Home Services & Trades · Scenario 28

Electrician

Most electrical leads go to whoever calls back first — and this shop was calling back last. We measure how win rate decays with every minute and rebuild the response around it.

Method · Speed-to-lead modelling

The situation

An electrician gets plenty of enquiries but loses them to competitors who simply respond faster. Quotes sit in an inbox, calls go to voicemail during jobs, and by the time someone follows up the customer has booked elsewhere. The lead spend is real; the conversion leaks away in the gap between enquiry and callback.

Nobody has measured how quickly a lead must be reached to win it, or which leads are worth dropping a tool for — so the team responds at random and the marketing budget underperforms.

Hours
to first callback
To voicemail
where leads die
Random
response order
No data
on response impact

Where we dig for the truth

We measure how the probability of winning a job falls with every minute to first contact, and which leads justify an immediate response.

Enquiry timestampsFirst-response timesWon / lost outcomesLead source & valueJob type & marginTechnician availability
Win rate vs minutes to first responseEach point a week of leads; speed decides the job0%18%35%53%70%0m125m250m375m500mMinutes to first responseWin rate (%)

Win rate more than halves once response slips past an hour. Reaching a lead in minutes — not hours — is the single biggest lever on conversion.

Our approach — Speed-to-Lead Response-Time Optimization

We quantify the speed-to-lead curve and set a target response time, then re-engineer intake: instant text auto-replies, a triage so high-value leads interrupt the day while routine ones queue, and on-call cover for peak hours. Every lead is reached inside the window the data says wins it.

Lead scoring layers on top: the jobs worth dropping a tool for get an immediate human call; the rest get a fast automated response that still holds the customer.

From last callback to first1Measure the curveQuantify how win ratedecays with responsetime.2Set the targetDefine the responsewindow that actuallywins jobs.3Re-engineer intakeAuto-replies, triageand on-call cover tohit the window.4Score the leadsRoute high-value jobsto an instant humancallback.
Lead share by response-time bucket — before vs afterWhere leads land on the speed curve0%16%32%49%65%8%55%<5 min17%28%5-30 min20%10%30-60 min30%5%1-4 h25%2%>4 hBeforeAfter

After the rebuild most leads are reached in under five minutes instead of hours — moving the whole book into the high-win part of the curve.

What changes

Same leads, reached faster. Representative for a residential electrical contractor.

Representative 90-day movementMedian response95 min4 min▼ -96%Lead-to-job rate22%39%▲ +17 ptsCost per won job$240$135▼ -44%Monthly revenue$180k$258k▲ +43%
Where the lift comes from+$78kmonthly revenueFaster first response52%Lead triage & scoring30%Fewer lost to voicemail18%
Why this is not "social media management"
We didn't buy this electrician more leads — they were already paying for plenty and losing them in the callback gap. We measured exactly how fast they had to respond and rebuilt the intake around it. Speed-to-lead is a conversion problem only data can fix.

Frequently asked questions

How do you win more electrical leads without buying more?
We measure how win rate decays with every minute to first contact, then rebuild intake — instant text replies, lead triage and on-call cover — so every lead is reached inside the window that actually wins it. Most go from an hours-long callback to under five minutes.
What is speed-to-lead?
Speed-to-lead is the time between an enquiry and your first response, and it is one of the strongest predictors of whether you win the job. The probability of converting drops sharply once response slips past an hour.
How is this different from a marketing campaign?
You are already paying for the leads — they are leaking in the callback gap. We fix the conversion, not the lead count. Book a marketing audit.

Want this run on your numbers?

Send your enquiry and response-time data and we’ll show you the jobs slipping away.

Book a marketing audit
Back to Home Services & Trades