What people ask before they turn up
Look at your own notifications after you post a fixture or a line-up. It is the same handful of questions, every time:
- Are you showing it? Which screen, and is there sound?
- Can you fit eight of us for the quiz, and do we need to book?
- What time does it start, and what time do you need the table back?
- Is there food on, and until when?
- Is it ticketed, or do we just turn up?
None of them are hard. All of them decide whether a group of eight comes to you or to the place down the road that answered.
Where do those questions actually land?
Everywhere at once, which is the problem.
- Under the post, as a comment nobody sees.
- In your messages, behind the requests folder.
- On the phone at half seven on a Friday, when the bar is three deep.
- On your Google listing, from someone who has never messaged you before.
- In an email to an address that gets checked on Tuesdays.
One question can land in five places and still go unanswered.
What a good answer looks like
Two parts, and both matter:
- The answer. Yes, we are showing it, kick off is eight, we will have sound on the big screen.
- The next step. Do you want me to keep a table for eight? Give me a name and I will put it down.
The second part is what turns a question into eight people through the door. Most bars do the first part, eventually, and skip the second entirely.
Event questions, three ways
| The team, during service | Checking the phone between rushes | An always-on agent (Sorino) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Answered while they are still deciding | Rarely | Sometimes | Yes |
| Knows the fixture list and the line-up | Yes | Yes | Yes, from what you loaded |
| Offers to hold a table | If they think of it | Sometimes | Every time |
| Covers phone, messages, comments and email | No | No | Yes, one record |
| Takes someone off the bar | Yes | Yes | No |
How does an always-on agent handle it?
You give it what is on: the fixtures you are showing, the quiz start time, the line-up, the table policy, whether food is on. It answers on the phone, in your messages, on the website and by email, at half nine on a Sunday and at midday on a Wednesday, in your bar’s voice.
Then it offers to hold the table, takes the name and the number, and puts it where your team will see it. The questions it answers and the tables it holds sit on the record, so on Monday you can see what people asked about last week. That tells you what to put on next.
What will it not do?
- It will not promise a screen, a table or a fixture you have not told it about.
- It will not invent a kick off time. If it does not know, it says so and takes a message.
- It will not take a big private booking on its own. That gets gathered and handed to your manager.
- It will not argue with anyone. An unhappy customer goes to a person.
The bookings that take the whole back room are a different job.
Win more private hire →See how messages on social are captured and answered.
Social DMs →What to do this week
- Write down the ten questions you get asked most before an event. That list is the agent’s brief, and it is useful even if you never build one.
- Put your fixtures and start times somewhere your team can all see, not just on the poster.
- Make “shall I hold a table for you?” the standard reply to any event question.
- Check your message requests folder. There is usually a group of eight in there from last month.
How quickly can it go live?
About two to six weeks. The first couple of weeks load what is on, your table policy and your voice, and set what gets handed to a person. Then voice and chat go live and get tuned to how your bar talks, then email and social messages are added, with reporting on so you can see what people asked and what you held. It runs at £299 a month.
Frequently asked
Does it know the fixture list? It knows what you have given it. Load the fixtures you are showing and it answers from those, and says it does not know rather than guessing.
Can it take a table for the quiz? Yes. It offers the hold, takes the name and number, and puts it where your team will see it.
Does it reply to comments? It handles messages, and comments where the platform allows it. Anything better answered privately is taken to a message or a person.
Will it sound like us? It uses your own words and you sign off how it speaks before it goes live.
The short version
- Events are filled by answering questions, not by posting more.
- The questions land in comments, messages, the phone and your Google listing, all during service.
- A good answer ends with an offer to hold the table.
- The agent answers everywhere from one record, holds the table and keeps the record.
- Private hire, complaints and anything it was not told about go to a person.