Field Guide
Fast lead replies and quote follow-up drafts (a person sends)
External evidence (one practitioner report and an older response-time study); method not yet tested by Today’s Worker; examples are illustrative
Two drafting jobs, one rule: AI drafts, a person edits and sends. Keep a short set of lead-reply templates ready so a new web or marketplace lead hears back quickly. Draft a short follow-up for each open quote twice a week. Nothing goes out automatically.
The evidence is one practitioner report and an older study on lead response. Today’s Worker has not tested this method yet. The examples are invented.
What you get, and where not to use it
Outcome: every new lead gets a fast reply that promises only a callback time you will keep, and every open quote gets a personal follow-up you sent yourself.
Do not use it for: quoting or diagnosing in a reply, pretending to be you in a long back-and-forth, inventing urgency or discounts, or any send that no person read first.
How strong is the evidence?
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| Evidence label | External evidence: one practitioner report plus an older study on response speed. Not tested by Today’s Worker. |
| Follow-up source | A post in r/Plumbing (April 13, 2026) by one plumber who drafts quote follow-ups with ChatGPT and reports picking up two jobs in one week that he says he would otherwise have lost. Asked whether he proofreads: “I never send the first output directly.” He cuts filler such as “I hope this finds you well” and adds one line showing he read the customer’s message. Single self-reported account; the post had a low score. |
| Response-speed source | Oldroyd, McElheran and Elkington, “The Short Life of Online Sales Leads,” Harvard Business Review, 2011. Its summary: “most companies are not responding nearly fast enough.” It studies general online sales leads, not trades, and predates current AI tools. |
| What it does not show | No measured close rate for this routine. One forum post is not a trend. The HBR study supports replying fast, not replying with AI. |
What to bring
- For lead replies: your service area, a booking link if you have one, and the callback window you can actually keep.
- For follow-ups: a list of open quotes (customer, job, date sent, amount) and one real detail from each visit.
Decisions that stay with you
- What a reply may promise, and when you personally call.
- Which quotes to chase and which to drop.
- Any change to price or terms.
- Final wording, and pressing send.
Tools and setup
Any chat assistant to draft. Your phone, field-service software or lead-platform messaging to send, by hand. About thirty minutes to write the three reply templates, then about ten minutes twice a week for follow-ups.
Worked example (illustration, not a real job)
EXAMPLE lead reply: a marketplace lead at 2:14 pm says “AC blowing warm.” You are on a job, so you send your saved work-hours template: “Got your request. This is [shop name]. I’m on a job and will call you by 4. If you’d rather book now: [link].” You call at 3:40.
EXAMPLE follow-up: open quote, water heater swap, sent Tuesday; at the visit the customer worried about the garage drain pan. Draft: “Hi Ms. Garcia, checking in on Tuesday’s water heater quote. It includes the new drain pan you asked about. Happy to answer anything or get you on the schedule. – Mike” Mike changes one line so it sounds like him and sends it.
Acceptance checks
- Each lead reply names a callback time, and you met it.
- No reply or follow-up contains a price, discount, deadline or diagnosis you did not set.
- Each follow-up mentions one real detail from the visit and is signed by a person.
- A person read every message before it went out.
Failure cases
- A reply promises a callback nobody makes.
- A follow-up goes to someone who already said no. Check the list first.
- Filler openers and stiff, formal phrasing. Cut them.
- Someone switches on auto-send to save time. That is outside this method and outside the evidence.
Copy this prompt
You are my clerk. You draft. I edit and send. Part A, lead replies: write three texts for new leads: during work hours, after hours, weekend. Under 40 words each. Each says who we are, that a person will call by [time], and gives [booking link]. No prices. No diagnosis. Part B, quote follow-ups: draft one text per open quote below. Under 60 words. End with [my first name]. Mention the one visit detail I give. Offer to answer questions or schedule. Do not change prices, add discounts or invent deadlines. No filler openers. Quotes: [customer | job | date sent | amount | one visit detail]
Your rule: whatever time a reply promises, you call before it. Read each follow-up, fix one line so it sounds like you, then send it or delete it. The quote itself comes from the visit notes to scope wording method.
Version and test record
Method version 0.1. Sources checked 2026-10-15. Today’s Worker test: not yet run. When we run one, we will record the task, tool, date, acceptance-check results and any failure here, and change the evidence label to internal test.
This page is one of five graded method pages: draft, then edit and sign, research with a frontier check, learn with a hint-only tutor, visit notes to scope wording and lead reply and quote follow-up drafts. Each one says how strong the evidence is, not only what to do.