Raising your prices without losing your regulars
How small trade shops handle a price increase: working it out from your own books, picking a date, saying it once, and answering the callers who push back.
Read it →
Blog
Running the business, not just the job.
Practical notes for people who do the work and answer the phone themselves. What to charge, how to get reviews, what to do about no-shows, and the things nobody tells you until they have already cost you money.
How to plan a week that survives one emergency call
A practical way to build your schedule so one emergency call does not push every job back a day, plus how to work out what a blown day costs you.
Read it →
How to handle an angry caller without losing the job or your temper
A practical script for the furious phone call: what to say in the first thirty seconds, which words cost you the job, and how to keep your own temper in check.
Read it →
Which of your ads actually make the phone ring
A cheap, low-tech way for trade shops to figure out which ads bring in booked jobs, using a question in the middle of the call and numbers from your own books.
Read it →
When to buy the next truck and when to wait
A practical way for small trade shops to decide if the next truck, lift or big tool will pay for itself, using numbers already sitting in your own books.
Read it →
How to write an estimate a customer signs the same day
Same-day signatures come from estimates written at the job, priced in options, and scoped in the customer's own words. Here is how trade shops do it.
Read it →
What to say in the first twenty seconds of a phone call
The order you say things when you answer the shop phone decides whether the caller keeps talking. Here is what to open with, and what to never open with.
Read it →
Who is actually calling your shop at 7pm
The 7pm call is rarely a wrong number. Here is who is on the line after hours, what they want, and what it costs a small trade shop to let it ring out.
Read it →
What to say when a caller asks how much to look at it
Pricing diagnostic time over the phone is the hardest quote in the shop. Here is how to name a number early, say what it buys, and stop giving away an hour of a tech's day.
Read it →
The first warm Saturday decides your whole lawn season
In the St. Louis area one warm March Saturday sets your route for the year. Here is what happens to the mowing and cleanup calls you miss that week, and how to catch them.
Read it →
Filling in a Google Business Profile when you have no shopfront
What a service-area business should put in its Google Business Profile, what to leave blank, and the fields almost every trade skips.
Read it →
Getting paid before you leave the driveway
How small trade shops make on-the-spot payment the normal end of a job, from the booking call to the walkthrough, without chasing invoices for weeks.
Read it →
Asking for referrals without sounding like a salesman
Referrals feel pushy when the ask is vague and badly timed. Here is how small trade shops ask at the right moment, in words the customer can pass along.
Read it →
What to put on the side of your truck so the phone actually rings
A practical guide to truck lettering for Midwest trade shops: what to put on the door, what to leave off, and how to test it from across a parking lot.
Read it →
Getting recommended in neighborhood groups without sounding like an ad
How small trade shops earn word of mouth in neighborhood Facebook groups and on Nextdoor, what to say when a neighbor tags you, and how to track which group is worth your time.
Read it →
Phone coverage for pest control when the swarm calls start
How St. Louis pest control companies can handle seasonal call spikes, ask better intake questions about the pest and the property, and book inspections without phone tag.
Read it →
Telling an electrical emergency from a service call before you drive
A phone triage script for St. Louis area electricians: the questions that separate a burning panel from a dead outlet, and how to cover calls while you're on a job.
Read it →
What to charge for a callout
The callout fee is the most underpriced number in the trades. Here is how to work out yours from your own costs, not the competition's.
Read it →
Everyone rounds up. The question that actually matters is spam.
Every answering service bills you in whole minutes, and we do too. Here is why, and the question worth asking instead when you are comparing them.
Read it →
Which plumbing calls cannot wait around St. Louis
A practical triage script for after-hours plumbing calls in the St. Louis area: what to ask about a leak or a backup, and how to cover nights and weekends.
Read it →
Work out what your missed calls actually cost
Price your missed calls with your own numbers: call log, average ticket, close rate, repeat customers. A one page worksheet you can finish tonight at the kitchen table.
Read it →
What an answering service really costs a small shop
Per minute, per call, or flat monthly: how answering service pricing models differ, what counts as billable, and six questions that put every quote on one page.
Read it →
How to get more Google reviews, and what to do about a bad one
Most owners ask for reviews at the wrong moment and stop after one try. The timing, the link, and the reply that turns a one-star around.
Read it →
How to choose between voicemail, an answering service, and an AI receptionist
What voicemail, a live answering service, and an AI receptionist actually do on a call, where each one falls apart, and the questions to ask before you sign up.
Read it →
The voicemail greeting that loses you the job
Almost every small business voicemail gives the caller a reason to hang up and try the next name. Here is a greeting that does the opposite.
Read it →
No-shows and deposits, without scaring people off
A no-show costs the whole slot, not just the job. A deposit policy customers accept, and what to say when someone asks you to waive it.
Read it →
Local SEO for a one-truck business: the four things that move
Most local SEO advice assumes a marketing budget. The four things that actually decide whether you show up in the map results, in order.
Read it →
Quoting over the phone without underpricing the job
Refusing to give a number loses the call. Guessing loses the money. A script that gives a real answer without committing you to it.
Read it →
Getting paid, and the customer who stops answering
Most unpaid invoices are drift, not fraud. The terms that prevent it, the escalation ladder that works, and what small claims is really like.
Read it →
Running a business out of your house, properly
The zoning, the insurance gap, the address you should not publish, and why to stop giving out your cell. The setup that saves you later.
Read it →
The slow season plan you make in August, not January
Every seasonal business knows the slow months are coming and still gets caught. How to build the buffer, and what to cut first when it lands.
Read it →
One-off jobs pay you once. Routes pay you forever.
For cleaning, lawn care and anything else that can repeat, converting a one-time job into a standing one is worth more than any amount of new lead generation.
Read it →
Hiring your first employee, or deciding not to
A first hire costs well above the wage, and the signals you are ready are not the usual ones. The math, and the alternatives worth trying.
Read it →
How to fire a customer
Some customers cost more than they pay. Here is how to tell which ones, how to end it without a scene, and how to avoid taking the same one on again next year.
Read it →
Chair time is the only thing you sell
A barbershop does not sell haircuts, it sells hours in a chair. Price by the hour and most of the awkward decisions answer themselves.
Read it →
Groomers: price by the dog, not by the hour on the menu
Two dogs of one breed can be ninety minutes apart. How to quote over the phone without seeing the coat, and how to charge for the long ones.
Read it →
When a front desk pays for itself, and when it does not
Hiring someone to answer the phone is the obvious fix for a salon that cannot pick up. The arithmetic on when it works, and what else costs.
Read it →
Food truck: where you park is the whole business
The menu matters less than the spot. How to judge a location, why the schedule post beats the food photo, and the permit questions first.
Read it →
What you actually earn driving, per hour, after everything
The app shows gross. After depreciation, deadhead miles and self-employment tax the real number is far lower. How to work out yours.
Read it →
Pricing a job you only get one shot at
Events are priced differently because the date is the product and you cannot redo it. Retainers, travel, overtime and the double-booking rule.
Read it →