What is missed call text back, and is it worth it for a contractor?

How it works

1. A customer calls while you are on a job.
2. You cannot pick up, and the call rings out.
3. They get a text from you right away. Something like: "Sorry we missed you, we're on a job site. What do you need help with?"
4. They text back what they need. You answer when your hands are free.

That is the whole thing. The caller is no longer staring at a voicemail greeting and deciding whether to bother.

Who it helps most

It helps the owner who is also the crew. If you run the excavator and the office, you miss calls all day, and every one of them is somebody with money looking for the work you do.

Urgent trades get even more out of it. Somebody with no heat or a flooded yard is calling down a list, and they stop at the first contractor who responds. A text that lands in seconds makes you that contractor even when you are under a house.

It also covers evenings and weekends, when people have time to call and you would rather not be on the phone.

What it will not do

It will not quote the job or book it for you. It starts the conversation and you still have to finish it.

If you never reply to the text they send back, you have lost the job a little more slowly. The tool only pays off for contractors who check their phone at lunch and at the end of the day.

What to ask before you pay for it

• Can I write the text myself, in my own words?
• Do the replies come to my phone, or to an app I have to remember to open?
• Does it text every missed call or only during set hours?
• Is it month to month?

What it costs

Some companies sell it as a product of its own. We do not. On our plan it is one of six things in Contractor Advanced, which is $297 a month with no setup fee and no contract. We connect your phone during the build, so it is running the day your site goes live.