Operations · Guide · 5 min read
Automations that pay off first
Where to start automating a trade office — lead intake, digests, invoice-to-accounts, reminders — and the one rule that keeps automation from embarrassing you.
01The rule: humans approve anything customer-facing
Automate the gathering, drafting and reminding. Keep a person on the final click for anything a customer or subbie will read, and for anything that moves money. A bad automated message costs more than it saves.
02Start here
- Lead intake — every enquiry from every source lands in one inbox with the details extracted.
- Draft replies — a first reply waiting for review the moment a lead arrives.
- Morning digest — generated from your job system, accounting and inbox.
- Invoice approved → draft bill in your accounting system, with the job reference.
- Compliance reminders — insurance and licences flagged 30 days before expiry.
- Quote follow-ups — reminders to the salesperson on day 2, 5 and 10.
03Make delivery honest
"Sent" is not "delivered". Messaging providers report delivery status back — capture it, and fall back to another channel (SMS after WhatsApp, a call after SMS) when a message doesn't land. Otherwise your system will tell you a subbie was notified when they never were.
04Pick tools you own
A self-hostable workflow tool such as n8n keeps your automations and credentials under your control and doesn't charge per step. Whatever you use, keep a written list of every automation, what triggers it, and who owns it.