Lead follow up automation for service shops: missed inquiries, estimates and reactivation

Where leads are lost

In a service shop, a lead is usually lost in one of three places: the inquiry nobody answered, the estimate nobody followed up, and the past customer nobody invited back. Lead follow up automation is useful only if it is designed around those three moments, each with its own trigger, message and stop rule.

1. Missed inquiry follow up

Trigger: an inquiry arrived and no person replied within the agreed time. A missed inquiry follow up should acknowledge the request, ask what the customer needs and say when a person will review it. It should not promise a price, a diagnosis or a confirmed time. Details: Missed inquiries.

2. Estimate follow up

Trigger: an estimate was sent and the customer has not booked. The follow-up restates what was quoted, answers the likely question and offers a next step. Details: Estimate follow-up.

3. Reactivation

Trigger: a past customer has not returned within the expected service interval. Lead reactivation software should use the customer's history, not a generic blast. Details: Reviews and return visits.

Text message follow up for service shops: rules that matter

• One owner per conversation. Every automated message should have a person responsible for the reply.
• Stop when the customer replies. A reply hands the conversation to a person or the next approved step.
• Stop when asked. Opt-out requests are honoured immediately.
• Approve before sending. In Foloup, follow-ups are drafted for approval before they are sent.
• Consent. In Canada, commercial text messages are covered by anti-spam law. See Customer follow-up software in Canada.

How to measure it

Keep sent, delivered, replied and booked as separate numbers, and compare them against a baseline in a 30-day pilot. More messages alone is not success.

Foloup does not answer voice calls; missed-call follow-up is a text workflow whose phone-provider compatibility is confirmed per deployment.