Select an evaluation job
Choose one recent job that represents the work you want the system to handle. Remove the customer’s personal information, then write down what happened:
- Where did the inquiry arrive?
- Who answered it?
- What vehicle, property, film, and scope details were collected?
- How was the estimate assembled and revised?
- What converted the estimate into scheduled work?
- What did the installer need before starting?
- How were changes, photos, payment, and completion recorded?
Use that same scenario in every product evaluation. A polished demo is useful, but your own job exposes missing handoffs faster.
Connected-record test
Check whether the CRM, calendar, proposal, and invoice refer to the same customer and job without forcing staff to re-enter decisions.
Ask the vendor to demonstrate these transitions:
- Inquiry to qualified lead
- Lead to estimate or proposal
- Accepted scope to appointment
- Appointment to installer instructions
- Completed work to invoice and recorded payment
- Finished job to customer history, photos, and warranty record
If the transition requires copying notes into another screen, exporting a spreadsheet, or relying on a staff member’s memory, treat that as workflow cost.
Work-mix scenarios
Automotive shops
Test vehicle identification, film and package choices, add-ons, removals, windshield work, deposits, bay duration, installer assignment, and completion photos. Include one simple job and one job with a midstream change.
Flat-glass shops
Test rough customer measurements, staff review, room and panel organization, film specification, proposal alternatives, revised scope, final field verification, installation sequencing, and change documentation.
Mixed shops
Confirm that automotive and flat-glass projects can coexist without flattening both into a generic appointment. The team should be able to recognize the job type, required details, and next action immediately.
Ownership and permissions
Software cannot fix an undefined handoff. It should, however, make ownership visible.
Verify:
- Which roles can view, create, edit, approve, and collect payment
- Whether technicians see only the work they need
- How reassignment is recorded
- What happens when the usual owner is absent
- Whether important changes have a visible history
- How former staff access is removed
Use the actual roles in your shop. Test what each role can see and change.
Communication requirements
Ask how the platform records consent, opt-outs, delivery failures, and the exact message history. If automated messaging is important, verify its current availability, carrier requirements, sending identity, templates, stop conditions, and failure behavior.
Review both activation and shutdown behavior for every automation.
Money and data handling
Walk through deposits, partial payments, refunds, taxes, discounts, payment links, and reconciliation. Ask whether payment processing is native or provided by another company and identify every processing or subscription fee.
Then request the export process in writing:
- Which records can be exported?
- Which file formats are available?
- Are photos and documents included?
- Can an owner export without support?
- What happens after cancellation?
- How long is data retained?
Confirm that customer and job history remain usable after cancellation or migration.
Implementation evidence
For each requirement, record one of four outcomes:
- Demonstrated: you saw the complete workflow.
- Documented: current documentation explains it.
- Requires configuration: available, but your team must set it up.
- Planned or unclear: do not count it as available.
Get a written implementation scope covering imports, roles, templates, payment settings, and staff training.
Controlled trial
A useful trial uses a small, repeatable script:
- Add a test customer and inquiry.
- Build one automotive estimate and one flat-glass proposal if both matter.
- Revise the scope.
- Schedule and reassign the work.
- Record completion and payment.
- Export the resulting data.
- Ask a second staff member to find the next action without coaching.
Document friction immediately. Favor the system that makes next actions clear and preserves the decisions behind them.
Evaluating Tint Manager
Tint Manager is being built around a connected lead-to-payment record for independent automotive and flat-glass shops. The current product includes leads, customers, projects, measurements, proposals, scheduling, invoices, recorded payments, photos, warranty certificates, reporting, and CSV exports. Some communication capabilities remain subject to provider rollout and should be verified during your trial.
Use the same evaluation standard on Tint Manager. Bring a real, anonymized workflow into your Tint Manager trial and confirm where each handoff lives.