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Customers are trying to reach you. Some can’t.

Tap through a 2-minute check. See where money slips away, and what you can fix tonight for free.

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A small shop at night with the shutter half down, a phone on the counter and unanswered messages piling up

Money slips away in three places.

Fixing it doesn’t always mean a website. Sometimes it’s a receipt book on your phone.

A phone on a shop counter at night with an unanswered message, while a customer walks away to another shop

01

Sales you’re missing

“A client messages at 9pm to book. You see it next morning. She’s booked somewhere else.”

A handwritten sales book and a stack of cash on a table, with a bank in the background

02

Money the bank won’t lend you, yet

“Two hardware stores, same sales. The one with 12 months of invoices gets the meeting.”

A map of Jamaica with lines to a plane, a hotel, a delivery van and a parcel

03

Customers you can’t reach

“A hotel buyer messages Thursday night for 50 lbs of peppers. By Friday morning they’ve called another farmer.”

Find your biggest leak.

A few quick taps. Your answers stay on this phone unless you send them.

What kind of business do you run?

Pick the closest. It changes the examples you see.

Your answers stay on your phone unless you send them to us.

See every place money slips away (8 short questions to ask yourself)
  • Found: Can people find you on Google Maps with the right hours and number?
  • Chosen: Can they see photos and reviews before they call?
  • Contacted: Can people reach you the way they like: WhatsApp, a call, a message?
  • Replied: Does an 8pm message get an answer before they ask someone else?
  • Paid: Can they pay you without coming in with cash? Does your cash end up in the bank?
  • Come back: Can you reach past customers with a WhatsApp list or a broadcast?
  • Proven: Could you print six months of sales tomorrow?
  • Reached: Could someone in another parish or abroad order, book or pay without coming in?
A phone ringing on a small table beside a cup of coffee and a notebook with a checklist

What happens when you say yes.

15 minutes on WhatsApp or the phone. We look the way a customer would. You get it in writing.

  • Say “no thanks” once and we stop.
  • We never ask for passwords or bank statements.
Email Rick

Sample report

Business check for

Harbour Hardware

May Pen, ClarendonOctober 2026Prepared by Rick

Measured counted or testedYou told us from our callEstimate our sum, rule shown

Finding

Measured

Our three evening test messages each waited about 12 hours for a reply.

Profit you may be missing

Estimate

J$7,875 to J$15,000

A month, after paying for the goods and the running cost.

If quick replies won 1 in 4 to 1 in 3 of about 32 evening chats (from memory), not 3 as now.

The fix

After 6pm, an assistant on your WhatsApp quotes prices and takes orders for staff to confirm.

Set up
J$20,000 once, with your price list loaded
Running cost
from J$4,000 a month, monthly check and fixes included
Pays back in
about 2 to 3 months Estimate

Do it yourself, free

  1. Set an away message for after 6pm.
  2. For two weeks, note evening chats and sales.

Next steps

  1. You send your price list.
  2. Finish date and running cost agreed in writing first.
  3. After a month, real counts replace this estimate.

Behind the numbers

How we worked out the figure

What this does not prove. That the wait is what loses these sales. Some customers may buy elsewhere for other reasons, and staff still confirm orders in the morning, so some may not wait. Most inputs are from your memory; two weeks of counting would firm them up.

What you told us on the call You told us

WhatsApp chats in the last 30 days, counted with you in your chat list Measured
110
Of those, after you close at 6pm
about 32
Of those, who bought after your morning reply
about 3
Daytime chats that end in a sale
about 1 in 3
Average order
about J$9,500
Share of each sale you keep after paying for the goods
25%

Our guess Estimate

Evening chats that would buy if answered that evening
1 in 4 to 1 in 3

This is the main guess in the figure. It sits between your evening rate now (3 in 32, about 1 in 11) and your daytime rate (1 in 3). We take 1 in 4 as the low case because evening shoppers may be less ready to buy.

The sum Estimate
LowHigh
About 32 evening chats × 1 in 4 (low) or 1 in 3 (high) = sales811
Minus the 3 who buy now = missed sales58
× J$9,500 average orderJ$47,500J$76,000
× 25% you keep after paying for the goodsJ$11,875J$19,000
Minus the running cost− J$4,000− J$4,000
Profit you may be missing, a monthJ$7,875J$15,000

32 ÷ 4 = 8; 32 ÷ 3 = 10.7, rounded to 11. We round to the nearest whole sale. The 3 who buy after your morning reply would buy anyway, so we don’t count them as missed. The low case takes the higher running cost.

If one input is lower Estimate
Profit a month, if…LowHigh
Evening chats are 24, not 32J$3,125J$7,875
The average order is J$5,000J$2,250J$6,000
You keep 15% of each sale, not 25%J$3,125J$7,400

Same sum, one input changed. For 24 chats: 24 ÷ 4 = 6, rounded to 6; 24 ÷ 3 = 8; so 3 to 5 missed sales. At the low end the setup takes much longer to pay back, which is why we ask you to count your evening chats before you decide.

How we checked

Over one week: three evening messages from our own phone asking the price of a bag of cement, as a customer would; a look at your Google Maps listing; and a 15-minute call with you.

Our test messages Measured

Sent Mon 7:40pm, reply Tue 8:10am
12 h 30 min
Sent Wed 6:30pm, reply Thu 7:50am
13 h 20 min
Sent Fri 8:15pm, reply Sat 8:05am
11 h 50 min
Average wait
12 h 33 min

Each reply answered the question well. Three tests are a first look, not proof of every evening.

