Frequently Asked Questions

Deptly is a managed service that takes real operational responsibilities off a small service business owner's plate — responding to new inquiries, following up on estimates, keeping customers informed, chasing invoices, and more. AI does the execution and real people oversee the work, all within rules you approve. There's no software to learn; you see what happened in a plain-language brief.

No. Deptly is a managed service, not a tool you configure. There's no new software to learn and nothing you have to remember to log into. Deptly does the work inside the systems you already use, and you review a short brief of what happened.

No technical knowledge required. You describe how your business works and what should happen in each situation, and Deptly turns that into workflows that run within your rules. To you it feels like competent help that shows its work.

Eight complete responsibilities: getting found and building trust, responding to and capturing every opportunity, booking and dispatch, following up to close more work, keeping customers informed, getting paid and finishing the back office, bringing customers back, and seeing what needs attention. Each one runs from the trigger to a verified finish — a complete responsibility, not a pile of disconnected tasks. The full list is at /what-deptly-handles.

It's everything that surrounds the job you're actually paid for: answering inquiries, sending estimates, confirming appointments, updating customers, chasing documents, following up on invoices. Most owners do it on evenings and weekends because there's no one else. That's the work Deptly is built to take off your plate.

AI tools give you one more thing to set up, and results depend on you operating them. Deptly is a managed service: the work gets done within rules you approve, and you review the outcome instead of the tooling. If something isn't working, that's a conversation with a person — not a settings page.

A hire or an agency gives you a person or a retainer, and you still manage the work. Deptly takes a defined responsibility off your plate end to end, with AI doing the execution and humans overseeing it, so you approve what matters instead of managing day to day. It also works inside your existing systems rather than adding another vendor process to babysit.

Same service, clearer language. Marketing, Sales, Front Desk, and Back Office described who would do the work at a bigger company; Deptly now describes the work itself — specific responsibilities like following up on estimates or keeping customers informed. The old department pages now live under /what-deptly-handles.

It starts with a short conversation about where work is leaking — missed calls, cold estimates, waiting customers, unpaid invoices. Together we pick one starting workflow, agree on the rules it runs within, and connect it to the tools you already use. Then it goes live, and the first 30 days are measured so you can judge it plainly.

Because trust is earned in the specific, not promised in general. One workflow lets you see exactly how Deptly operates — what it handles, what it asks about, how it reports — before anything else is added. It also makes the first month measurable instead of vague.

It depends on the workflow. Straightforward first workflows — like missed-call response or estimate follow-up — often launch within days of the rules being agreed. Work that touches regulated areas, multiple systems, or complex handoffs takes longer, and we'll say so up front rather than rush it.

The first workflow is scoped so that within 30 days you can see plainly what was handled: inquiries responded to, follow-ups sent, invoices chased, appointments confirmed. You judge the result against numbers you can verify in your own systems, not a scorecard we grade ourselves on. If it isn't earning its place, you'll be able to tell.

A conversation about how your business runs, access to the relevant tools (or a walkthrough of how you work if you don't use much software), and your decisions on the rules: what Deptly may do on its own, what it should ask about, and what stays with you. After launch, your involvement drops to reviewing briefs and answering the occasional question.

We look for the leak costing you the most — usually missed inquiries, estimates going cold, customers left waiting for updates, or invoices nobody chased. If you're not sure, the diagnostic at /tools/what-could-deptly-take-off-your-plate is a quick way to see likely candidates before we even talk.

Yes — that's the normal path. Most businesses start with one workflow, watch it prove itself over the first month, then extend into adjacent work like follow-up, customer updates, or invoicing. Each addition gets its own approved rules and its own measurable result.

Book a free call from /contact, or start with the diagnostic if you'd rather explore first. The call is a conversation about your business and where the first workflow would go — no pressure and no obligation.

You do. Before anything runs, you approve the rules: which actions are routine enough to run automatically, which come to you first, and which are never Deptly's call. The workflow operates within those rules, and they're yours to tighten or loosen at any time.

Anything outside the approved rules — unusual requests, exceptions to your policies, sensitive customer situations, or commitments above thresholds you set. Those come to you as a quick question through whatever channel you prefer, and the work waits for your answer.

Pricing exceptions, refunds and disputes, hiring and staffing, legal and compliance judgments, and anything that changes what your business promises customers. Deptly can prepare the context and draft the response, but the decision stays with you. Every capability page shows this boundary explicitly: what Deptly handles, what it asks about, and what remains human.

The action waits. Nothing outside the approved rules ships without your sign-off — a slow answer means a delayed task, never an unauthorized one.

Both. AI does the execution — drafting, sending, chasing, updating — and real people at Deptly oversee the work, review edge cases, and step in when something doesn't fit the rules. You get the speed of automation with judgment behind it.

You get a plain-language brief — weekly by default — listing what was handled, what closed, what's waiting on you, and anything that needs attention. Updates come the way you prefer: text, email, or a quick call. No portal required.

Yes, any time. Rules usually start conservative — more things routed to you — and loosen as the workflow earns trust. Tightening them back up is just as easy and takes effect immediately.

/trust-and-control covers the full model: how rules are set, how approvals flow, what gets logged, and what always stays human. It's written to be read before you buy, not after.

Yes — that's the default. Deptly works inside the CRMs, scheduling tools, field-service platforms, accounting software, and phone systems small service businesses already run on. The goal is to take work off your plate, not to make you migrate.

No. Deptly adapts to your stack rather than the other way around. During scoping we confirm exactly how your specific tools connect, and we're honest if something needs a workaround.

That's common and it's fine. Plenty of businesses run on a phone, texts, and a notebook — Deptly can start there and recommend lightweight tools only where they genuinely help. You won't be handed a software shopping list on day one.

