For local services
Your customer list should tell you who to call today.
Gutters, panels, windows, pools. The work repeats on a cycle, and the whole business runs on remembering whose cycle is up and who still owes you for last Tuesday. A spreadsheet cannot remind you of either.
What’s breaking today
- The customer list is a Google Doc you scroll through looking for dates.
- Someone who should be serviced every six months goes fourteen without a call.
- New enquiries arrive as texts that get buried in your personal messages.
- Who paid for which job lives in your banking app and your memory.
- Chasing an unpaid bill depends on you remembering you sent one.
How it goes instead
- 1
Import the list
Choose “I provide a service” when you set up your store, then paste your spreadsheet in. BatchDrop works out which column is the phone number and which is the address, and you set each customer’s cadence — every three, six, or twelve months.
- 2
Work the list
Your dashboard opens on Today: who is overdue, who is due, and any new texts. A quote request from your page lands there as a new customer with a follow-up due that day. Mark someone serviced and the next reminder books itself.
- 3
Record the job
Log the visit as an order — “Gutter clean, two-story, $180” is a fine line. When they pay you in cash, Venmo, or Zelle, mark it paid and the receipt is issued for you. On Pro, send an invoice with a due date instead, and the due date goes on your follow-up list.
What matters most for you
Follow-ups
The cadence, the daily list, and a morning email when someone is due — this is the core of it.
Service sites & Today
A public page with what you do, where you work, and a “Request a quote or visit” form.
Orders, receipts & invoices
A record of every job, a receipt when it is paid, and an invoice on Pro when it is not.
Offers
One text to everyone who opted in when the spring special starts.
Your customer list
Import the Google Doc; keep addresses and private notes per customer.
SMS broadcasts
A business number for one-to-one texts, separate from your personal phone.
We suggest Pro
If you bill customers after the job, start on Pro — invoices, and the due-date follow-ups that come with them, are Pro and Business only. Pro’s 1,000 messages a month also leave room for a seasonal offer: a short one costs one message per opted-in customer, a longer one two, and a full 300-character offer three, so a short offer to 250 people uses most of Basic’s 300 on its own and anything longer would not fit, and an offer that would go over is refused before it starts. If customers pay you on the spot and your opted-in list is small, Basic covers the rest of this page: the quote form, the cadence and digest, orders, and receipts. One-to-one texts and receipts are never held back by the cap — only broadcasts and offers are refused. Move to Business when you want the report on which customers are actually worth the drive.
Questions
I do not sell products in batches. Is this still for me?
Yes. Set “What do you do?” to service and your dashboard opens on Today, the Drops and Products menus are hidden, and your public page becomes a quote-request page. It only changes the defaults — nothing is locked, and you can switch to Both if you also sell in batches.
Can customers book appointments?
No. There is no booking calendar. Your page has a “Request a quote or visit” form instead: a name, a phone number, and a note about what they need. Each request becomes a customer with a follow-up due that day, and you text or call back to settle a time.
How do I get paid?
The way you are paid now — cash, Venmo, Zelle, a check. Customers pay you directly and nothing is taken from what you collect. Mark the job paid and BatchDrop issues a numbered receipt. Online card payments are in development.
Can I send an invoice?
On Pro and Business, yes. Turn an unpaid job into an invoice, optionally with a due date, and that date goes on your follow-up list. The customer gets a link by email, or by text if they have no email address and have opted in to texts; otherwise you get the link to pass on yourself. It is a web page, not a PDF. Invoices cannot be paid online yet: the customer pays you directly, and marking the invoice paid settles the job and issues the receipt.
Can I text a seasonal special?
Yes, with an offer: one text of up to 300 characters to everyone who has opted in — “Spring gutter cleans are $20 off through April,” say. It goes to your whole opted-in list, with no targeting, and each text counts toward your monthly allowance.
Will it text my customers automatically?
No. Reminders tell you who to contact; you decide what to send. Your list only hears from you when you send a broadcast, an offer, or a one-to-one reply. The only automatic messages are about a job — a receipt when you mark it paid, an invoice when you issue one, or a note when you mark it done.