You're under a sink. Phone rings. Can't answer. The customer calls someone else. Here's how to stop that happening.
The customer moves on. That is the simple truth. Most people searching for a plumber have an urgent problem and they are not going to sit around waiting for a callback that might not come.
Research shows that more than 80% of callers hang up rather than leave a voicemail, and they call the next plumber on the list instead. For a plumber earning £300 to £600 per job, a single missed call can cost hundreds of pounds.
The First Contact solves this by answering missed calls professionally on your behalf and sending you a text within 60 seconds, so you can call back before the customer finds someone else.
You cannot always, and you should not have to put your tools down every time your phone rings. The practical solution is a service that answers for you when you cannot.
The First Contact gives you a UK landline number that forwards calls to your mobile. If you are under a sink and cannot get to the phone within 15 seconds, the service picks up, speaks to the customer professionally, takes their details and sends you a text straight away. You stay focused on the job. No call goes unanswered.
A virtual landline that just forwards calls to your mobile is only half a solution, because if you are busy on a job you still cannot answer.
The First Contact is the only UK service that combines a professional local landline number with smart answering when you are unavailable. You get a local area code number, whether that is 020 for London, 0121 for Birmingham, 0161 for Manchester or wherever you work. Missed calls are answered professionally and you receive a text summary within 60 seconds. From £10 a month with a 7-day free trial and no contract.
The average plumber misses between 10 and 20 calls a week while working on jobs. The real number is probably higher, because you never know about the calls you missed.
At a conservative £400 per job, that is potentially thousands of pounds every week being handed to your competitors without you even knowing it happened.
Yes, for two good reasons. First, using your personal mobile means customers have your private number permanently. If you ever want to stop working with someone, switch off at weekends, or simply keep work and personal life separate, you lose that ability.
Second, a local landline number looks more professional than a mobile number and gives customers more confidence when they are choosing who to call. The First Contact gives you a local UK landline from £10 a month with no setup fee.
Traditional human call answering services charge between £25 and £300 a month and often require contracts. The First Contact charges £10 a month as a base fee plus 85p per call answered. You only pay when the service actually picks up a call you missed.
The average plumber on the service spends around £22.75 a month. One answered call that converts to a £400 job covers the cost of the service for over a year.