Your Google Maps listing, 14 October Measured

Stars, from 88 reviews
4.6
Newest review
6 days old
Opening hours and phone number
Listed, correct
Cost and payback

Running cost, each month Estimate

All in: the AI service, the computer it runs on, and our monthly check of wrong answers and the fixes. Busier businesses pay more.
from J$4,000

The running cost is from our price list, not a quote: we confirm it for your business, in writing, before you pay. WhatsApp (owned by Meta) does not charge for replies within 24 hours of a customer’s message; we checked its price list in October 2026 and check again before you pay, as Meta can change it. This setup sends no messages first, such as reminders, which do have a fee.

Source: WhatsApp business pricing (Meta)

Payback. The J$20,000 setup ÷ the profit left each month (the last line of the sum) = 2.5 and 1.3 months, rounded up to about 3 and 2. Both assume the missed sales start in the first month; allow longer while customers get used to it.

The other option: staff from 6pm to 8pm Estimate

Your staff rate You told us
J$500 an hour
× 6pm to 8pm
2 hours
× evenings a month
about 30
Staff cost a month
about J$30,000

That is many times the assistant’s running cost, and chats after 8pm would still wait until morning.

What we’d leave alone
  • Your Google Maps listing. It is already strong (see How we checked).
  • A new website, or ads. Neither makes evening replies faster.

Prepared by BottleneckJA for Harbour Hardware · bottleneckja.com · Kingston, Jamaica

Same sales. Only one gets the meeting.

Two shop counters: on the left a handwritten book and loose cash, on the right a phone receipt, a receipt printer and a neat folder of invoices
Cash and the bookOn record

Cash isn’t the problem. Cash with no record is. Lenders usually ask for these:

  • 6 to 12 months of sales
  • A business account
  • Receipts and invoices
  • Money in, money out
  • Registration and tax papers

No one can promise you a loan, and we won’t. Be careful of anyone who does.

Get the free Bank-Ready Checklist

Our promise, in writing.

BottleneckJA · Free check

  • Everything is set up in your name.
  • The written price is what you pay.
  • 25% to start, the rest when done.
  • The check and findings are free.
  • Nothing to fix? We’ll write that down.
  • Say “no thanks” once, and we stop.

No surprise prices.

Starting prices. Your written price comes after the free check, and it’s the price you pay.

  • Google Maps listingFound, with the right hoursFromJ$10,000paid once
  • WebsiteUp to 5 pages, made for phonesFromJ$80,000paid once
  • WhatsApp helperAnswers when you’re closedFromJ$20,000then from J$4,000 a month
  • MikklBooksReceipts and quotes from your phoneFromJ$2,500a month
  • Logo and coloursFor your sign and receiptsFromJ$15,000J$20,000 for a new business
  • Social media postsWe write and design themFromJ$1,250a post
  • Google adsWe run them, you set the budgetJ$15,000setup, then from J$10,000 a month, plus your ad budget
  • Paperwork made for youQuotes and invoices, made automaticallyFromJ$30,000to set up

Bank transfer only. 25% to start, the rest when it’s done. No GCT (sales tax) added.

Add up my first year

Build your first year

Tick what you’re curious about. We’ll add it up.

Tick a fix to see a total.

Need to spread the cost? Ask Rick about a payment plan. He writes the plan down with the price.

Starting prices. Your written price comes after the free check, and it’s the price you pay.

How to know it’s really us.

It’s just Rick, in Kingston, part of the Vonzucci group. We can help businesses in all 14 parishes.

  • We never ask for money before a written price, or for passwords or a bank PIN.
  • We only take bank transfers to an account in our registered name, Vonzucci.
  • We only message from hello@bottleneckja.com. Anyone else claiming to be us: don’t pay.

Questions people ask.

It’s free whether you buy or not, and you keep the written findings. It’s free because most people want help with at least one thing after they see them. If the best fix is something you can do yourself, we’ll tell you.

No. Say “no thanks” once and we stop. You get your findings and one short message to check you got them. If you’d rather not get that one either, just say so.

Especially for you. Cash isn’t the problem. Cash with no record is. And keep your book. You don’t have to give it up.

No, and be careful of anyone who says they can. We help you build the records lenders ask for.

Yes. If you can use WhatsApp, you can use what we set up, and we show you and your staff how. Bring whoever helps you decide, a daughter, a son or a partner, to the call.

Yes. The check is on WhatsApp or the phone, so it works anywhere in Jamaica.

The price we write down is the price you pay. You pay the rest only when it matches what we wrote down together as “done.” If you want something more later, we write a new price first and you decide.

Your quiz answers stay on your phone unless you send them. What you tell us on the call stays between you and us.

Want Rick to look at it properly?

15 minutes on WhatsApp or the phone, then your findings in writing. Free, whether you buy or not.

Email Rick

A free 15-minute talk with Rick on WhatsApp or the phone. You keep the findings. We only need your name and a number or email.

How should we reach you?

So Rick can look you up before he gets in touch.

After this, you do nothing

  • We read up on your business before the call. No prep, no paperwork, no passwords.
  • Rick gets in touch the way you picked, to find a time that suits you.
  • A 15-minute call, then the findings in writing: what to fix, and the price to fix it.

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