If I could give one piece of advice to anyone running a service business, it would be this: never let a call go unanswered. Every missed call is missed revenue—and the cost of those lost opportunities adds up fast.

In the early days, most service businesses rely on hustle—answering phones manually, juggling schedules, and patching together tools that were never really designed for the trades. But the truth is, no matter how hard you hustle, humans can’t answer 10 calls at once. And every call you miss is another job going to a competitor.

The Lesson

Here’s what I wish I had understood sooner:

• Missed calls are lost jobs. If you don’t answer, someone else will.
  
  
• Efficiency drives growth. When scheduling, dispatching, and communication run on autopilot, your team can actually scale.
  
  
• AI isn’t the future—it’s already here. The businesses using it today are already miles ahead.
  

‍Scalability matters. AI doesn’t get tired, distracted, or overwhelmed. It can consistently handle demand that people simply can’t.

Why This Matters

AI isn’t about replacing people—it’s about freeing them. Answering, scheduling, dispatching, follow-ups—these are tasks that can run automatically so your team can focus on the work that really matters: serving customers and solving problems in their homes.

The companies that embrace this now will thrive. The ones that wait will fall behind.

So here’s the simple truth I wish I’d embraced earlier: AI isn’t a nice-to-have—it’s the key to growth, consistency, and long-term success in field service.