9-minute read · by Philippe, who runs a home-service business in Québec
When a contractor tells me they want more customers, they almost always mean the same thing: more visibility. More ads, a better website, higher on Google. Sometimes that is the right answer. It is not the most common one.
In most service businesses I look at, enough requests already come in. What is missing is what happens between the moment someone raises a hand and the moment the job is sold. That is where most customers are lost, and the only place you can recover them without spending another dollar.
The four leaks, in order of cost
1. The call nobody answers
The most expensive leak and the most invisible. Expensive because the caller has already decided to buy. Invisible because it leaves no trace: a lost quote leaves a file, a missed call leaves nothing.
That is why almost everyone underestimates the number. The calculator gives the order of magnitude in thirty seconds. For most businesses with six or more employees, it runs to five figures a year.
The fix is not hiring someone to answer. It is a text sent automatically within a minute of the missed call, saying who you are, when you will call back, and asking about the problem. The customer replies in writing while you are on a job, and you call back with the information in hand.
2. The quote sent and forgotten
You drove out, measured, priced. The customer goes quiet. You do not follow up, because it feels like begging, and because next Monday there are three more quotes to write.
Most non-answers are not refusals. They are busy people who opened the email between two things and forgot. A two-line follow-up after three days, then a second after eight, recovers a meaningful share. It is not pushiness; it is service.
3. The Google profile that discourages the call
Before dialling, people look at your profile. No hours, no website, six reviews: they call the next one. You never knew the call almost happened. It is fixable in an afternoon, and never gets fixed because it is urgent for nobody.
4. The customer from eighteen months ago
Your best prospect list is your past customer list. They know you, have already paid, and do not ask for three quotes. Yet almost nobody contacts them again. One message a year, at the right time of the season, costs nothing and converts better than any ad.
What about advertising?
It works, but it amplifies what already exists. If half your requests leak between call and job, doubling the ad budget doubles the leak too. Plug the leaks first, then open the tap. The ad ROI calculator shows the cost per customer at which a campaign stops paying.
Where to start this week
- Change your voicemail greeting to give a precise callback time. Free, ten minutes.
- Open your Google profile and add hours, website and categories. One afternoon.
- Follow up every quote older than five days with no answer. One hour, often one job.
- Text your Google review link to your last ten happy customers.
None of these requires hiring me. If they are enough, great: that happens more often than you think.