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Local Services8 min read

Telegram Bot for Local Services

You cannot answer the phone with your hands inside a boiler. That is the entire problem, and it costs trades more work than anything else, because the customer simply calls the next number on the list.

Split urgent from everything else, immediately

This is the first decision and most bots get it wrong. Somebody with water coming through a ceiling should never meet a form. The welcome message needs two obvious paths:

  • Urgent, today. Shows your number, says call rather than type, and states plainly whether you can attend today. That is the whole branch.
  • Get a quote. Opens the form below, for the ninety per cent of work that is a kitchen refit, a rewire, a move next month or a regular clean.

Sending an emergency into a five question form to save yourself a phone call is a false economy. Those are the jobs that pay a premium.

The quote request form

The aim is a request complete enough to price, or at least complete enough to decide whether it is worth a visit:

  1. What needs doing? A sentence in their words. You will read this one properly.
  2. Which area are you in? District or postcode. First filter: if you do not cover it, everyone finds out in ten seconds instead of after a phone call.
  3. Is it a house, a flat or commercial? Changes access, parking and often the price.
  4. When do you need it? This week, this month, just pricing it up. Third filter, and the one that tells you who to call back first.
  5. Phone number, validated, last.

Then finish with the line that makes the whole thing work: "Send a couple of photos of the job into the chat and I can give you a much closer price." They arrive in the same thread as the answers. For trades this is the single biggest advantage of taking enquiries in a messenger, because a photo of the fuse board or the leak removes a visit you were not being paid for.

The three questions you answer every day

  • "area", "cover", "come to" with the list of districts you serve and, honestly, the ones you do not. Nobody is offended, and it saves both sides a call.
  • "price", "cost", "how much" with your call-out fee, hourly rate and a couple of typical ranges. Refusing to say anything about price reads as expensive.
  • "when", "available", "how soon" with your realistic current lead time, updated weekly. "About two weeks for planned work, same day for emergencies" is a better answer than silence.

The follow-up nobody does

A quote given and never followed up is the most common way trades lose work they had already won. The customer meant to reply, then their week happened.

Because the enquiry came through the bot, the thread is still open and following up is one message three days later. No number to find, no awkward call. "Still interested in that job? Happy to hold a slot next week" recovers a surprising share of quotes and takes ten seconds.

The list you build without noticing

Everyone who ever asked you for a quote is a subscriber. For most trades that list is worth one message a quarter, and it should be useful rather than promotional:

  • Seasonal work, such as a boiler service before winter or gutters before the autumn rain. This is genuinely helpful and it fills the quiet weeks.
  • Availability, when you have a gap. "Two slots free next week" converts because someone always has a job they have been putting off.
  • A price change, announced before it happens rather than discovered on an invoice.

Four messages a year is about right. This is a list of people who trust you with keys to their house, and burning it on weekly promotions is a poor trade.

Where to put the link

For this trade specifically, the physical world is your best channel. A QR code on the van, on the invoice, on the sticker you leave on the boiler after a service. Somebody looking at that sticker two years later, at the exact moment something has gone wrong, is the warmest lead you will ever get.

What to measure

  • Requests arriving outside working hours. The jobs you were previously losing to whoever answered.
  • Quotes sent divided by quotes accepted, before and after you start following up.
  • Requests from outside your area. If it is high, your area reply is not visible enough.
  • Photos received per request. High means fewer wasted visits, which is real money.

Frequently asked questions

Should the bot handle emergencies?

It should route them. An urgent button that shows your number and says to call, with no form in the way.

Can it give a price?

It states your call-out fee, hourly rate and typical ranges. Quote the specific job yourself once you have seen the photos.

How do customers send photos?

As a chat message after the form, into the same thread. It is the most useful part of taking enquiries this way.

Better than a website contact form?

Usually, because photos are natural in a chat and your reply lands somewhere the customer will see it.

Take quote requests while your hands are full

Quote forms with instant notifications, keyword replies for area, price and lead time, seasonal broadcasts. No code, no server.

Build Your Bot Free

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