WhatsApp is the interface
No app to install, no password to forget and no dashboard to check. The product lives where the conversation already happens.
Case study
Trade by Text: a business run from WhatsApp
Sole traders do not need another dashboard. Trade by Text runs quoting, jobs, invoicing and payment chasing through WhatsApp — the app already open on the phone in their van. This is a live product, built and operated by the studio.
The problem
The admin happens after the day job
A sole trader finishes on site at six and starts the paperwork. Quotes are written from memory, invoices go out late, and chasing a customer for money is the conversation nobody wants to have. Every job management app asks the same thing first: download this, create an account, learn a dashboard.
For a one-person business, that is enough friction to lose the habit. The work stays in the phone's message app — where the customer already is.
The flow
Quote to payment, in messages
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1. Describe the job
The tradesperson sends a normal message. The system parses the intent and guides them through a quote with line items.
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2. Quote as a PDF
A quote document is generated and sent to the customer over WhatsApp. The customer replies “approved”.
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3. Job created
Approval creates the job automatically — no re-keying, no second system.
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4. Job complete, invoice out
Marking the job complete generates and sends the invoice through the same thread.
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5. Scheduled chasing
Unpaid invoices trigger reminders at day 7, 14 and 21, with the wording escalating as the debt ages.
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6. Formal escalation
At day 30 a final warning is sent; at day 37 a Letter of Claim is generated under the Pre-Action Protocol for Debt Claims, starting the 30-day reply window.
Decisions
Four choices that made it usable
One version of the truth
Quotes, jobs, invoices and payment state are kept together, so the WhatsApp thread reflects the business rather than holding it. Nothing important lives only in a message.
Documents generated, not typed
Quotes, invoices and the Letter of Claim are produced from the job record, so a customer never receives a document that disagrees with what the tradesperson sees.
Chasing made explicit
Reminders are scheduled and visible rather than left to memory. The escalation path is defined in advance, so the awkward conversation is a policy decision, not a daily one.
The benefit
What changes for the tradesperson
- A quote goes out before leaving the jobNo evening admin and no backlog of paperwork. The customer replies in the same thread they already use.
- Nothing to install or learnNo new app, no new password and no training. If they can send a message, they can use it.
- Invoices and chasing happen on timeCompleting a job sends the invoice, and the reminders follow without anyone remembering to send them.
- The customer sees a professional threadA consistent quote, invoice and payment record in one place, rather than photographs of paperwork and typed totals.
Trade-offs
What a chat-first product gives up
A message thread is a poor place to browse history. The product keeps a simple read-only view for that, linked from WhatsApp, but it is deliberately secondary — it is for looking, not for working.
Typing is messier than filling in a form. When a message is ambiguous, the product asks a question rather than guessing at a price. That is more work to get right, and it is the price of adoption.
See it live
See it live
Trade by Text is a live product, operated as a separate brand by Grey and Associates Ltd.
- tradebytext.comThe product site and sign-up.
- Business process automationThe same approach applied to an existing business.
- Talk to usDiscuss a WhatsApp-first workflow of your own.
Questions
The things people ask first
Does the tradesperson need to install anything?
No. The product runs over WhatsApp, so the only thing on the phone is the messaging app they already use. There is a read-only dashboard on the web for history.
Is the customer talking to a bot?
The customer receives documents and reminders in a normal WhatsApp thread. The tradesperson controls the quote, the job and the invoice; the system handles the repetitive messages and the schedule.
How far does the chasing go?
Reminders at day 7, 14 and 21, a final warning at day 30 and a Letter of Claim at day 37, following the Pre-Action Protocol for Debt Claims. The escalation is defined up front rather than improvised.
Related
Let’s find out whether automation is the answer
Tell us what is slow, expensive or error-prone. We will tell you honestly whether we can help, what it would take, and roughly what it would cost — before anyone signs anything.