A website chatbot for locksmiths

Locksmith enquiries come in two shapes: somebody standing outside their own front door, and somebody planning - a lock change after a break-in, new locks for a rental, a safe that needs opening. The first needs a phone number on the screen in one second. The second needs answers at eleven at night. An Allinaa assistant on your website handles the second and gets out of the way for the first.

Lockouts: the shortest useful conversation

A person locked out is on a phone, often in the dark, sometimes with a child in the car. Configure the assistant to recognise lockout wording immediately and to put your call number and your typical response window on the screen without asking anything else. No form, no questions, no three-step qualification. If you want one question first, make it the town or postcode, because that is the one that decides whether you can help at all.

Write your out-of-hours position into the knowledge plainly: whether you attend at night, what the night rate is, and how long you typically take to reach the areas you cover. A visitor who reads that and calls is a job; a visitor who reads nothing calls the next result.

What it must never explain

This is the trade where a helpful chatbot is a liability. Configure the assistant so that it does not explain how to open any lock, window or vehicle, does not describe any tool or technique, does not comment on how secure a particular lock is against being picked, and does not answer a question about getting into a property the asker may not live in. Write the refusal sentence yourself, keep it short and unapologetic, and have it offer a call instead.

The same applies to proof of residence. Your own policy on what you ask for before opening a door belongs in the knowledge, stated as a requirement rather than an obstacle - it reassures the legitimate customer and discourages the other kind.

Planned work, where the answers win the job

• "My locks are five-lever but the insurance letter says something about a standard. Do mine qualify?"
• "Can you key all the doors to one key?"
• "I've just moved in. What should I change?"
• "A tenant has moved out and not returned a key. What are my options?"
• "Can you fit a keypad or a smart lock on a uPVC door?"

Each of these has a fixed answer in your business. Write them in your own words, including what you do not do. On the insurance question, state what the relevant standard is called and that the insurer decides - never that a lock "will satisfy" a policy, because you have not read the policy.

Charges, stated before the van moves

Put your real figures in your own knowledge; the assistant quotes only what is written there. It will not estimate the price of a lock change it has not seen, and it will not promise an arrival time - both are promises only a person with the diary can make.

What a planned job request should carry

The assistant asks up to three short questions, one at a time: the address or postcode so your area can be confirmed, what the door or lock is (wooden, uPVC, composite, aluminium shopfront), what needs doing, and whether the visitor owns the property or manages it. Then it offers the inquiry form. The visitor confirms their own contact details and agrees to be contacted, you get an e-mail, and the job waits in your inbox with a status, private notes and CSV export. On Premium a photo of the door edge and the existing lock answers the question your office would otherwise have to ask twice.

Commercial, landlords and master keys

Shops, offices and landlords buy differently: purchase orders, multiple sites, master key systems, and a named contact who is not on site. Write that path separately - who you take instructions from, how you invoice, and what you need before attending a tenanted property. The assistant cannot look up a previous job or a key system you have on file, and it should say so rather than guess. See property management and the launch checklist.