No. Deptly reports to you in plain language through the channel you choose and does the work inside your existing systems. There's nothing you have to remember to check.

Your data is used only to operate your workflows. It isn't sold, shared across customers, or used to train third-party AI models without your permission, and access is limited to the Deptly team operating your account.

No. Your business and customer data operates your workflows — it isn't training material for general-purpose AI models.

Ten families of service businesses: home services and emergency trades; landscaping, tree and heavy property services; auto services and specialty surface care; medical spas and premium beauty; pet care; cleaning, restoration and exterior maintenance; moving and junk removal; private-pay health, dental and wellness; senior care; and boutique legal. Each family page at /industries shows the workflows in that industry's own vocabulary.

Yes — plumbing, HVAC, electrical, roofing, restoration and similar trades are a core fit. The usual leaks are missed calls while you're on a job, estimates that go cold, and customers left waiting for updates, and those map directly to Deptly's responding, follow-up, and customer-update workflows.

Yes. Recurring routes, design-build projects, and tree or seasonal work each have their own page under /industries/landscaping. Common starting workflows are spring-rush inquiry response, estimate follow-up, and invoicing that keeps up with peak season.

Yes. Booking, confirmations, no-show prevention, review responses, and rebooking are the usual starting points. Anything touching clinical judgment or treatment recommendations stays with your licensed staff — Deptly handles the work around the work, not the medicine.

Yes, on the operational side: scheduling, recall and reactivation, patient status updates, document chasing, and payment follow-up. Clinical decisions are never Deptly's call, and workflows in these practices are scoped with extra care around privacy and consent — which also means setup is more deliberate than in unregulated industries.

Yes — boutique legal and private home care are two of the ten families Deptly serves. These are careful industries, so first workflows lean administrative: intake response, document collection, status updates, and invoice follow-up, with strict rules about what always routes to you. Expect scoping to take longer than in less regulated businesses; that's deliberate.

The ten families are where Deptly has the deepest pattern recognition, but the underlying workflows — respond, follow up, inform, collect — fit most appointment- or job-based service businesses. The first call establishes honestly whether your business is a fit before either side commits. If it isn't, we'll say so.

Pricing is scoped to the responsibility Deptly takes on — which workflow you start with, the volume flowing through it, and the complexity of your systems. There's no one-size price because a solo operator's missed-call workflow and a ten-truck company's full follow-up pipeline are different jobs. A short call sets an exact figure before you commit; /pricing explains how scoping works.

Three things mainly: how many workflows Deptly is responsible for, the volume of work moving through them, and how much complexity is involved — multiple locations, regulated requirements, or systems that need careful integration. Adding scope raises it; keeping it lean keeps it lean.

No contracts and no minimum commitment. You can cancel anytime.

Yes — a 30-day money-back guarantee, built to match the 30-day measurable start. If the first month doesn't show the workflow earning its place, you get your money back.

Yes — scope and price move together. Each added workflow is scoped and priced before it starts, so there are no surprise line items, and you can scale back just as easily with the price following.

Usually with the growth you're already generating but losing: inquiries that get slow responses, estimates nobody follows up on, and past customers nobody re-contacts. Capturing those reliably tends to be the fastest honest win, before spending anything on new demand. The Grow path at /grow walks through the sequence.

Yes — this is one of the most common starting workflows. Every estimate gets a follow-up sequence within your rules, with polite persistence and a clear record of where each one stands, so jobs stop dying of silence. You decide the tone, the timing, and when to stop.

Yes. When a call is missed or a form comes in, Deptly responds quickly, gathers what's needed, and either books the next step or routes it to you — all within the rules you've approved. Speed matters here: the business that answers first usually wins the job.

Deptly covers the trust side of getting found: keeping your business profiles accurate, requesting and responding to reviews within your rules, and making sure people who look you up see a business that answers. It's not an ad agency — and if you do run ads, Deptly makes sure the leads they generate actually get answered and followed up.

You'll see it in your own numbers: inquiries answered, estimates followed up, jobs booked, customers reactivated — reported plainly in your brief and verifiable in your own systems. Deptly doesn't promise revenue outcomes it can't control; it promises that the opportunities you're already getting stop leaking. Worked examples are at /proof.

With whatever eats the most of your evenings — usually customer updates, invoice follow-up, or document chasing. One workflow takes that responsibility off your plate with rules you approve, and the brief shows you what got handled. The Get Time Back path at /get-time-back walks through it.

Yes — that's the Grow Without More Chaos path. Growth usually breaks the informal systems that worked when you were smaller: follow-ups get missed, customers wait for updates, invoices slip. Deptly puts a reliable workflow under those pressure points so growth stops creating dropped balls, without adding headcount or another layer of management.

Yes. Invoices go out on time, reminders follow at intervals you approve, and payments are tracked to verified closure. Disputes, discounts, and write-offs are never Deptly's call — those route to you with the context you need to decide quickly.

Yes — proactive status updates are one of the highest-relief workflows. Customers hear from you at the moments that matter (scheduled, on the way, done, invoice sent) without you typing a thing, and the checking-in calls fall away. You approve the templates and the triggers.

Yes. Deptly books within the rules you set — service areas, job durations, buffer times, crew availability — so the calendar fills without double-bookings or jobs that don't fit. Changes and cancellations get handled and backfilled instead of leaving holes in the day.

It means the business needs less of you to run well day to day. The work around the work — responding, following up, updating, chasing — gets handled within your rules, you review a short brief instead of carrying it all in your head, and your evenings stop being admin shifts. The judgment calls stay yours; the busywork doesn't.