To qualify a lead over the phone, ask a few short questions that tell you whether the job is one you want, in an area you serve, at a time you can do it, with a person who can approve it. For most service businesses that comes down to five: what do you need, where is the job, when do you need it, who decides, and what is the best number to reach you. Everything else is trade-specific detail.
The goal is not to interrogate the caller. It is to spend your time on the calls that turn into work, and to stop spending it on the ones that cannot. This guide gives you the questions, the red flags, trade-specific additions and a way to run all of it on every inbound call, including the ones you miss.
The five questions every trade needs
1. What do you need done?
One plain sentence in the caller's own words. It tells you the trade, the size of the job and whether it is something you do at all.
2. Where is the job?
An address or at least a zip code. If it is outside your service area, you want to know in the first minute, not after a site visit.
3. When do you need it?
Today, this week, or whenever. Timing separates an emergency from a quote request from someone planning ahead.
4. Who decides?
The homeowner, a tenant, a property manager, a spouse who will want to see the quote. You want the person who can say yes.
5. What is the best number and first name?
Without a working callback number the lead is gone. A first name makes the callback sound like a person, not a list.
Ask them in a natural order, starting with what the caller needs. People answer a question about their problem easily, and they will give you an address and number once they feel heard. Keep it short. Each extra question is another chance for the caller to give up and dial someone else.
Questions by trade
Add two or three of these to the core five. More than that and the call turns into a form.
Plumbers, HVAC and electricians
- Is it an emergency right now: water running, no heat, a burning smell, no power?
- Is it safe to turn off the water, gas or breaker at the source?
- Is the problem in one spot or throughout the house?
- Do you own the home or rent?
The first two sort real emergencies from routine repairs. See the pages for plumbers, HVAC and electricians for how owners in those trades handle the phone.
Roofers
- Is water coming in now, or is this a replacement or an inspection?
- Is this connected to an insurance claim?
- What type of roof and about how old is it?
- Are you the homeowner?
An active leak needs a tarp today. A replacement quote can wait a day. The roofers page shows more.
Cleaning services
- House, apartment or office? How many bedrooms and bathrooms?
- One-time deep clean or recurring?
- Any pets, or anything you want us to know before we arrive?
- What date are you aiming for?
Size and frequency set the price, so get them before you quote. See cleaning services.
Movers
- Move from where, and to where?
- What date, and is it flexible?
- How many rooms or roughly how much stuff?
- Stairs or an elevator at either end?
Date and distance matter most. A caller with a hard date next weekend is a different lead from one planning for spring. See movers.
Locksmiths
- Locked out of a car, a home or a business?
- Where are you standing right now, and is it safe?
- Is the vehicle or property yours?
- Best number to reach you?
Lockout calls are urgent and the caller is often outdoors. Location and a working number come first. The locksmiths page has more.
Other trades
The same structure works for landscapers, pest control, garage door repair and general home services: size or scope, location, timing, who decides. The industries hub lists the trades we have pages for.
Red flags
None of these means “hang up.” Each one means “slow down and look closer.”
- Won't give a name or number. If they cannot be reached, they cannot be quoted.
- Outside your service area, and wanting you to make an exception.
- Wants a firm price with no details about the job.
- No timeline at all, and no interest in setting one.
- Describes work you do not do, or a trade you are not licensed for.
- A sales pitch dressed up as a customer call, or an automated robocall.
- A wrong number, or a caller asking for someone who works elsewhere.
Some of these get handled without you ever hearing them. Spam, robocalls, sales pitches and wrong numbers can be screened out and ended politely, so they never use up your afternoon.
A simple way to sort what you collect
You do not need a scoring system. Three buckets work for most owners.
- Hot: in your area, a clear job, a near-term date, and the decision-maker is on the phone. Call back first.
- Warm: a real job but a longer timeline, or the decision-maker is not the caller. Follow up the same day.
- Cold: unclear job, no date, or out of area. Reply when you have time, or decline.
Write the three buckets once, in your own words, and use them every day. The rule you set matters less than applying it the same way each time.
How to automate qualification on inbound calls
The hard part of qualifying is not the questions. It is asking them every time, including when you are on a roof, in a crawl space, or asleep. An AI receptionist asks them on every call.
With Speechless, the agent answers each call in under a second and has a natural conversation, with no phone tree. It collects what you need: for example the job, the address, the preferred day and time, the caller's first name and best callback number. It answers questions from the facts you gave it, including services, hours, prices and service area, so the caller learns whether you cover their zip code during the call. If it does not know something, it says so and takes the details.
Urgent calls, by your definition, are put through to your phone, with the caller announced first if you want, or flagged so you call back. Spam and wrong numbers are screened out. After the call you get a summary with the caller's details by SMS, WhatsApp, Slack, Discord, Google Chat or email, and new leads can be pushed into HubSpot, Pipedrive, Workiz, Zapier or any system that accepts a webhook. When the agent promised a callback, you get a reminder.
Setup is a short chat. Give your website and the agent reads your services, hours, prices and FAQs, and you keep or untick each fact. You test it with a call in your browser before paying. Our AI lead qualification page goes deeper, and appointment booking covers how jobs land on your calendar. Pricing starts at $39 a month with 250 minutes; see the pricing section.
One limit to know: the agent follows the questions and rules you give it. It does not judge whether a lead is worth a discount or whether to bend your schedule. Those calls stay with you, with better information than a voicemail ever gave you. For the wider problem of missed calls, see how to stop missing customer calls.
Questions owners ask
How many questions is too many?
Past five or six, the call starts to feel like paperwork. Collect what you need to decide whether to call back and how fast. Save the detailed questions for the callback or the site visit.
Should I ask about budget?
Only if it changes what you do. A roofer with a minimum job size may want to know. A plumber on an emergency call usually does not. Asking about money too early can end the call before you learn what the job is.
What if the caller won't answer?
Take what you can get. A name and a number are enough to follow up. Do not make every question mandatory.
Can I review what the agent asked?
Yes. Every call is transcribed, and you can review and export calls from the dashboard at any time. Recordings are available if you enable them.
Qualify every call, including the ones you miss
Build your AI receptionist in about 5 minutes and test it in your browser. 14-day free trial, 250 minutes included.
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