What to text a new lead: 5 follow-up texts that turn cold leads into booked appointments

A new lead is the most expensive thing in your business that nobody treats as expensive. You paid for the ad, the directory listing or the yard sign, the homeowner filled out the form, and then the lead sat in an inbox for three hours because the office was on the phone and the owner was on a roof. By the time someone called, the homeowner had booked the company that answered first.

Texting fixes most of this, if you do it on a plan. Homeowners who ignore an unknown number will often answer a short text from a named person. The problem is that most shops send one text, get no answer, and let the lead die. This guide gives you five texts to send, in order, with the exact timing and the rules around after-hours leads and consent.

This guide is about new leads who have not had an estimate yet: they asked for a quote or a visit and have not booked. If the homeowner already has your price and has gone quiet, that is a different conversation with different words. Use how to follow up on an unsold estimate for that.

Why new leads go cold

A homeowner who fills out a form at 7:15 p.m. may be filling out two or three that night. They are not ignoring you. They are busy and comparing, and whoever makes the next step easiest tends to get the appointment. The usual reasons a new lead goes quiet:

• Someone else answered first and already booked a time.
• They do not pick up unknown numbers, so your two calls went to voicemail they never played.
• The next step felt like work. "Let me know when works for you" asks them to open a calendar and think.
• They are not sure it is worth a visit. They wanted a ballpark and are not ready to have someone come out.
• Life happened. The leak stopped or the furnace kicked back on. The need just dropped down the list.

Each text below is aimed at one of those reasons. Five identical "just checking in" messages read like a robot and answer none of them.

The 5 texts, and when to send each one

Minute 0 is when the lead arrives, from a form, a directory, a missed call or an ad. If the homeowner replies at any point, stop the sequence and talk.

Copy-ready texts for new leads

Replace the words in braces with your own. Put your name and company in the first text, because an unknown number with no name gets ignored. Write like one person texting another, and skip links unless they asked for one.

Text 1: the instant reply (within 5 minutes)

This text wins or loses most leads. Its only job is to be first and ask something easy. Do not sell here. Confirm the request, say who you are, offer a next step.

Trade examples: a roofer might write "about the leak over your garage", an HVAC shop "about your furnace not keeping up", a remodeler "about your bathroom". Their own words tell them a person read it.

Text 2: the two-time offer (same day, 2 to 4 hours later)

If text 1 got no answer, the homeowner probably saw it and meant to reply later. Make replying even smaller. Two specific times turn "I need to check my calendar" into a one-word answer.

Text 3: the missed-call text (day 1)

On day 1, call. When it goes to voicemail, send this text right away, so next time your number shows up they know who it is.

Text 4: the photo ask (day 3)

By day 3 the homeowner is comparing companies or unsure a visit is worth it. A photo ask lets them reply without committing, and gives you real information before you drive out.

What to ask for by trade: roofing, the ceiling stain or the damage seen from the ground. HVAC, the label on the furnace or outdoor unit. Plumbing, the water heater label or the leak. Electrical, the breaker panel with its door open, cover left on. Remodeling and exteriors, a wide shot of the room or wall. Be honest that the visit is where the real price comes from.

Text 5: the close-the-loop text (day 7 to 10)

The last text tells the homeowner you are about to stop. It removes the pressure and often gets a reply, such as "still interested, just busy" or "we went with someone else". Either answer is useful.

After text 5, stop the active sequence. For seasonal work, such as a roof before winter or AC before summer, one check-in next season is reasonable if they have not asked you to stop.

After-hours rules for new leads

Many leads arrive at night and on weekends. You want to respond fast without sending a sales pitch at 10:30 p.m. These rules do both.

