For trades, home services and local service firms
An AI lead responder, built and set up for your business
It answers calls, texts and web forms when you can't, then books the job or passes it to you.
An AI lead responder is software that replies to a new customer inquiry as it arrives, by phone, text, web form or email. It is for small businesses that lose jobs because nobody is free to answer, such as trades and home-services firms. It asks what the customer needs, books the job or takes the details, and sends you a summary.
from $4,500 · fixed · planned go-live in 2 to 3 weeks
What is speed to lead automation?
Speed to lead is the time between a customer's inquiry and your first reply. Speed to lead automation hands that first reply to software, so it no longer waits for a person to get free. An AI lead responder is one way to do it. It can hold a conversation and book the job, where an auto-reply only confirms receipt.
Why do small businesses lose leads after hours?
A customer with a dead furnace or a blocked drain does not wait for a callback. They call the next firm on the list and book whoever picks up. If nobody on your team can answer, the job is gone, and you never learn it existed.
Evenings and weekends are the widest gap. The call goes to voicemail, and the web form sits unread until Monday. Daytime has the same hole whenever the whole crew is out on jobs.
More advertising does not close it. You already paid to make the phone ring. The loss happens after the customer reaches out, in the time before anyone replies.
The trades version, with a two-van heating firm as the illustration, is in what a missed evening call costs a plumbing or heating business.
What we build
A responder on your existing business number that picks up the calls you can't
A text reply to every missed call and every incoming text
A first reply to web-form and email inquiries, in your wording
Booking into the calendar you already use
A summary of every inquiry, sent to you by text or email
Handoff rules that send emergencies and unclear requests to a person
How it works
How does an AI lead responder work, step by step?
An inquiry comes in
A customer calls, texts, fills in your web form or sends an email. If you pick up, nothing else happens. If you can't, the responder takes it.
It replies on that channel
A caller hears a voice assistant that says it is an AI assistant for your firm. A text or a form gets a written reply. The reply goes out when the inquiry arrives, whether or not anyone on your team is free.
It asks what the job is
It collects the name, the address, the problem and how urgent it is. It answers the standard questions from what you told it, such as your service area and your opening hours.
It books or takes details
If you let it book, it offers free slots from your calendar and puts the job in. If you would rather call back yourself, it takes the details and tells the customer when to expect you.
It hands off when it should
An emergency, an upset customer or a question it cannot answer goes to a person. It forwards the call or texts whoever is on call, by rules you set.
You get a summary
Each inquiry reaches you as a short text or email. It says who got in touch, what they need and what the responder did. In the morning you read a list of jobs and skip the voicemail.
Before
It is 7:40 on a Thursday evening. A homeowner with a leaking water heater calls, reaches voicemail and tries the next firm on the list. You find the missed call on Friday morning.
After
The responder picks up and asks what is leaking and where. It books the first slot on Friday and texts you the details. A call that matches your emergency list rings the on-call phone.
An illustration of one evening, not a client result.
Shipped, or you don't pay the final invoice. We agree on a go-live date up front. If it isn't live by then, the final invoice is waived.
Which channels does an AI lead responder cover?
We build it around the places your inquiries arrive today. You keep your number, your inbox and your website.
- Phone calls. Your business number forwards to the responder when a call goes unanswered or after closing time. A voice assistant picks up and talks to the caller.
- Missed calls. If the caller hangs up early, a text goes to their number and asks what they need.
- Text messages. A customer who texts your number gets a reply in the same thread, and the conversation carries on there.
- Web forms. A form submission triggers a reply by text or email, so the inquiry does not sit in an inbox until morning.
- Email. An inquiry sent to your public address gets a first reply and the same questions a caller would get. The responder leaves the rest of the inbox alone.
The fixed-price Automation Starter covers one workflow. We start with the channel where you lose the most leads, and we agree on the scope with you on a call before work starts.
For the same setup at a front desk, see how an AI receptionist handles calls, bookings and no-shows.
How does it respond to leads after hours?
After closing time the responder does the same work as during the day, under a different set of rules. You decide what counts as an emergency and who gets woken up for it.
