How Speed-To-Lead Converts More Leads Into Paying Customers with Ryan Fenn

Speed To Lead

Speed to lead is what decides whether the job is yours or the shop’s down the road. Most owners assume they need more leads. The leads are already coming in. They just are not getting answered fast enough, and that one gap does more damage to lead conversion than any ad budget ever could help fix.

I sat down with Ryan Fenn, the founder of Chiirp, and he brought numbers I honestly did not expect. One large HVAC company in Phoenix, already known in the trades for running tight systems, turned on automated follow-up for estimates that were going cold. In 60 days, their close rate went up 9 percent, which came out to about $750,000 they would have never seen. Keep reading, and you will find out where that same money is hiding in your business and what it takes to catch it.

How Speed-To-Lead Converts More Leads Into Paying Customers with Ryan Fenn

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What You’ll Learn

Why speed to lead decides who gets the job in 60 seconds
How one minute of delay cut a booking rate from 34 to 17 percent
What most owners miss about the 60% of estimates that never close
The one thing that separates a stuck shop from a scaling one
Where a missed call text back finds revenue you already paid for
The quiet leak that cancels jobs after the customer already said yes

Key Moments…

[2:34] Speed To Lead And The Two Leaks At The Start

[3:18] Why Missed Calls Are The Quiet Killer

[8:14] The Text Message That Recovered $300,000

[11:37] Two Phone Calls And One Lost Booking

[14:32] How One Minute Cut A Booking Rate In Half

[23:35] Sales Follow-Up And The Second Leaky Bucket

[27:52] $750,000 Found In 60 Days

[36:20] The Owner Handshake Video

[43:09] The Hidden Leak After The Sale Is Won

The First 60 Seconds Decide Everything

Ryan walked me through the very front of the customer journey, and it comes down to two things. Whether you answer the phone, and how fast you respond when you do not.

He gives every inbound lead about 60 seconds before the window starts closing. Form fills are the worst of the bunch, because those leads come in already shopping. They arrive from all over:

Angi
Thumbtack
Google Local Services Ads
Facebook lead forms

Every one of those people is filling out somebody else’s form at the same time they fill out yours.

Ryan told me about the day he needed a DEXA body scan and searched for one near his office. Two came up within a mile, both with five-star reviews, and to him they looked identical. He called the first one, and it rang through to voicemail, so he hung up and called the second. That one answered and booked him. Two to three minutes later, the first company’s text finally arrived asking if he wanted to schedule. The job was already gone.

That is speed to lead in one story. Nothing about that company’s marketing was broken. They just answered second.

One Minute Of Delay Cut Their Bookings In Half

Having a system is not the same as having a fast one. Ryan told me about a company that was booking 34 percent of the calls their missed-call text message touched. Then they switched providers, and the booking rate dropped to 17 percent.

Same business. Same leads. Same message. The only difference was that the new system had a one minute delay built in before the text went out. Sixty seconds cost them half their bookings.

If you already have text message automation running, go check it today. Not whether it fires. How fast it fires.

The 60 Percent Of Estimates Nobody Chases

An industry average close rate on estimates sits around 40 percent. Ryan pointed out what that number really means. 60 percent of the estimates you paid to produce never turn into anything at all.

You already spent the marketing money to get that call. You already sent a tech out. You already burned the labor writing it up. Then most owners move on to the hot opportunities and leave the rest sitting there.

Some of those jobs were never going to close. But a real percentage of them will close for exactly one reason, because somebody followed up. That is where lead follow up stops being a nice idea and starts being money you can count.

What One Phoenix HVAC Company Found In 60 Days

Ryan’s team works with a large HVAC company in Phoenix that has a reputation in the trades for running tight systems. If anybody was already covered on this, it was them.

They turned on automated estimate rehash anyway, which just means the estimates going cold get chased without anyone on staff having to remember. In the first 60 days their close rate went up 9 percent. Ryan put a dollar figure on it, roughly $750,000 in 60 days.

No new leads. No bigger ad budget. Just the estimates they had already paid for, finally getting a second conversation.

The Leak That Shows Up After The Sale

This is my favorite part of every episode, where we uncover a leak most owners have never named. Ryan’s was the one that happens after the customer says yes.

The tech packs up and leaves, the excitement wears off, and the customer starts second-guessing a number they just committed to. A percentage of them cancel. Ryan’s fix to this problem costs you nothing but a few minutes. The owner picks up a phone, records one short selfie video thanking the customer by name, and that video goes out automatically after every sale.

Good customer follow-up does not stop when the deal closes. All the work you put into speed to lead at the front end gets handed right back if you lose the customer at the finish line.

Here is what stayed with me after talking with Ryan. Not one thing he described requires you to spend another dollar on marketing. The missed call, the estimate nobody chased, the customer who quietly canceled every one of those is a job you already paid to create. That is what a profit leak looks like in real life. It does not show up as a loss on your books; it just never shows up at all. Pick one of these and go look at it this week. Time how fast your missed call text actually goes out, or pull the last 30 estimates you wrote and count how many got a second conversation. Small changes here create big results, and the money you find was yours the whole time.

About Ryan

Ryan grew up in the house his dad built and learned early what hard work actually looks like. He dropped out of high school, washed windows, and spent years in the trades learning how real service businesses live and die based on missed calls, broken systems, and follow-up that never happens.

Today, Ryan is the founder of CHIIRP, a revenue optimization platform built specifically for the trades. Everything he builds is rooted in lived experience — not theory — helping contractors turn chaos into systems, capture more revenue, and build businesses that support real life outside the job.

Connect With Ryan Fenn:

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Follow Chiirp on LinkedIN

Follow Chiirp on Facebook

Diane’s Resources:

🤑Add $200k in Profits Without Chasing Leads

Sales are rolling in, so why does your business still feel broke? Here are 15 ways to add profit back into your Home Service Business without more leads & sales. https://profitcoach4you.com/profitleaks

Profit Impact Call
☎️ Let me find $45k in hidden profit leaks in your home service business in 45 minutes during a Profit Impact Call. https://taxcoach4you.com/profitimpactcall/