In short
How quickly should a contractor working alone respond to a new lead?
The first reply should come right away, and it should not depend on you. Let a form reply to every inquiry, ask where the job is and what it is, and offer a time to talk. Then call back when you said you would.
On this page
A new inquiry often comes in while you are on a roof, under a sink, or driving between jobs. You cannot answer it from there. The person who sent it does not know that. All they see is a message with no reply.
Why does a fast reply matter more when you work alone?
A person with a leak may send the same message to several contractors. A bigger shop can have someone in the office reply. When you work alone, nobody else is there.
So the first reply should come right away, and it should not be you. Checking your phone between every task is not a plan. It pulls you away from the job you are being paid for. It also fails the moment you are on a ladder.
The second reply, the call back, can wait a little. It only works if the person already knows their inquiry arrived and what happens next. A quick reply buys you time. Silence does not.
What can a form do for you while you are on the job?
Hand over these four things. Each one means the first reply no longer waits for you.
- Reply to every message. In Qualiform, the visitor types to the AI instead of filling in boxes. The AI asks for one thing at a time and answers their questions from what you wrote under About the business.
- Ask what you would ask. The Home services and trades template writes the questions for you, then asks you up to three things only you know.
- Sort out what you cannot take. Mark "out of the area" as a dealbreaker, so picking it turns a lead away. The visitor is only told it is not a fit if you switch on the bottom rule on the Routing tab. The AI also closes vendor pitches and recruitment messages, and those are not emailed to you.
- Offer a time to talk. Booking from your hours starts as Monday to Friday, 9 to 5, with a 15-minute phone call. No time is offered until you save the Booking tab once.
What should you still do yourself?
The call back. A form can get the facts and offer a time. It cannot quote the job, look at the damage, or earn trust the way your voice does.
Here is the split for a one-person shop:
| Task | Who does it |
|---|---|
| Reply when the inquiry arrives | The form |
| Ask where the job is, what it is, and how soon | The form |
| Turn away jobs outside your area | The form, once you set it up |
| Offer a call time from your hours | The form, once you save the Booking tab |
| Tell you a lead has arrived | Your lead email or a Slack message |
| Call back, quote, and win the job | You |
Choose who hears about new leads before you send anyone to the form. That is on the Routing tab, under Who hears about new leads. A form with nobody to tell still saves every lead, but you have to remember to go and look. If you work from a van, a Slack message on your phone may be easier to notice than an email.
When is an automatic first reply the wrong choice?
When the job cannot wait for a conversation. Someone with water coming through the ceiling wants a person on the phone now. A form is one more step between them and help. For that kind of work, keep your phone number easy to find and say when you answer it.
It is also wrong if you cannot keep the promise behind it. A fast first reply followed by three days of silence is worse than a slower, honest one. If your form offers times, only offer hours when you will really be free to talk.
Some visitors would always rather call or use a short, plain form. That is fine. The case for a plain form covers when it wins. For inquiries you turn away, a kind reply still matters, because they may know someone in your area.
How do you know your fast reply is working?
Run two tests before you rely on it.
- Press Save, then Preview, and have the conversation yourself, from the first question to the end. Preview is free and sends nothing.
- Put the form on your site, or behind a QR code on your van, and send yourself an inquiry. Check that the lead email or Slack message reaches your phone while you are away from your desk.
Then, for one week, write down when each inquiry came in and when you called back. If the gap is longer than you would accept as a customer, call back sooner, or offer fewer hours.
The home services page shows what a trades form asks. The guide to qualifying leads from your contact form shows how to decide which inquiries get that call first.
Common questions
Can the form tell the visitor exactly when I will call?
Not in Qualiform. No visitor is promised a call. Once you save your hours on the Booking tab, a visitor whose rule offers a time can pick a call time instead.
What happens if someone leaves halfway through?
In Qualiform the lead is saved after every message, so your leads list still shows what they told you. Only a finished conversation is emailed to you, so check the list as well as your inbox.
Should a one-person shop still show a phone number?
Yes, if you can answer it some of the time. Some people would always rather call, and an emergency is one of the times they should.