Closing Rate Crisis: The Simple Script Upgrade That Doubled Client Conversions

A simple fix that can instantly improve your call-to-job conversion rate.

 
Low-Hanging Fruit: Want More Jobs? Listen to Your Call Recordings

I’ve got some low-hanging fruit for you. If you want more jobs, listen to your call recordings. And if you are not already recording all of your incoming calls, start today.

If you don’t know who I am, my name is Scott Miller. I’m the owner of thegrowthleague.com, and I make these videos and coach restoration and GC folks all over the country because I’m passionate about helping them get more profitable, reduce the chaos in their business, help the owner get out of daily operations so they can focus on the bigger picture, and ultimately build a sellable business. A business they could sell one day or be proud to pass on to future generations.

Let’s get into it. Low-hanging fruit. Call recordings.

What am I talking about? I love listening to call recordings for clients. I do it all the time, and there are patterns that come up over and over. These patterns are costing people money. They’re costing people jobs - lost water damage jobs - lost mold jobs, lost fire jobs.

It’s getting tougher in our industry for a couple of reasons, but one big factor is higher deductibles. The trend is higher deductibles, more self-pay jobs, and more people wanting estimates. But here’s the thing. None of that matters if you don’t schedule the call.

When I listen to calls, here’s what I hear: a lack of empathy, a lack of urgency, and a lack of getting the caller scheduled on the initial call.

A caller says, “I just got home from work. My basement’s flooded. I don’t know what to do. There’s water everywhere.”

And on the other end: “Okay, what’s your name?”

Where is the empathy? How about, “I’m so sorry that happened to you. You called the right place. We’re here to take care of you. We’ll get this back in order for you.” Give them confidence. Let them know they called the right company.

The next thing I hear is a lack of urgency. Someone says, “Well, it’s seven o’clock. What does your schedule look like tomorrow? We can get somebody out there tomorrow.” You are almost guaranteed to lose the job.

The other one I hear constantly: “We’ll have somebody call you back.”

If I had water damage or a fire at my home and someone told me they’d call me back, I’d call the next company immediately. And you probably would too.

Now here’s what’s interesting. Every client I offer to help with call recordings says the same thing. “You won’t find that with our company. Sally’s great on the phones. Bill’s great on the phones.” And a lot of times they’re right. Some people are awesome. They’re the model of how a call should sound.

But in many cases, that’s not what’s happening. Especially with answering services. AI answering services are getting better, and in some cases they’re better than humans. It’s an exciting time for AI and if you think AI can’t help your restoration business, think again. AI agents answering and scheduling new water damage losses could be the answer - and soon. But right now, if you’re using an answering service, you need to listen to the call recordings. Even if you’re not using an answering service and you’ve got your own people, listen to the call recordings. You’re going to learn a lot.

Then go through a simple exercise. My favorite acronym: LBNT. LB stands for “What did you like best?” NT stands for “What will you do differently next time?” Have the person who took the call listen to themselves and use that framework for feedback.

What did they like best about how they handled the call? What will they do differently next time?

Most of the time, they come to the same conclusions you do. And now they own it. It’s not you telling them they need more empathy or more urgency. They discover it themselves.

A lot of times the person handling the calls is doing what they think is right. They’ve never been given clear direction on how a call should go. With better direction, your conversion rate from call to scheduled appointment can increase quickly.

If you have any questions about this, book a call with me. I’m happy to talk through it with you.