A letter for owners of marketing agencies that serve home-service businesses
How to Get More of the Contractors You Book to Show Up, Close and Stay
You lose the contractors you book in three places: before the call, on it, and after it.
One system fixes all three, and it means less selling, not more.
- Why a contractor who booked in good faith doesn't show up, and why it isn't the lead.
- What to send him between the booking and the call so he arrives already talking (the first step is in the P.S.).
- You need a tougher closer, right? Wrong: the rep who closes hardest is the one costing you clients.
Dear agency owner,
It's ten o'clock.
You open the video call.
Your notes are up, his website is in the other tab, and the square where his face should be is empty.
You give it five minutes.
You send the text: "Still good for our call?"
Nothing.
You paid for that slot, with an ad, a cold call or a setter's afternoon.
And you tell yourself what a lot of agency owners in this business tell themselves: contractors just don't show up.
I don't think that's what happened.
He isn't dodging your call.
He's dodging a pitch.
A roofer or a plumber who books a call with a marketing agency has usually been burned by one before.
So he's on guard from the minute he books.
And from that minute on, everything he gets from you is selling.
That's why you lose him in three places, and why only one of them is the call.
I'm Felipe, and this letter is about one system that fixes all three.
More of the people you book show up.
More of the ones who show up close.
And the ones who don't decide get followed up, in a way that brings some of them back.
By the end of it you'll know why they don't show, and you'll have one thing you can change tonight.
The three places you lose a contractor after he books
Before the call.
He books, and he gets a confirmation, a reminder, maybe a video.
All of it is about you: who you are, who you've helped, how good your results are.
To a man who's been burned, that's a pitch arriving early, and he skips it.
On the call.
When you take it yourself it often goes fine, because you know the work and you ask about his business.
When your sales guy takes it, he has your pitch and a commission.
So he promises what gets the signature.
The contractor signs, finds out a couple of months in what your team doesn't do, and leaves angry.
After the call.
He says he needs to think, or to talk to his wife.
He's comparing you with half a dozen other agencies.
And the message he gets from you says, "Just checking in."
That says nothing about him, so it loses.
| Where | What he gets from you today | What he does |
|---|---|---|
| Before the call | A confirmation, a reminder, a video about your agency | Doesn't show up |
| On the call | Your pitch, from someone on commission | Guards and stalls, or signs on a false promise and leaves |
| After the call | "Just checking in" | Goes with another agency |
Three places, one reason: he was pitched when he should have been asked.
What you've probably tried
A video before the call.
More reminders.
A form to screen out the ones who won't show.
A sales course, or a script that made your people sound like the agencies he already distrusts.
A tougher closer.
A follow-up sequence on a timer.
Or taking every call yourself, which works, and keeps you on the calls.
| What you tried | The place it patches | What it still is |
|---|---|---|
| A video before the call | Before | A pitch, sent early |
| More reminders, a screening form | Before | About your call, not his business |
| A sales course or a script | On the call | Lines to read |
| A tougher closer | On the call | More promises |
| A follow-up sequence | After | "Just checking in," on a timer |
| Taking every call yourself | On the call | You, on every call |
| Diagnose Before Close | All three | Asking, in each place |
None of that was your fault.
Each one patches one place, and each one is still selling.
Diagnose Before Close
It's one system with three parts, and the name is the rule.
Show up.
What he gets between the booking and the call stops selling you and starts asking about him.
It sounds backwards, but a couple of questions about his business do more than three reminders about your call.
He doesn't have to answer them.
He only has to start thinking about them.
He arrives, and he arrives already talking.
"You're booked! We're a full-service marketing agency for contractors. Before our call, watch this video about how we get our clients more leads."
"You're booked for Tuesday at 10. No need to reply. Two things to think about before we talk: When a customer calls and nobody can pick up, what happens next? And where did your last five jobs come from?"
Close.
This is your call, written down: the Diagnostic Call.
It opens with no pitch.
It asks what's happening in his business, and it asks "what happens when," never "do you," so he describes instead of defends.
It uses his numbers, not yours.
It recommends only when he asks, and only what your team delivers.
Then it asks, "What do you want to do?", and stops talking.
These are questions, not a script, so whoever takes the call can run it and still sound like a person.
- No pitch: say what will happen
- How customers find him
- What he's tried, and who burned him
- "What happens when," never "do you"
- He describes, not defends
- His numbers, not yours
- He does the math
- He sees the size of it
- Before any price is said
- Recommend only when asked
- Only what your team delivers
- "What do you want to do?" Then silence
Follow up.
What he gets after the call gives him back his own words and his own numbers.
He can tell he was heard.
That is what brings a maybe back.
"Hi! Just checking in to see if you had any questions about our proposal. Let me know!"
"You said the phone goes to voicemail after five, and you figure that costs you a couple of jobs a week. You wanted to talk it over at home. I'll call Thursday at 4, like we agreed."
The three parts hold each other up.
A contractor who's been thinking about his own business shows up ready to talk.
A call that drew out his own words gives the follow-up something to say.
One more thing: this isn't the free audit you already send.
An audit is a report about his marketing.
This is a conversation about his business.
If you're thinking "I'm not a salesperson"
Good.
This is less selling, not more.
The contractor does most of the talking.
Nobody pushes.
And nobody promises him anything your team won't deliver, which is how you keep the clients you sign.
What it costs to leave it
Every booking that doesn't show is money you already spent.
Every deal your rep closes on a false promise is a client you'll lose and a commission you paid anyway.
Every "let me think about it" that gets "just checking in" goes to another agency.
And booking more only pours more into the same three places.
| What happens | What you already paid | Where it goes |
|---|---|---|
| A booking doesn't show | The ad, the cold call or the setter | Nowhere |
| Your rep closes on a false promise | The commission | A client who leaves |
| "Let me think about it" gets "just checking in" | The booking and the call | Another agency |
Who this isn't for
If you want a harder close, I'm the wrong person.
And if your offer promises contractors more than your team delivers, this will show it.
But if you do good work for the trades, and you're tired of paying for calls that never happen, keep reading.
- You want a harder close
- Your offer promises more than your team delivers
- You want lines for your people to read
- You do good work for the trades
- You're tired of paying for calls that never happen
- You want the clients you sign to stay
See it on your own agency first
The best way to judge this is to be on the other side of it.
Book a call with me, and I'll run the Diagnostic Call on your agency.
Here's what will happen on it, so nothing comes as a surprise.
I'll ask you some questions about how your bookings go today.
I won't pitch you anything.
If I think I can help, I'll tell you how, and then you can ask me anything.
If I don't think I can, I'll tell you that too, and I'll tell you why.
Either way, you'll leave knowing why the contractors you book aren't becoming clients, and what to change.
- A Diagnostic Call on my own agency
- No pitch: if you can help, you tell me how, and if you can't, you tell me why
Sincerely,
Felipe
Diagnose before close.
P.S. Here's the thing you can change tonight: read the message a contractor gets right after he books with you, and if it's all about your agency, swap one line for a question or two about his business for him to think over, such as "When a customer calls and nobody can pick up, what happens next?"
P.P.S. There are bookings on your calendar this week, and you already paid for every one of them.
The messages in the exhibits are illustrations, not clients.