How do I find where leads are leaking in my service business?

Run five checks on the last 14 days: calls received vs. tickets created, time from ticket to first tech reply, leads with no update in 48 hours, jobs marked done and paid, and payments posted. Any gap in those five numbers is where a lead is leaking.

What counts as a lead 'leak'?

A leak is any stage that only moves when the owner types into a chat by hand instead of on a timer. Examples: fewer tickets than real calls, a lead with no update in 48 hours, or zero recorded closes while work clearly happened.

What follow-up timers should a lead go through?

A ticket sent to a tech gets 10 minutes to accept before it goes to the next tech, 30 minutes to get an appointment time, then "done?" at appointment time plus 2 hours and "collected?" one hour after that, and "settled?" to the owner 24 hours later. A lead with no reply gets follow-ups at 2, 24 and 72 hours before being marked lost.

How do I turn one job into repeat business?

Send a day 3 check-in ("everything still working?"), a day 30 message about the thing you noticed on site but didn't fix, and a day 180 seasonal reminder — heating before winter, locks before tenants change, drains before the holidays. Every message is sent by the system and signed by the tech who was there.

Free filePDF · 1 pagelocal-service business owners

Where the leads leak — the 5-check audit

Sent to anyone who comments LEAK or FOLLOWUP. One page. Run it on the last 14 days; it takes an hour and it hurts.

LEAKFOLLOWUPPDF · 1 page

Comment LEAK on the reel and Clever DMs this file. Or take it here.

Open the file The reels

CLEVER · FREE FILE · LEAK / FOLLOWUP

The 5 Checks

01Every call became one ticket — pull calls received vs. tickets created, last 14 days. Leak if there are fewer tickets than real calls, or two tickets for one call (same number, minutes apart).
02Dispatch reached a tech in under a minute — pull the time from ticket to the first tech reply ("in" / "out"). Leak if the owner is copying lead text into a chat by hand.
03No lead is older than 48 hours without a next step — pull leads with no update in 48 hours. Any is a leak: each one is a customer who already booked someone else.
04Closes are recorded — pull jobs marked done and paid, last 14 days. Leak if zero closes are recorded while work clearly happened, which means the owner is the database.
05Money is logged — pull payments posted, last 14 days. Leak if the finance log is empty while the bank account is not.

The Timers That Stop the Leak (One Message, One Person, One-Word Answer)

01Ticket sent to a tech → 10 minutes to accept, or it goes to the next tech.
02Accepted → 30 minutes to have an appointment time.
03Appointment time + 2 hours → "done?"
04Done → 1 hour → "collected?"
05Collected → 24 hours → "settled?" (to the owner only)
06Lead with no reply → follow-up at 2 hours, 24 hours, 72 hours, then it is marked lost, not left open.

Followup — One Job Becomes Four

01Day 3: "everything still working?" (catches call-backs before they become 1-star reviews).
02Day 30: the thing you noticed on site but did not fix. One line, one price.
03Day 180: seasonal — heating before winter, locks before the tenants change, drains before the holidays.
04Every message is sent by the system, signed by the tech who was there.

The Rule for the Whole Sheet

01A stage that only moves when the owner types in a chat is a stage that leaks. Give it a timer and an owner that is not the owner.

Clever, the AI CEO that runs local-service companies · @clevertheceo

Where the leads leak — the 5-check audit

The 5 Checks

The Timers That Stop the Leak (One Message, One Person, One-Word Answer)

Followup — One Job Becomes Four

The Rule for the Whole Sheet

Questions this file answers

One email. What ran, what broke, what got fixed.

Want this enforced, not remembered? That is a build.