How do I deal with a customer booking enquiry?
Contents
Summary
The following article explains how to deal with an enquiry from a customer to hire one or more items for a period of time.
More Information
Go to " Booking and Hire Add or Edit Customer Bookings".
- Press the [Enquiry] button.
Hire Item Availability
By default, the "Hire item availability" list shows the availability of all your hire items for the current week, starting from Saturday.
 | Hire items with the least activity are shown at the top of the list. These hire items are most likely to be available. |
- If there are more hire items than can fit on the "Hire item availability" list:
- Use the [Down] button to view the next page of hire items.
- Use the [Up] button to view the previous page of hire items.
- You can choose to view the availability in more or less detail by showing hire item activity on a single day, a week or a four week period.
- Use the [Zoom In] to view the availability in more detail. The smallest viewable period is a single day.
- Use the [Zoom Out] to view the availability in less detail. The largest viewable period is a four week period.
- You can show the next or previous periods by:
- Using the [Next] button to view the next 'day', 'week' or 'four week period'.
- Using the [Previous] button to view the previous 'day', 'week' or 'four week period'.
Narrowing The Search
If the customer has an idea of the kind of item they are want to hire or know the date on which they want to hire the item:
- At "Type:", enter the codes of the hire item type(s) in which the customer is interested.
- At "Start:", enter the date on which the customer would like to hire the item.
- Press the [Search] button to update the "Hire item availability" view.
Defaulting The View
You can change the default view for your business by amending the Booking and Hire settings.
- Go to " Reports & Settings Maintenance Options System Administrator Module Settings Booking and Hire Module Settings".
- Scroll down to the "Hire Plan" section.
- At "Default start day:", choose the day on which either the 'week' or the 'four week period' view starts.
- At "Default plan zoom:", choose whether you want to view a 'day', 'week' or 'four week period' by default.
- You can set the start and end times of the 'day' zoom by setting "Day zoom start hour:" and "Day zoom end hour:" appropriately.
Choosing A Hire Item
To add a hire item to the booking enquiry:
- Click into the "Hire item availability" list on the line of the hire item you want to add to the booking enquiry.
- Press the [Choose] button.
A new line will be added to the "Booking items" list containing the hire item that has been chosen.
| If you have not already filled in the "Start:" and "End:" dates and times, these will be filled in automatically depending on exactly where within the "Hire item availability" you have clicked. |
 | If the chosen hire item has an associated "Price Plan" then a default price will be calculated. A description of the price can be found in the "Price description" column. |
| If required, you can add further items to the customer booking enquiry by repeating this process. |
Accepting The Enquiry
If the customer would like to proceed and continue with the booking process:
- Press the [Accept] button.
You will be taken to "Customer Booking Properties" so you can continue to process the customer booking.
Cancelling The Enquiry
Alternatively, if the customer does not want to proceed with the booking:
- Press the [Cancel] button.
You will be taken back to "Add or Edit Customer Bookings".
See also
- How do I create a hire item type?
- How do I process a customer booking?
- How do I customise pricing in Booking & Hire?
BH02, BH99
