How contractors answer DMs and capture leads while on a job

What it can do, and what it can't

When you're in a crawl space, a message asking "how much to replace a water heater?" waits until you're out. DM DESK answers it from what you've written down, and keeps the details for you.

• It can answer price questions from the prices in your service list. A price written as "starting at" or as a range is said that way.
• It can answer your service call price, whether you cover an area, and your hours, from the services and answers you give it.
• It can tell customers how you get paid, like cash, Zelle or card in person, and when, like after the service.
• It can collect a quote request: what needs doing, the address or area, and when they'd like it. It asks once for a name and a phone number or email, on website chat and in Instagram DMs.
• It can reply in English, Spanish, Chinese, Vietnamese, Arabic or Tagalog.
• It can't give a final price. It never adds prices up into a quote, estimates a total or negotiates.
• It can't book a job. It never says a job or a time is confirmed, booked or scheduled.
• It can't see photos. If a customer sends one, it asks them to describe the problem in words and alerts you.
• It can't diagnose a problem or give repair advice.

What to write down first

There is no separate box for a service call price or a service area. DM DESK answers from what you put in your services and your answers. Write these down before it answers anyone:

• Your service list, with a price or a "starting at" price for each job you price the same way every time.
• Your service call or trip fee, and when it's waived, if it is.
• Your service area, by city or neighborhood.
• Your hours, including weekends.
• How and when you get paid.

Setup, in five steps

You can do this yourself from your DM DESK dashboard, or with us on a free 30 minute setup call. We review your setup before it answers customers.

1. Sign up for DM DESK, pick a plan, and choose Service business as your business type.
2. In Your agent, add your hours on Business info, your services and prices in Services and booking, and your other answers, like your service area, on Answers.
3. Answer "How do you get paid?" in Services and booking, with your payment methods and when you get paid.
4. In Your agent, under Voice and handoffs, choose whether to set "Your team replies within". Left at Not set, DM DESK never tells a customer how fast you'll reply.
5. Connect your Instagram account, add the chat to your website, or both. Then send yourself a test quote request and check the alert.

What gets handed to a person

Every quote request goes to you, with the job details attached. So do these:

• Emergencies. For a gas smell, a carbon monoxide alarm, fire or smoke, or sparks, the reply first tells the customer to leave and call 911, starting with "If you smell gas, see smoke or fire, or your CO alarm is going off, leave now and call 911." For an active leak, flooding, no heat, or a lockout, it does not tell them to call 911. Either way, it flags the chat to you as urgent and asks for the address, what's happening, a name and a phone number. It never promises an arrival time.
• Final quotes. Anything without a listed price goes to you as a quote request.
• Complaints about a past job, and anyone who asks for a person.
• Photos, videos and voice notes, which it can't see or hear.

When you reply

You get an alert by email and in the app, with the chat attached. In the DM DESK inbox, Reply directly sends your message and pauses the AI on that chat. Reply, then resume AI and Answer to AI send your reply without pausing the AI. A reply typed straight on Instagram pauses the AI on that chat too. Under Voice and handoffs you choose when it picks the chat back up, or never.

If you set "Your team replies within", DM DESK tells the customer that time when it hands the chat to you. It never says it on an urgent request.

Restaurants use the same handoffs for orders. See how Toast restaurants take orders from Instagram DMs.