The clock starts when they hit send
A homeowner with a broken sump pump does not shop. They call. Then they call the next guy. Then the next. Whoever answers first usually wins the job before the other two have finished their coffee.
Most contractors we talk to think they respond fast. Then we pull the numbers. Median first response sits somewhere between forty minutes and four hours. On weekends it is worse.
What the delay costs
- Leads contacted inside five minutes convert at several times the rate of leads contacted after thirty.
- Every hour of delay makes the same lead cheaper to lose and more expensive to replace.
- You already paid for that lead. The ad spend does not come back.
That is not a marketing problem. It is a floor coverage problem.
How to actually hit five minutes
You are on a roof. You are under a sink. You are not answering. That is fine — the system should answer.
- Every inbound channel lands in one inbox. Phone, form, chat, Google, Facebook.
- A missed call fires a text back inside sixty seconds.
- Follow-up runs on a schedule that does not depend on anyone remembering.
Set the floor once and it holds on a Saturday at 7pm, which is exactly when the sump pump breaks.