Most tradies in Adelaide do not have a lead problem. They have a response-time problem.
Plumbers, sparkies, concreters, painters, and roofers all tell the same story: the phone rings while they are on a job, they plan to call back later, and by the time they do, the customer has already booked someone else. It feels normal because it happens every day. But normal does not mean cheap.
The hidden maths of missed calls
Let's run conservative numbers for a typical solo tradie or small crew:
- 40 inbound calls per week from new enquiries and referrals
- 25% missed because you are on-site or after hours (10 calls)
- 50% of missed callers never answer your callback later (5 gone)
- Average job value of $420 for smaller work, often higher for urgent jobs
That is roughly $2,100 in lost weekly revenue from calls you already paid to generate through Google Ads, SEO, signage, uniforms, and word-of-mouth reputation.
Over a year, that is more than $100,000 in potential work leaking out through one bottleneck: no immediate response.
Why people do not wait anymore
Adelaide customers are not trying to be difficult. They are trying to get the problem solved quickly. If a hot water system is down, a gate motor is dead, or a pipe is leaking, they will call the next number in the map pack within 60 seconds. The first business that responds clearly often wins.
This is why "I'll call them back tonight" fails. Even if you call back within two hours, the customer may already have:
- booked another provider,
- found a friend's recommendation, or
- decided to postpone because nobody replied quickly.
What AI follow-up actually means (and what it does not)
When tradies hear "AI," many picture a robotic phone system that annoys customers. That is not what works for local service businesses.
The best setup is simple:
- Missed call triggers an SMS in 10-20 seconds.
- Message acknowledges the call and asks one useful qualifying question.
- Customer can reply by text or tap a booking link for a callback window.
- Details are pushed into your CRM/job management app and tagged by urgency.
- If no reply, one gentle follow-up is sent the next morning.
That is it. No hype. Just a faster front door.
A realistic Adelaide example
One two-person electrical business in the eastern suburbs was averaging about 55 inbound calls a week. They missed around 14. Before automation, they recovered only 3-4 of those missed calls.
After implementing automated follow-up:
- Response time dropped from "later tonight" to under 30 seconds.
- Missed-call recovery increased from ~28% to ~67%.
- They converted an additional 4-5 jobs per week.
- At an average $390 per recovered job, extra weekly revenue sat around $1,560-$1,950.
Same team. Same phones. Same ad spend. Better capture.
Common objections (and the truth)
"Our customers want to talk to a real person"
Correct. They do. But they mainly want immediate acknowledgment first. A quick, clear text buys trust until you can personally call back.
"I don't want to sound robotic"
You can write the message in your tone. Most businesses use plain Aussie wording and include business name, expected callback time, and a direct reply option.
"I already have voicemail"
Voicemail is passive. Most callers do not leave one, especially on mobile. SMS prompts action; voicemail requests effort.
How to measure if it's working
Track these four numbers weekly for a month:
- Total inbound calls
- Missed calls
- Missed calls that receive a response (text reply or callback booked)
- Recovered jobs and total recovered revenue
If you recover even three extra jobs per week at $350 each, that is $1,050 weekly. Most setups cost a fraction of that.
Where to start this week
If you run a trade business and you are still manually chasing missed calls, start with one workflow only: missed-call SMS + simple qualification + callback slot.
Do not automate everything at once. Nail the one leak that hurts most. For most tradies, that leak is phone response lag.
The bottom line is straightforward: missed calls are not admin noise, they are revenue events. Treat them like jobs in progress, and your pipeline stabilises quickly.