diagnostic fee. It won't estimate a repair from a description, because the pads might be fine and the rotors might be scored.
Does it write into Tekmetric?
The details arrive for your advisor to enter, with the vehicle and symptom already written down. Google Calendar and Outlook take a direct write during the call.
Can it handle a tow-in at ten at night?
It answers, takes the vehicle and the location, and reads your after-hours instruction. Then it texts whoever you nominate, who arranges the tow with the location in hand.
Will it get the model right?
It reads back what it heard and asks your customer to confirm, which catches most of it. Trim levels and engine options still get sorted at your counter.
Other shops with a counter and a phone
Hear it book a diagnostic
Your diagnostic fee, your bay schedule, two minutes.