Work they said no to (follow-up)

When a customer turns work down, AKILI keeps it. Two months later it texts them and asks if they want it booked in. That is the cheapest work your shop will ever sell: the car is known, the recommendation is already written, and the price was already discussed.

What gets kept

When you close a repair order, every job marked Declined or Deferred is saved to your follow-up list, with the title, the concern, the amount you quoted and the mileage the car was at. Approved work isn't saved — you sold that one.

It is a snapshot. Closing the order, deleting the job later, or changing your labor rate next spring doesn't alter it: what the customer was told in March is what you see in May.

When the text goes out

Sixty days after the order closes, by default. Change it under Shop settings → Follow-up on declined work, or set it to 0 to switch the whole feature off — nothing is saved and nothing is sent.

The message names your shop, the car, the job and the amount, and invites them to book it in. It's short on purpose.

Who gets texted

Only customers who agreed to receive texts from you, and only when the number is one we can actually dial. Everyone else stays on your list to be called instead — the follow-up is still worth money even when a text isn't allowed.

What it costs

A follow-up text is marketing, not a receipt, so it comes out of your message credits, the same wallet broadcasts use. If the wallet is empty nothing is sent and nothing is lost: the follow-up waits and goes out once you top up.

Working the list

Open Follow-up work from your home screen. The header tells you how much sellable work is sitting there and how much of it is due today. On any row:

• Create estimate opens a fresh repair order for that car with the job already on it, ready for you to price at today's rates, and marks the row converted.
• Reschedule moves the follow-up date, and puts the customer back in the queue for that date.
• Dismiss closes the row out — done elsewhere, car sold, or they said no again.

A customer is only ever texted once per job. Rescheduling is what puts them back in line; nothing else re-sends.