How to Record a Customer Walk-Around in 60 Seconds
Your phone is already in your pocket. The customer is standing right in front of you, pointing at things, telling you what's wrong. All that information — every detail, every symptom, every "it started doing this last Tuesday" — is floating in the air for about 30 seconds before you both forget half of it.
Here's how to capture all of it in 60 seconds and turn it into a professional customer concern document without typing a single word.
The 60-Second Workflow
Open MTQ Now on your phone
Go to mtqnow.com/mobile or use the home screen shortcut. Tap "Record Customer." That's it — you're live.
Walk with the customer
Let them talk. Let them point. Let them ramble. The mic catches everything. Walk around the vehicle (or the unit, the site, the system) and let the customer explain in their own words what's going on. Don't interrupt. Don't take notes. Just listen.
Add your observations
After the customer's done, add 10 seconds of your own notes: "Also noticing a scraping noise from the left rear. Right front tire is worn on the inside edge. Oil stain on the ground under the engine." Quick. Factual. Done.
Hit Stop, then Generate
MTQ Now transcribes the recording, cleans up the filler words ("um," "uh," "like"), organizes the concerns into a numbered list, and adds professional formatting and CYA language. 30 seconds later, you have a document.
Sync to your desktop
If you're using the phone-to-desktop sync feature, the write-up appears on your shop computer automatically. Copy it into your DMS, print it, email it — whatever your workflow needs.
What the Customer Actually Said
Here's a real example. A customer walks up and says:
"So yeah, um, my wife was driving to work this morning and she said the check engine light came on and then the car started shaking really bad and she said it smelled like rotten eggs so she pulled over and called me and I drove it here and yeah it was shaking and the light was blinking and she said it's been running a little rough for maybe a week but she didn't think it was a big deal."
That's 78 words of stream-of-consciousness with filler words, tangents, and repeated information. Most techs would write on the RO: "CEL on, car shaking, rotten egg smell."
MTQ Now turns it into:
Customer Reports:
1. Check engine light illuminated this morning while spouse was driving
2. MIL was flashing/blinking at onset
3. Severe engine vibration/shaking
4. Strong sulfur/rotten egg odor
5. Vehicle pulled over; driven to shop by customer
6. Engine has been running rough for approx. 1 week prior
Requested Action:
Diagnose flashing CEL, engine misfire, and sulfur odor. Provide findings and estimate.
Advisor note: Flashing MIL indicates active misfire. Customer advised that continued driving may cause catalytic converter damage. Diagnostic inspection authorized.
Same information. Zero typing. 30 seconds.
Why This Works Better Than Note-Taking
- You don't miss anything. When you're scribbling notes, you miss details. When you're recording, you capture every word.
- The customer feels heard. Eye contact, nodding, walking with them — that builds trust. Staring at a clipboard doesn't.
- It's the customer's words. If they come back later saying "I told you about the noise and you ignored it," you have a record of exactly what they said.
- Filler words disappear. "Um," "uh," "like," "you know," "basically" — all cleaned out automatically. You get the signal without the noise.
- It's consistent. Every customer concern looks professional, every time. No more quality depending on who's writing that day.
Works for Every Trade
The walk-around workflow works for every type of automotive work:
- General Repair: Walk around the vehicle with the customer, record every concern they point out
- Collision: Document every dent, scratch, and panel gap before work begins
- Fleet: Walk each unit, capture mileage, tire condition, and known issues on the spot
- Pre-Purchase Inspection: Record findings as you go — nothing gets missed
- Dealership Service: Multi-point inspection narrated into your phone as you move through each system
Anywhere a human tells you about a problem, a 60-second recording beats a notepad.
Try the Voice Recording Right Now
Open MTQ Now on your phone and tap Record. Talk about a recent job. See what comes out.
Start Free TrialThe $0 Investment
You don't need new equipment. You don't need training. You don't need to change your workflow. You need the phone that's already in your pocket and 60 seconds of letting the customer talk.
The recording happens on your device. The transcription happens in your browser. The AI write-up takes 30 seconds. And the customer concern document that used to take 10 minutes of typing is done before they even sit down in the waiting room.
That's not the future of trade documentation. That's right now.