Getting started: your first 60 minutes on Deskwise

Most operators tell us the first hour decides whether the rest of the week is calm or chaotic. This is the order we recommend going through. You can pause at any step — nothing breaks if you come back tomorrow — but if you do all seven in one sitting, the agent will usually book its first client before you close the laptop.

Step 1 — Pick your vertical (2 minutes)

When you sign up, you choose one of 73 verticals (lash, nails, salon, barbershop, med spa, dental, vet, HVAC, plumbing, and so on). This is the single most important choice you'll make in the first hour. The vertical determines which prompt the agent uses, what intake questions it asks, what cycle length it suggests for rebooks, and what tone it takes. You can change it later, but most operators don't need to.

If your business straddles two verticals (e.g. a salon that also does brows), pick the one that drives most of your revenue. The agent will still handle the secondary services — it just leads with the primary.

Step 2 — Load your service menu (10 minutes)

Go to Services in the dashboard and add every service you offer with three fields: name, duration, price. Deposits are optional and we'll cover them in step 5. Don't try to be exhaustive — the top 8-12 services that generate 90% of your bookings is enough. Add the rest later as you go.

If you're switching from Booksy, Vagaro, or Square, you can paste a CSV export in onboarding and we'll map it automatically.

Step 3 — Connect Stripe (5 minutes)

Click Connect Stripe in Payments. You'll go through Stripe's KYC (name, EIN or SSN, bank account, ID). Money flows directly to your bank — Deskwise never holds it. Most operators clear KYC in under five minutes. If Stripe asks for more documents, follow their instructions and come back; you can keep setting up the rest of Deskwise in the meantime.

Step 4 — Buy a phone number (2 minutes)

Go to Numbers and pick a number in your area code. We use Twilio under the hood, so the number is real, portable, and yours. If you have an existing business number you want to keep, forward it to this new number. Your clients keep texting and calling the same number they always have.

Step 5 — Set your deposit + no-show policy (5 minutes)

Most operators start with: $25 deposit for new clients, no deposit for loyal clients, 100% no-show fee charged to the saved card 15 minutes after the slot starts. The smart deposit risk scoring tunes this per-client automatically. You can override per service if certain ones need higher deposits (e.g. lash full sets, dental implants).

Step 6 — Send your first test booking (5 minutes)

From your own phone, text your new Deskwise number with a sample request: "Hey can I book a fill Thursday afternoon?" Watch the agent reply. Tweak anything that feels off — most operators adjust the greeting or shorten the confirmation message. You can edit the agent's tone in Settings > Voice.

Step 7 — Tell three clients (the next day)

Don't announce "we have a new system" — your clients don't care about your stack. Just text three of your most loyal clients with: "Hey, our new number for booking is X. Same as always otherwise." The agent handles the rest. New clients who find you on Google or Instagram will book through the agent without you doing anything.

What to do in week one

• Check your inbox once a day to skim the conversations — you almost never need to intervene, but it builds trust early
• Tweak any service menu items that the agent quoted wrong
• Turn on dormant winback (Settings > Automations) to start pulling lapsed clients back
• If a service needs extra prep instructions (no caffeine, arrive lash-clean), add them to the service so the agent texts them automatically