From search to customer: answer every call and message

It’s seven in the morning, and water is coming through someone’s kitchen ceiling. They search “emergency plumber”, tap the first business in the map, and press call. It rings, and rings. So they go back, and tap the next one.

Everything you’ve done on your profile earned you that call. In this lesson, we’ll make sure someone answers it.

People decide fast. In a US survey BrightLocal published in June 2026, 75 percent of people took less than thirty minutes to decide which local business to use. 28 percent decided in under five minutes. And 72 percent looked at three businesses or fewer.

So if someone calls and you don’t answer, the others are one tap away.

Your Performance report, which we’ll read properly in the next lesson, counts calls, messages and bookings from your profile. But look at what it counts. A call is a tap on your call button. Not an answered call, and not a booked job. A message is a conversation someone started. A booking is a completed booking, made through a booking provider.

Google can send you the tap. Turning it into a customer is up to you.

Let’s find out how your business answers. Take out page W13 of the workbook, and borrow a phone that isn’t your business phone.

Test one: call your business at a busy time, like Monday morning or Saturday lunchtime. Count the rings. Did someone answer? Were they friendly, and could they help?

Test two: call when you know nobody can pick up, and listen to your voicemail. Does it say your business name, and when you’ll call back? “Please leave a message” gives people no reason to wait.

Test three: send a message every way you offer one. A text, WhatsApp, your website form, your Facebook page. Write down when you sent each one, and when you got a reply.

Test four: open your booking link on a phone, and try to book. Does it work? Does it ask for too much?

And test five: open your phone’s call history, and count the missed calls in a normal week. Write that number down. You’ll use it in a minute.

Last, open your profile and check the chat option you set up in Lesson 2.4. Choose “Edit profile”, then “Contact”. Where Google offers it, chat can be WhatsApp or a text number. And those messages don’t stay inside Google. They arrive in WhatsApp or on your phone, so someone has to be watching.

Now set a target, and write it at the bottom of W13. Google doesn’t set one for you, so choose something your team can really keep.

For example: we answer whenever we’re open. Anyone we miss gets a call or a text back within fifteen minutes. Messages get a reply within an hour while we’re open, and first thing the next morning when we’re closed.

A modest target that everyone keeps beats an ambitious one that nobody does. Start where you are, and tighten it later.

So what fixes it? Pick what fits how you work.

If you’re often with a customer, record a voicemail that says when you’ll call back, and keep that promise. If someone else can answer, forward your calls to them when you’re busy. Keep the number on your profile one that you control, and forward from there.

A missed-call text-back sends an automatic text to anyone you miss, like “Hi, it’s Northside Plumbing. Sorry we missed your call. We’ll ring you back shortly.” Our free text templates include one you can copy.

Bring every message into one inbox, so nothing gets lost. And add a booking link, for people who’d rather not call at all.

To see what’s at stake, try our free missed-call cost calculator. Put in your missed calls from test five, how many would have booked, and what a customer spends. It’s an estimate, not a promise, but it shows what a fix is worth.

One more thing for whoever answers your phone: Google may sometimes check your details with an automated call, text or WhatsApp message to your listed number. Make sure they know.

A quick rules check, because automated texts have rules in all three countries. This is a summary, not legal advice.

In the US, the federal rules generally need a person’s consent before you send automated texts, and written consent for marketing. If someone replies “stop”, honour it within ten business days. And US carriers require businesses to register the numbers they text from.

In the UK, marketing texts need consent, or the “soft opt-in” for existing customers. The ICO says a purely customer-service message isn’t direct marketing. Add an offer, and it can be.

In Australia, commercial messages need consent, your name, and an unsubscribe you action within five working days. Texts sent under a business name, not a number, now need a registered sender ID, or they show as “Unverified”.

So keep a missed-call text to the point: who you are, sorry we missed you, how to reach you. No offers. And check with your texting provider before you automate anything.

Let’s recap. One: Google counts the tap, but only an answer wins the customer. Two: test your calls, voicemail, messages and booking link, and set a target your team can keep. Three: pick the fixes that fit, and keep any automated text short, honest and inside the rules.

Your task this week: run the five tests on W13, count your missed calls, and write down your target. Then show it to everyone who answers your phone.

In the next lesson, we’ll open your Performance report and start a simple monthly record.

Prefer to have this done for you? Flexi Local’s missed-call text-back texts callers you couldn’t answer, and our AI receptionist answers calls and chats around the clock. The course works the same either way.