Notes from the shop floor.
Essays, product notes, and honest thinking about inbound sales, WhatsApp as a channel, and the use of AI in work that matters.
What a WhatsApp chatbot really costs
The licence fee is one of five cost lines, and rarely the biggest. A guide to reading any quote without an unpleasant surprise three months in.
Seasonal peaks without seasonal hires
Every trade has its high season for enquiries, and almost no small business staffs for it. What gets lost in those weeks does not come back in January.
12 questions to ask before buying a chatbot
The demo always goes well. These are the questions that separate a serious AI agent from an expensive mistake — and what a good answer sounds like for each one.
When the bot should shut up: handover done properly
Everyone judges a chatbot by what it can answer. Almost nobody judges it by something more important: whether it knows when to step aside, and how gracefully it does it.
Teaching an AI your catalogue without it making things up
A language model prefers a plausible answer to a gap. Why asking it nicely in the prompt is not a guarantee — and what is.
AI agent or rule-based chatbot: which one your business actually needs
The decision tree is predictable and cheap; the AI agent understands context but demands guardrails. An honest comparison — including when you don't need AI at all.
Qualifying leads without the interrogation
Eight questions in a row is not qualification — it is a form wearing a chat window. What separates a good salesperson is the order and context of what they ask.
GDPR and WhatsApp chatbots: what data your bot handles and how to comply
If a bot answers your customers on WhatsApp, your business is processing personal data. Here is what that actually involves, in plain English.
Web forms vs WhatsApp: where leads go to die
The form asks the customer to do the work and pays them back with silence. The conversation answers on the spot. That asymmetry explains more than it seems to.
WhatsApp chatbot for business: the honest guide
What a WhatsApp chatbot can genuinely do, what it can't, what the costs are made of, and when you don't need one at all.
WhatsApp Business API: what it is, what it isn't, and what it costs
The difference between the free app and the official API, why Meta charges per conversation rather than per message, and the three places every business gets stuck signing up.
Your chatbot and Article 50: what the EU AI Act actually requires
If an AI assistant talks to your customers, European law says you have to tell them before they type. What it requires, who it applies to, and how to comply without ruining the conversation.
The weekend problem
Peak enquiry volume lands on Saturday evening. Your sales team, quite reasonably, does not. Here is what that gap is actually costing you.