• Acknowledge right away, sell in the morning. If a lead comes in after hours, a one-line reply to the request they just sent is fine: "Thanks {name}, got your request about your {job}. I will text you first thing in the morning with times." Then send text 1 at 8 a.m.
• Keep follow-ups inside 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. at the homeowner's location, not yours. If you work across a time zone line, schedule by the lead's address. A tighter window, such as 9 a.m. to 7 p.m., is kinder and still works.
• Weekends are fine for booking, light on chasing. Saturday morning is a good time to offer slots. Leave Sunday for replies to homeowners who texted you first.
• Emergencies are different. No heat in January, water coming through the ceiling or a sparking outlet is not a lead to nurture. If you run on-call, call now. If you do not, say so honestly and tell them what to do in the meantime.

Texting consent and opt-outs: the short version

Texting a homeowner who just asked you for a quote is very different from blasting a purchased list, but the federal rules still apply to you, and many states add their own. The main federal rule is the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, carried out by the FCC at 47 CFR 64.1200. A few points from that regulation matter most for contractor follow-up texts:

• Calling hours. The regulation bars telephone solicitations to a residential subscriber before 8 a.m. or after 9 p.m., local time at the called party's location. That is where the 8 to 9 window above comes from.
• Written consent for automated marketing. For advertising or telemarketing messages sent with an autodialer or prerecorded voice, the rule requires prior express written consent: a signed agreement, which can be electronic, that clearly authorizes those messages to a specific phone number.
• Stop means stop. A reply such as "stop", "quit", "end", "revoke", "opt out", "cancel" or "unsubscribe" counts as revoking consent, and other wording counts too if a reasonable person would read it that way.
• Ten business days, at most. Revocation requests must be honored within a reasonable time, not to exceed ten business days. In practice, stop the same day.

On the ground: add a texting consent checkbox to your website forms that names your company, says you may text about their request, notes that message and data rates may apply, and says they can reply stop at any time. Record when and how each lead consented. When someone replies stop, or anything that means stop, mark the customer record the same day so no person or automation texts them again. Leads from a directory or partner came in under that company's consent language, so check what the homeowner agreed to.

How to set up the sequence so it runs every time

Five texts are easy to write and hard to send consistently. In storm season or the first heat wave, nobody sends any. Decide the rules once and let a system send the templated texts, while people handle calls and replies.

1. 1

   Send every lead to one place

   Website forms, directory leads, missed calls and ad leads should all land in the same pipeline, with the source recorded. If leads live in five inboxes, the five-minute reply is impossible.

2. 2

   Capture consent on the way in

   Add the texting consent line to every form you control, and note the consent source on each lead record.

3. 3

   Load the five templates

   Save texts 1 to 5 as templates with the placeholders filled from the lead record: first name, job type, the rep's name and your company name.

4. 4

   Set the timing and the quiet hours

   Schedule each text by the table above, and make sure nothing sends outside your texting window at the homeowner's location. After-hours leads get the one-line acknowledgement, then text 1 at 8 a.m.

5. 5

   Make a reply stop the sequence

   The moment a homeowner answers, the automated texts should stop and a person should take over. Put the day 1 call on someone's task list too: automation sends texts, people make calls.

6. 6

   Review the numbers every month

   Track how many new leads got text 1 within five minutes, how many booked, and which text they replied to. That tells you whether speed or wording is your problem.

Mistakes that make follow-up texts backfire

• No name in the first text. "Hi, following up on your request" from an unknown number looks like spam. Say who you are and which company.
• Open-ended questions. "When works for you?" asks for effort. "Tuesday at 10 or Thursday at 2?" asks for one word.
• Ignoring stop. It risks a complaint and a legal problem over a lead that was not going to book.

Once a lead books, the work shifts to winning at the table with good, better, best options and a clear in-home sales presentation. If a lead source looks weak, check how fast its leads got text 1 before cutting it, as covered in marketing attribution for contractors.

Frequently asked questions

Further reading: the FCC's texting and calling rules are in 47 CFR 64.1200 on the Electronic Code of Federal Regulations. For homeowners who got a price and went quiet, see how to follow up on an unsold estimate. For more leads to follow up, see local SEO for contractors.