A company with a dispatcher barely notices Google's new missed-call billing. If you're a one-truck shop, you will. Here are five things to set up this week.
1. Honest business hours
Google only bills missed calls during the hours you list. If you start on a job at 7:30 and can't touch the phone until lunch, don't advertise 7 to 7 with nobody covering it. Either cover those hours or shrink them. Fewer hours with every call answered beats long hours with half of them ringing out.
2. A text-back that goes out in seconds
When a call rings out, a text goes to the caller right away: "Sorry I missed you, I'm on a job. What do you need help with?" Most people text back. Now the lead you paid for is a conversation instead of a dead number. See the missed-call text that never gives a price and AI phone help for a one-man shop.
3. A way to pause the ads
Sick day, family thing, a three-day job across town. Pause the ads or cut the hours for those days. Google lets you change your schedule and pause your ads in the dashboard. A paused ad doesn't ring, so a paused ad doesn't bill.
4. A clean profile
Google no longer credits leads for jobs you don't do or towns you don't serve. Go through your job types and service area today. Every box you leave checked "just in case" is a call you might pay for. See how to dispute a Google LSA lead.
5. A weekly ten-minute check
Every Monday morning: how many calls came in, how many you answered, how many got a text back, how many booked. If more than one in five calls is going unanswered, something has to change: hours, a helper, or an answering tool.
What not to do
- Don't put a long phone menu in front of every caller just to dodge the timer. Google's rule does start the clock at the key press, but every extra step loses callers who just want a person.
- Don't buy a $300-a-month AI receptionist this week out of panic. A text-back and honest hours fix most of the problem for a one-man shop. Try that for a month, then look at the numbers.
At Fixer School we say: AI is a terrible master, but a great servant. The servant here is the text-back. You're still the one who takes the job.
