Agents
Workflows and customer journeys
How the agent knows where each customer is in a longer process, which steps are valid from there, and how each conversation moves the process forward.
On this page
Your customers do not contact you with isolated questions. A buyer asking about a handover date is part way through a purchase that started with an enquiry, and a traveller asking about a delayed flight is part way through a trip. The agent knows the journey each conversation sits inside: which stage the customer has reached, what has already happened, and what should happen next. That is what lets a conversation move the process forward rather than only answering the question in front of it.
What this changes for your business
Answers reflect where the customer actually is. A buyer whose unit is ready for handover is offered a handover appointment. A buyer whose unit is still under construction is told the stage the project has reached and what comes next.
Each conversation ends with the next step taken. When a qualified enquiry can become a viewing, the agent offers to book one. When a claim needs documents, it asks for them before the conversation ends.
Your team sees the stage as well as the conversation. The customer record shows where each customer is in each journey, so the person who picks up a handover knows the purchase history behind it.
The journeys the agent knows
Each industry model includes the journeys that industry runs on: the stages, and the valid moves between them. These are the starting points. Your own process is mapped onto them during implementation.
| Industry | Journey stages | What moves a customer to the next stage |
|---|---|---|
| Property | Enquiry, viewing, reservation, payments, handover, snagging | A qualified enquiry becomes a viewing. A signed reservation starts the payment plan. A unit ready for handover opens the handover stage. Handover raises snagging items |
| Travel and hospitality | Booking, change, travel, delay or cancellation, after the trip | A booking can be changed within its rules until travel begins. A schedule change during travel starts a rebooking. The trip's end opens feedback and any follow-up |
| Insurance | Quote, policy, claim, renewal | An accepted quote becomes a policy. A first notice of loss (the first report of a claim) opens a claim. The approaching renewal date opens the renewal stage |
Only valid next steps are offered
A journey is more than a list of stages. It also defines which moves are valid from each one. The agent offers only the steps that are valid from the stage the customer is at, and the stage comes from your systems rather than from what the customer says.
A buyer asking to book a handover appointment before the unit is ready for handover is told the stage the project has reached, not offered a slot. A traveller who has already started their trip is offered the change options that apply mid-trip, not those that apply before departure. A policyholder asking about a claim that has not been reported is offered a first notice of loss.
This works with the limits on what the agent can do. The journey decides which steps make sense. Your limits decide which of those the agent can take itself, and which go to a person. See Policies as limits.
The technical detail
Stages and valid transitions are modelled for each industry and tied to the customer record. During a conversation, the agent reads the current stage from your system of record (the system your organisation treats as the authoritative source), such as your CRM (the system that holds your customer and sales records), property management system, reservation system or claims system. It does not infer the stage from the conversation alone.
The customer record holds what the conversations add: the issues raised at each stage, the commitments made and the actions taken. When the agent completes a step in your systems, such as booking a viewing or logging a claim, the stage your system holds moves with it. See How integrations work.
When a customer is in more than one journey
Many customers are. A buyer may own two units at different stages. A traveller may hold a flight booking and a separate hotel booking. A policyholder may have a motor policy with an open claim and a home policy due for renewal.
The agent keeps each journey separate. When it is not clear which one the customer means, it asks rather than guessing. Each thing the customer raises is tracked as its own issue, from first contact to resolution, however many conversations or channels it takes. See Issues and threading.
Reaching out when a stage changes
Some stages are best started by you rather than by the customer. Outbound messages and calls at stage changes are configured during implementation for the journeys you choose.
| Industry | When the stage changes | What the agent does |
|---|---|---|
| Property | An instalment milestone approaches | Reminds the buyer of the amount and the milestone, from the schedule |
| Property | A viewing or handover appointment is booked | Confirms it, sends a reminder, and handles a reschedule |
| Travel and hospitality | A stay is approaching | Contacts the guest before arrival about transfers or check-in requests |
| Insurance | A claim moves to its next stage | Tells the policyholder what has changed and what happens next |
| Insurance | A renewal date approaches | Sends the renewal reminder and answers questions about it |
Every outbound contact respects the consent and contact rules that apply. See WhatsApp: message templates and outbound messages and Contact rules for outbound messages and calls.
Where your team sees it
The customer record shows each customer's journeys and the stage of each, alongside every conversation. In the console (the Telonic web application your team uses), the Workflows view lists the workflows in your deployment, their stages, and the reasons customers get in touch at each stage. A stage that generates far more contact than the others is visible there, and so is the question driving it.
In practice
Nakhla Travel, a tour operator, uses a Telonic agent for package holidays on WhatsApp and voice.
- Booking. Aisha books a week in Salalah: a flight, five hotel nights and an airport transfer. The agent treats them as one trip.
- Change. Two weeks before departure, she asks to travel a day later. The agent checks the fare rules and the hotel rate, moves the flight and the hotel nights together, and moves the transfer to match.
- Travel. On the day, her record shows her as travelling, so her next question is handled under the mid-trip rules.
- Delay. Her return flight is delayed overnight. The agent contacts her with the new time and the options the fare and the operator's policy allow, and she chooses a later flight.
- After the trip. Once she is home, the agent asks how the trip went and records her answer. Nakhla's team sees the whole journey, stage by stage, in one record.
What your team controls
- How your own process maps onto each journey, including stages the industry pattern does not have.
- Which steps the agent takes itself at each stage, and which go to a person.
- Which stage changes start an outbound contact, and on which channel.
- What is written back to your systems when a step is completed.
Related
- Industry modelsAgents
- Agent rolesAgents
- The customer recordCustomer record
- Issues and threadingCustomer record
- Travel and hospitalityIndustry guides
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