How to filter out-of-area leads on a contractor form

Filtering out-of-area leads means deciding, from one answer, whether a job is close enough to take. These steps work for any trade that drives to the job and serves a set list of towns.

Who is this for?#

This is for plumbers, electricians, heating and cooling techs, cleaners, roofers, and any trade where the job is at the customer's address. You probably already ask for a zip code or a town.

The hard part is what comes after. Someone still has to read each inquiry, check the town, and decide what to say. You can make that decision happen on its own, with three outcomes:

1. Inside your area: the inquiry is scored as normal.
2. Just outside your area: the visitor is asked if a trip fee is OK.
3. Far outside your area: the visitor is turned away.

If your work is remote, you do not need any of this.

Why is a zip code box not enough?#

A typed zip code tells you where the job is. It does not tell the form what to do about it. A person still has to look up the code and decide.

In Qualiform, a typed place can only earn credit for being answered. To score the area, add Where the job is. Its answers are a short list, and each answer can be graded on its own.

A list also helps the visitor. Most people know their town better than they know your map. A button that says "Springfield, Riverside, or Oak Hill" is easier than a box that asks them to guess.

Keep a zip code question if you need it for the visit. Just do not use it to decide anything.

How do you draw your service area?#

Write your area down as three groups before you touch the form. If you cannot write the groups down, the form cannot ask about them.

1. Towns you always serve. No extra charge.
2. Towns at the edge. You will go, but only with a trip fee.
3. Everywhere else. You will not drive there.

Here is an example for a made-up plumber:

Keep each answer short. The list shows as buttons only with two to six answers of 60 characters or fewer. "Springfield, Riverside, or Oak Hill" fits. A list of 14 towns does not, so group towns by county or direction instead.

How do you ask where the job is?#

Ask it as a Pick one question, with one answer for each group.

1. On the Questions tab, press Add and pick Where the job is from the library.
2. Under Answers people can pick, write one answer per group. Press Enter in a box to get the next one.
3. Set When to ask to Always ask. The AI then asks as many times as Asks up to allows.
4. Leave Allow answers outside the list unchecked, so the AI holds to your list.

Do not set this question to Infer only. The AI never asks an Infer only question, and what it works out for one is left out of the score.

The Home services and trades template does much of this for you. It asks where the job is, what it is, and how soon, and location counts most. When you build the form, it asks for the towns you cover. Leave that empty and the form still works.

How do you grade each area?#

Open the question's Scoring tab. Its scoring option is A grade for each answer. Your answers appear there in the same order, and you set a grade for each one.

1. Grade the always-serve answer Best fit.
2. Grade the edge answer lower than Best fit.
3. Grade the out-of-area answer Not a fit.
4. Check Turn away anyone who picks a Not a fit answer.
5. Under How much it counts, pick Critical if the area is the main thing you judge a job on.

Picking "out of the area" turns anyone away, whatever else they said. They score 0 and are offered no time. The lead is still saved, with its priority set to Not a fit and the reason written on it.

Two safety rules apply. A visitor who never answers is never turned away. A visitor who answers "not sure" gets the lowest grade, but is not turned away either.

Press Save at the top of the page to keep your changes.

How do you add a trip-fee question for the edge?#

Use an answer's Add question to ask a question only of visitors who pick it. This is how only edge towns are asked about the fee.

1. Open Where the job is and find the edge answer under Answers people can pick.
2. Press that answer's Add question. Pick a question from the library, or write one under Your own and make its answer one of a list.
3. Name it with the fee in it. For example: "Jobs in Fairview and Milton have a $75 trip fee. Is that OK?"
4. Give it two answers, such as "Yes, that's fine" and "No, too much."
5. Grade "Yes" as Best fit and "No" lower.

Only visitors who pick the edge answer are asked this. It never counts for or against anyone else.

Think twice before turning away a "No." That visitor may still book once they hear your price for the job. Let a "No" score low instead.

Write your trip-fee rule in About the business on the Setup tab too. The AI uses that box to answer questions, so a visitor who asks "why is there a fee?" gets a real answer.

One limit: a question added under an answer cannot have questions added under its own answers.

What do out-of-area visitors hear?#

Turning a lead away happens in two separate moments.

1. The score. The lead scores 0, its priority is set to Not a fit, and the reason is written on it.
2. What the visitor is told. This depends on the bottom rule on the Routing tab.

The bottom rule is off until you switch it on. While it is off, an out-of-area lead is closed politely and lands at the bottom of your list. The visitor is not told they are not a fit.

When you switch the bottom rule on, a dialog asks first. It counts how many of your own leads the rule would affect. Read that number before you agree.

Many contractors want to send far-away visitors to someone closer.

For wording ideas, see how to reply kindly to inquiries that are not a fit.

What happens to the inquiries inside your area?#

They are scored on everything else they told you, such as what the job is and how soon they need it. That score lands the lead on one of five rules on the Routing tab, from called right away down to politely turned away. The reason is written on the lead.

The Home services and trades template puts its top rule at 70 rather than 85.

No time is offered to anybody until you save the Booking tab once. The guide to lead routing rules walks through choosing each cut-off.

What does a finished setup look like?#

Here is the whole example in one table. The towns and fee are made up.

How do you test it before going live?#

Use Preview, the button at the top right of the editor. It opens your form the way a visitor sees it, with the AI answering for real.

1. Press Save first. Preview shows only what you have saved.
2. Start a Preview and pick an always-serve town. Check that no fee is mentioned.
3. Start another and pick an edge town. Check that the trip-fee question is asked.
4. Start a third and pick "out of the area." Check how the conversation closes.

Preview is free and saves nothing. It makes no lead and sends no email or Slack message. You get a set number each day, and the bar over the form says how many are left.

Under the form, Endings has a button for each rule that is switched on. Its sample answers never turn the visitor away, so test the out-of-area answer by picking it yourself.

What are the common mistakes?#

1. Asking only for a typed zip code. It can only earn credit for being answered. It cannot sort anyone.
2. Allowing answers outside the list. The AI saves a typed answer as they said it. It is left out of the score, and questions added under the answers are not asked after it.
3. Setting the question to Infer only. The AI never asks it, and what it works out is not scored.
4. Taking "out of the area" off the list. Put "out of the area" back in the list. It is the one meant to turn people away.
5. Turning away the edge towns. A trip fee is a price, not a no. Let those visitors decide.
6. Forgetting to grade an answer. An answer with no grade is left out of the score, so it cannot turn anyone away.

When is this not worth doing?#

Skip the turn-away if you take almost every job you are offered. A list of towns that is scored, but never turns anyone away, is enough.

Skip it if your area depends on the job. For example, a plumber may pass on a small faucet repair 40 miles away but drive there for a full repipe. A flat rule would turn that big job away. Grade the far area low instead, and let a question about the job lift the score.

Skip the whole setup if you get only a few inquiries a week. Reading each one takes less time than building and testing it. A plain form can be the better choice there.

How do you know it is working?#

After a month, open your leads with the priority Not a fit and read the reason on each one. Each out-of-area lead should name the area as the reason. None should be from a town you serve. If one is, an answer on your list is wrong.

Then read the leads from edge towns. Count how many said yes to the fee and how many became jobs. If almost nobody says yes, the fee may be too high or the edge too wide.

For the full set of questions a trades form asks, see Qualiform for home services. To put the form on your site, see the WordPress install guide.