Why Putting AI on Your Whole Phone System Can Cost You Jobs
Dozens of AI receptionists launched this fall. Handing every call to a bot can lose the customers who just want a person. Where an AI answering tool helps, and where it hurts.
Articles for the trades
After-Hours Calls: Answer, Text Back, or Let It Ring?
Calls at 9 p.m. are often the best jobs and the worst interruptions. How to decide which calls you take after hours, and how a text-back handles the rest.
Emergency Calls: When Your Answering Tool Should Ring Your Cell
An answering tool or text-back handles most calls fine. Some calls can't wait. How to write the short list of emergencies that go straight to you.
Why Buying Ads and Sending Calls to Voicemail Wastes the Ad
You paid to make the phone ring. When it goes to voicemail, most callers don't leave a message; they call the next ad. The math, and three cheap fixes.
Google's AI Is Calling Contractors for Prices. Here's What to Say
Google's 'Ask for Me' now calls home-service businesses on a homeowner's behalf to ask about price and availability. What these calls sound like, why giving a flat price is a mistake, and…
Running Local Services Ads Alone? Five Things to Set Up This Week
Google now charges for some missed calls. If you're the only one answering the phone, here are five settings and habits that keep you from paying for jobs you never get.
The Missed-Call Text That Asks What They Need and Never Gives a Price
A missed-call text-back is the cheapest way to save a lead. Three versions you can copy, what to ask, and the one thing it should never do.
How to Dispute a Google Local Services Ads Lead You Never Talked To
Google now bills some missed calls as leads. Here's how lead disputes and credits work in Local Services Ads, what to keep track of, and what Google no longer gives credit for.
The One Job an AI Should Never Price: Anything That Depends on What's Behind the Wall
AI can help you write a quote. It can't see rot, wiring or water damage. Why no bot, text or helper ever gives a price on repair work sight unseen, and the…
Google Now Charges You for Local Services Ads Calls You Didn't Answer
Since October 1, a missed call from your Local Services Ad can be billed as a lead if the caller stays on the line more than 20 seconds during business hours. What…
Getting Named by ChatGPT and Google AI as the Local Pro
Homeowners are starting to ask ChatGPT and Google's AI who to call. Here's how those AI answers find local pros, and the steps a tradesman can take to be the name that…
Customers Expect an Answer in 5 Minutes Now
Homeowners contact several pros at once and hire whoever answers first. What the research says about response time, and how a one-man shop can answer fast without dropping the tools.