Trades & contractors

Enquiries arriving after hours

Most enquiries arrive at the hours you cannot answer them. By the morning the customer has usually booked someone else.

Why it happens

A tap starts leaking at half seven in the evening. The customer searches, finds four plumbers and messages all four inside ten minutes. At that stage they are not comparing anyone, just casting a net.

Whoever answers first shapes the whole conversation. By nine the next morning that customer has spoken to someone, formed a view and stopped reading the other replies. Nobody tells you that is what happened, so from your side the enquiry just went quiet.

Trying harder does not fix it, because the problem is that you were up a ladder or asleep. What fixes it is splitting the acknowledgement from the answer. Something sensible goes back within minutes so the enquiry is not sitting in silence, and your proper reply follows first thing.

What we do about it

Instant acknowledgement, day or night

The enquiry is captured and logged the moment it arrives, and the sender gets a response confirming it has reached a real business – not silence until morning.

A proper reply first thing

A personalised response written in your tone, ready at the start of the working day. The lead is warm before you have opened your laptop.

Chased if it goes quiet

If they do not come back, follow-ups on day 3 and day 7 keep the enquiry alive rather than letting it evaporate.

Sound familiar?

  • Most enquiries land evenings, weekends or mid-job
  • You reply the next morning and hear nothing back
  • Prospects mention they "went with someone else already"
  • You check your phone out of hours because you feel you have to

Handled by

Lead Follow-Up

Enquiry capture, fast follow-up, and a multi-stage chase sequence – written in your tone, fitted to your process. Every lead gets a response.

From £499 /month

How Lead Follow-Up works Book a 15-min call

Common questions

Does someone actually reply at 11pm?

The acknowledgement is immediate and automatic. The considered human reply is prepared for first thing. That combination is what stops the lead going cold without anyone working through the night.

Will an automatic acknowledgement put people off?

Not if it is honest. A short message confirming their enquiry arrived and when they will hear back reads as professional. Pretending to be a live human at midnight does not.

What if the enquiry is genuinely urgent?

Urgency rules are agreed during onboarding, and genuine emergencies can be flagged straight to your phone rather than waiting for the morning.

The next step

Stop losing leads.Let's fix it this week.

Tell us what keeps slipping and we'll scope something around it. You'll be talking to Max, who runs the work, not a sales team. Most clients are live within 48–72 hours of that first conversation.

30-day rolling retainers. No lock-in. Cancel anytime.