How a callout request looks to an assistant
A homeowner says "my boiler stopped, find someone who can come today". An assistant tries to answer with: who is nearby, who does boilers, who is open or on call, and how to ask. It builds that from public pages (your site, your Google Business Profile, directories, reviews). Unlike a salon, you rarely have fixed slots, so the assistant often cannot "book" you in the usual sense. What it can do is send a request that reaches you with the right details, and many customers will accept that.
What assistants need to find you
- Service area as text. Towns, districts or postcodes you cover, and the distance you will travel. "Serving the region" tells a program nothing.
- Services as a list. "Boiler repair", "fuse board replacement", "blocked drain". Use the words people search with, one per line.
- Emergency and normal hours. Say whether you offer out-of-hours work and whether it costs more. If you do not do emergencies, say so, since that saves everyone time.
- Pricing signals. Callout fee, hourly rate or "from" prices where you can. Do not publish what you cannot honour; do say how quotes work.
- Credentials in text. Registrations and insurance your country requires or customers ask about. State only what you hold and can show.
Making a callout request easy to send
- One request form or link. Fields that matter: address or postcode, what is wrong, how urgent, a phone number, and photos if useful. Fewer than seven fields.
- Reply promise. "We reply within one working hour" on the form, and keep it. Speed decides who gets the job.
- An answer when you cannot pick up. You are under a sink or up a ladder. Use a voicemail with the form link, an automatic text reply to missed calls, or an answering service. Our missed-call guide lists the options; the ideas apply to trades as much as to salons.
- A shared calendar or a simple schedule. If you can show real availability for non-urgent jobs, an assistant can propose a time instead of a vague "we will call you".
Google Business Profile for trades
Trades often work from a van, not a shopfront. Set your service area rather than a public address if that is how you operate, keep hours accurate, list services, and add a link for booking or requesting service. Google's help covers service and booking links on its page Manage your local business links; our walk-through follows it step by step.
Cautions specific to callouts
- Safety first. For gas smells, sparks or flooding the right advice is to contact the emergency service for that hazard. Do not let an automated reply sound as if you will attend a dangerous situation faster than you can.
- Price expectations. An assistant may pass on a callout price as if it were the final price. State clearly what is included.
- Photos and addresses are personal data. Ask only for what you need and delete it when the job is finished, as the privacy rules in your country require.
- Unwanted jobs. Say what you do not do. A short list of exclusions avoids wasted visits.