A routine job goes into the next free slot, or onto the list for a callback in the morning. The customer knows a real firm has their details, and that gives them a reason to stop calling down the list.
An emergency follows your on-call rule. The responder can call the on-call phone, send a text marked urgent, or do both. If you take no night calls at all, it says so and gives the customer your opening time. It does not promise a visit you cannot make.
We set it up for the hours you miss calls. That can be evenings and weekends only, or every call that goes unanswered while the crew is on a job.
What does it hand to a person, and when?
The responder handles the first reply. Anything that needs judgment stays with you, and these go to a person.
- Emergencies. Anything on your emergency list goes straight to the on-call person, such as a gas smell or water coming through a ceiling.
- Prices beyond your list. It quotes only the fixed prices and call-out fees you gave it. Any other price waits for you.
- Complaints. An unhappy customer gets a person. The responder takes the details and flags the message.
- Questions it cannot answer. We set it up to say it does not know and take a message.
- Anyone who asks for a person. The customer can say so at any point in the conversation.
Each handoff arrives with the conversation so far, so nobody has to ask the customer to repeat it.
You can read every conversation afterward. That is how you find the questions it should learn to answer next.
How much does an AI lead responder cost?
The build fits our Automation Starter. That is one workflow, built for you, from $4,500 at a fixed scope, in 2 to 3 weeks. There is no retainer.
Running it has its own costs. The phone line, the text messages and the AI model are billed by use, so the monthly figure depends on how many inquiries you get. We work that figure out with you on the scoping call, before you commit.
Sometimes the responder also has to write into job-management software or a CRM across several steps. We scope that as a Build Sprint, from $16k at a fixed scope, in 4 to 6 weeks.
Either way the price is fixed before work starts.
To compare a build with renting a service by the month, read how answering services, AI voice agents and missed-call text back are billed.
When is an AI lead responder the wrong tool?
Skip it if you already pick up nearly every call and reply to web forms within the hour. There is little left for it to catch.
It is a poor fit when you get a few inquiries a month. A build will not pay for itself at that volume. Missed-call text back from an off-the-shelf tool costs far less and may be all you need.
If every caller expects a person, a human answering service fits better. A law firm taking sensitive calls is one example.
It will not fix what happens after the first reply. If your inquiries get answered and the jobs still go elsewhere, the gap is in quoting or follow-up.
For that gap, start with how an AI sales assistant chases the leads and quotes that went quiet.
More questions about AI lead response
Will customers know they are talking to an AI?
Yes. It says so at the start of the call or in the first message, in your firm's name. A customer can ask for a person at any point and gets a handoff or a callback.
Do I need a new phone number for an AI lead responder?
No. You keep your business number and forward calls to the responder when you can't answer. Whether texts can go out from that same number depends on your phone provider. Where they can't, we add a second number for texts and tell you before the build starts.
Is an AI lead responder the same as missed-call text back?
No. Missed-call text back sends one automatic text when a call goes unanswered, and a person has to take it from there. An AI lead responder answers the call itself, holds the conversation and can book the job. The text after a dropped call is one part of it.
Is an AI lead responder the same as an AI receptionist?
They overlap. AI receptionist is the common name for a voice assistant that answers the phone. An AI lead responder covers new inquiries on the other channels as well, meaning texts, web forms and email.
Can it book jobs straight into my calendar?
Yes, if you want that. We connect it to the calendar you already use. You set which slots it may offer and how long each type of job takes. If you would rather confirm bookings yourself, it takes the details and you call back.
How fast can an AI lead responder be live?
The Automation Starter runs 2 to 3 weeks. We agree on a go-live date with you up front. If the responder is not live by then, the final invoice is waived.
What do you need from me to set it up?
A list of your services and your service area, your opening hours, your on-call rules and the fixed prices you are happy to have quoted. We also need access to the phone number, the calendar and the web form or inbox it will answer. Recent voicemails or call notes help, because they show what your customers ask.
See where your leads go unanswered
Book a call and bring last week's missed calls or unanswered web forms. We'll tell you which channel to cover first and whether it fits the fixed-price Automation Starter.