You’re up on a ladder, or under a sink, or driving between jobs. The phone rings. You can’t get to it. By the time you call back, the homeowner has already booked someone else.
I’ve spent years answering phones and following up on leads for home-service contractors on Long Island, and this is the leak I see more than any other. Not bad ads. Not a bad website. Just calls and messages that didn’t get an answer fast enough.
Homeowners don’t wait
When someone needs a painter or a fence repaired, they usually call two or three companies in a row. The first one who answers, or texts back, gets the conversation. Everyone else gets a voicemail that never comes back.
The research says the same. An often-cited Harvard Business Review study, cited by JLC, found only 37% of businesses reply to online leads within an hour, and the ones that do are about 7 times more likely to turn the lead into an appointment. And in a 2018 Sweeten survey of 700 homeowners, 74% said a contractor who’s hard to reach is a reason not to hire them.
You can’t answer every call. You can answer every lead.
Nobody expects you to stop work every time the phone rings. What works is a simple system around you:
- An instant text-back. When a call is missed, the homeowner gets a text within seconds: “Sorry we missed you, what’s the project? Photos help.” Most people reply. Now you have a conversation instead of a voicemail.
- A real person in minutes. Someone reads the reply, asks the right questions and books the visit, or tells you it isn’t worth the drive.
- One place for every lead. Calls, texts, Google messages, website forms and Facebook leads all land in one inbox, so nothing sits in a notification you swiped away.
Hi, do you do paver patios in Huntington?
Hi! Sorry we missed your call. Yes, we do. What size are you thinking? Photos of the area help.
About 400 sq ft. Can someone come out this week?
What a missed call looks like with a text-back. The homeowner is talking to you before they dial the next contractor.
What I tell every contractor
Before you spend another dollar on ads, fix the leak. More leads poured into a phone nobody answers is just more money down the drain. Answer first, even when you can’t pick up, and the leads you already get start turning into jobs.