A couple of weekends ago, we ran a small test in local Facebook groups and on Nextdoor. No winter storm, no heat wave, no big freeze. Just people with busted water heaters or furnaces acting up after hours, asking their neighbours who to call.
We set up a simple messaging tool and reached out to about 40 people who’d posted looking for a plumber or HVAC tech. Eighteen got back to us. We asked them three things.
- How many companies did you reach out to?
- How many actually got back to you?
- Did you get a tech booked to come out?
What happened by Sunday night
- 18 homeowners shared what happened.
- 2.5 shops per homeowner on average, or about 45 calls and messages in total.
- 9 replies came back by Sunday night.
- About 36 inquiries were still waiting on a reply. That’s roughly 80%.
That’s one weekend and 18 people who replied to us. And those 45 inquiries were for 18 jobs. A homeowner calling three shops about one busted water heater still needs one tech to show up.
What was on the table that weekend?
At $149 a diagnostic visit, 18 jobs represent $2,682 in potential service fees across the shops those homeowners called. That’s before anybody prices a repair or talks about replacing a unit. If three shops get the same call and one gives the homeowner an appointment, the other two may be calling back about a job that’s already booked.
Now run the numbers for your own shop. Say you miss five evening or weekend inquiries a week. If all five could have turned into paid diagnostic visits, that’s 5 × 52 × $149 = $38,740 a year in potential diagnostic fees alone. If you could book just one of those five each week, that’s still $7,748 a year before costs. Any follow-on repairs, replacements or maintenance would be on top of that.
What a Saturday-night caller actually needs
If your furnace quits on Saturday night, an auto-reply that says “we received your message” only gets you so far. You still need to know if somebody can come out and when. The shop that gives you a time you can count on has an edge over the one that calls Monday to ask if you still need help.
Think about what you already paid to make that phone ring. Truck wraps, Google Ads and yard signs all do their job right up to the point where somebody calls. If that message sits all weekend, the shop down the road gets a shot at a lead you paid to bring in.
What happens at your shop after 5?
Call your own number after closing. Leave a voicemail, then try your website form. Check what the customer hears, whether they get a reply and where their details land. If people message you on Facebook, try that too.
Start with a reply that gets the address, what’s going on and the best number to call back. Give the customer a time your crew can actually stick to. If you offer emergency service, make sure the urgent stuff goes straight to whoever’s on call. Put routine inquiries in one place so the office can pick them up in the morning without chasing three inboxes.
When an inquiry hits your inbox or DMs at 7:30 on a Friday night, where does it go?