To automate a service business, list the jobs that repeat every week, automate the ones that follow a pattern, and keep a human approval on anything a customer will read. In practice that means enquiry replies, quote follow-ups, reminders and review requests, the weekly numbers and website updates, roughly in that order. New to all of this? Start with the small business guide.
Step 1: write down one normal week
Before you pick a tool, write down everything you did last week that was not the actual work. Every email you answered, every quote you chased, every time you updated the opening hours. Most owners find the same ten jobs, and most of them follow a pattern: something happens, you look something up, you write roughly the same thing back.
Those patterns are what you automate. The one-off, judgement-heavy work stays with you.
Step 2: automate in this order
1. The first reply to a new enquiry. Speed wins jobs, and the first answer is usually the same three facts: yes we do that, here is roughly what it costs, here is when we can come. 2. Quote follow-ups. A friendly nudge after a week wins back work that would otherwise disappear in silence. 3. Reminders and review requests. A reminder the day before cuts no-shows; a review request right after a good job is the cheapest marketing there is. 4. The weekly numbers. Revenue, new enquiries, quotes out, what needs a push. Pulled from the tools you already use, every Monday. 5. Website and Google profile updates. New service, new hours, a finished project: a text should be enough. 6. Meeting and site visit prep. What was quoted, what they asked, what is still open, ready the night before.
Rules or an assistant?
There are two kinds of automation, and they suit different jobs.
Rules are for work that never changes: when a form is submitted, add a row to the sheet and send a text. Zapier is excellent at this, connects to thousands of apps, and is worth it if you have fixed, high-volume flows. The cost is that you design, build and maintain every flow yourself.
An assistant is for work that follows a pattern but needs judgement each time: reply to this enquiry in our tone with this week's availability, or chase the quotes that deserve chasing. That is where an assistant like Dagny fits. You ask in plain words, it drafts, you approve.
Keep a human in the loop
The fastest way to lose the personal touch is to let software write to customers unsupervised. So do not. Dagny drafts, you approve, Dagny sends. After a few weeks most owners approve with one word, because the drafts sound like them, but the decision stays theirs.
The same goes for anything that commits you: prices, dates, refunds. Automate the draft, keep the promise.
What it looks like in your trade
A plumber texts from the van and gets the quote follow-ups drafted by evening. A cleaning company has a reply drafted to every office enquiry the moment it lands. A dental clinic gets reminders and review requests drafted without taking time from the front desk. A law firm walks into every client meeting with a brief. The jobs differ; the method is the same.
Tell Dagny about your business and ask for the first job. Nothing goes out without your yes.
Try DagnyWhat it costs compared with the alternatives
Hiring someone for the admin is the traditional route, and a great person still beats any AI at judgement and relationships. It is also a salary, a long search and months of ramp (Dagny vs hiring someone). Dagny starts with $100 in free credits and no card, and paid plans start at $20 a month. See the pricing page for the current plans.
