The agency

The agency helps Ugandans travel and work abroad: visas, job placements and travel packages. Its office is open Monday to Friday during working hours, and most enquiries arrive on WhatsApp, many of them from Facebook and Instagram ads.

The challenge

Jobs-abroad customers ask a lot before they commit: fees, payment plans, documents and timelines. They are also cautious. Many have heard of agencies that take a deposit and disappear.

Those questions do not stop when the office closes. Messages arrive in the evening, at weekends and during the busiest office hours. An enquiry that waits until the next morning has often already gone to another agency.

What we set up

  • The same number. Novi was connected to the agency's existing WhatsApp number. Same number, same app, no new line for customers to save.
  • The agency's own information. We loaded the agency's services, fees and payment plans, so Novi answers from what the agency actually offers instead of guessing.
  • A clean handover. When a customer was ready, or asked something only the team could answer, Novi handed them over with the details already collected.
  • The team stays in charge. When a staff member replied from their phone, Novi stepped back.

What happened in five days

Novi sent 311 replies, day and night, on the agency's own number. Customers asked about fees, payment plans, documents and next steps, and Novi answered from the agency's own information, using buttons so customers could tap through their options instead of typing.

One conversation that shows it

A customer asked about the fee for a job abroad, a sum of several million shillings. Novi explained the agency's pay-later plan: half upfront plus a registration fee, with the balance paid from salary once the customer starts work. With buttons, the customer tapped through the options instead of typing.

Then came the hard question:

"You know, there are agencies online doing the same, and after paying them the upfront, they turn off their contacts."

Novi did not argue, and it did not offer a discount to win him over. It acknowledged the concern, gave the agency's office address and opening hours, and invited him to come in and meet the team. It also passed his request for lower upfront terms to the staff, instead of making a promise the agency had not approved.

The customer's last message:

"I've got the direction. I will visit you there."

The whole conversation took 17 minutes, from a sceptical stranger to a planned office visit.

What we learned

  • Caution needs patience, not pressure. In jobs abroad, trust is the sale. A calm reply with a real address did more than any discount.
  • Answer from the agency's own information. Novi only quoted what the agency offers, and passed anything else to the team.
  • The handover has to be clean. Customers stayed with the agency, not with a bot.

Try Novi for your agency

Novi runs on your own WhatsApp number, answers from your own services and prices, and steps back the moment you reply. Every agency can start with a free 7-day trial. Start your free trial.