The 60-Second Rule: 2X Lead Conversions
Is your follow-up speed costing you thousands in missed revenue? Studies show that if you don’t reach a new lead within a minute, your chances of converting it drop by more than half. In today’s world of instant responses and disappearing attention spans, every second truly matters when responding to homeowners.
This week on Cracking the Code, Justin Judd, Vice President of Sales & Partnerships at CHIIRP, explains why speed is now the #1 driver of conversions in home services. Justin breaks down how contractors can use simple AI follow-up to respond faster while still keeping communication personal, and the proven formula for estimate follow-up that seals the deal.
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We don’t have attention spans as human beings anymore. If we contact that within 100 and 20s, the chances of converting that lead have dropped in half. You.
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Welcome to cracking the Code where we make Hvac success clear, simple, and stress free. I’m your host and contractor. University general manager David Holt. This episode is part of our epic 2026 speaker series. Your sneak peek into the incredible minds taking the stage at Bellagio in Las Vegas February 12th through 13th, 2026. If you’re like most contractors, you’re spending big money on marketing efforts designed to keep the phones ringing.
00:00:46:19 – 00:01:14:08
But what if the real problem isn’t lead generation at all? What if the real issue is lead conversion? That’s exactly what today’s guest is here to talk about. Joining me is Justin Judd, vice president of sales and partnerships at Chirp, a leading AI driven communication automation for the trades at Epic 2026, Justin will be leading a breakout session where the title says it all.
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You don’t have a lead problem. You have a conversion problem. How AI turns leads into booked jobs. He’s going to show you how to leverage. I follow up strategies that convert more leads into appointments without losing the human touch. So grab a cup of coffee because this one’s packed with good info. So let’s get cracking. So, Justin, welcome to Cracking the Code.
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Thanks for having me. Excited to be here. That’s awesome man. We’re looking forward to your presentation out in Vegas. So you say speed lead has become a big buzzword lately. But you’ve also said every second matters. So can you explain why speed is the number one factor in conversion and how I can solve that problem for contractors? Yeah, absolutely.
00:02:07:19 – 00:02:39:02
So to put it simply, we don’t have attention spans as human beings anymore. With tick Tock and Facebook and everything else going on in the world, we just we don’t have attention spans as human beings anymore. So there’s been a ton of studies done around this. Salesforce did a study where they they did over 2 million, lead form submissions in this study, and this was across different industries.
00:02:39:02 – 00:03:23:04
So it wasn’t just home services, but basically what that study showed is that any time a new lead comes in, if we can contact that lead within 60s, chances of converting increases by 391%, 391%, just to just just a just a small just a small number. Here’s what’s really interesting. By waiting just one extra minute. So instead of contacting it within seconds, if we contact it within 100 and 20s, the chances of converting that lead have dropped in half.
00:03:23:06 – 00:03:50:13
That’s wow. That’s how short our attention spans as human beings are these days. And so when a new lead comes in, it’s crucial to contact that lead right away. Because if we don’t, what do you think’s going to happen? They’re going to go somewhere else. They’re going to go shopping. They’re going to go shopping, man. Exactly. I want to touch on can I touch on one other thing real quick?
00:03:50:19 – 00:04:17:00
Absolutely. Sure. So we just did a case study. One of the, strategies or campaigns that contractor used to cure is a missed call text message. So basically, if a contractor misses a phone call, chirp can send out a text message that says something like, hey, saw that you called in. Really? Sorry, miss. We’d love a chance to answer any questions you have.
00:04:17:01 – 00:04:37:16
Feel free to call us back or text us back at this number. Or if you’re ready to schedule, click here. So we did a case study where well, in in one campaign, the text message went out 2.5 minutes after the missed call.
00:04:37:18 – 00:05:06:07
The other campaign, the text message went out immediately. And they did. We did this over 17,000 missed phone calls and mixed them up. So one text message went out 2.5 minutes after the missed call. The other one went out immediately. The one that went out 2.5 minutes later booked at 17%. The one that went out immediately booked it 39%.
00:05:06:09 – 00:05:28:13
And so when I say seconds matter, that’s what I’m talking about. Because the fact is, is if someone needs your service and they need it right now and you missed that phone call and you don’t connect with them right away, put yourself in the consumer shoes. What are you going to do? You’re going to reach out to the next company.
00:05:28:13 – 00:05:46:10
And that is why speed is so crucial, man. I was working in the Stone ages. I was running my dad’s heating and air business back in the 1990s. It was like you just flipping to the next yellow page, right? It’s like, this is, This is a whole new world now, man, this is crazy. So, yeah, that’s awesome.
00:05:46:10 – 00:06:07:18
And that’s, pretty, pretty impactful. So you’re going to kill you? Kind of you. I mean, that’s, I want to I want to skip my session and come see yours now. I mean, come on, man, that sounds great. Well, you actually bring up a good point to speak. You said you worked at your dad’s business. And it was all pen and paper, and I totally get it.
00:06:07:19 – 00:06:39:08
I think one of the challenges that we run into, when it comes to contractors implementing this type of stuff, is either number one, they just don’t know about it. Or number two, if they do find out about it, they have a mental block. It’s a mindset thing. They’re so used to doing things the way that they’re used to doing them, and they’re so used to what’s worked for them that they don’t want to change anything up.
00:06:39:10 – 00:07:04:20
You know, in business, it’s really hard to want to change something that’s been working for you. And so I just think it’s interesting that you said that, because that’s not the first time I’ve heard that. It’s like, hey, man, you know, I’ve been working at this business for 40 years. When I started, I would go out to the customer’s house myself, and when I left them and estimate it was with pen and paper, and I’d go back to the office and I’d, I’d call them myself.
00:07:04:20 – 00:07:32:15
And I had a relationship with the customer, and I totally get that. But at the end of the day, things are changing. Technology is allowing us to just be much more efficient, and you can still use it in a way to where you’re not losing that that human touch. Yeah. And you know, your example with the, with the, text messaging is is right on.
00:07:32:16 – 00:07:58:13
I know from personal experience that when somebody responds to me, even as old a dinosaur as I am, when somebody responds to me promptly, even if it is, I mean, I can pretty much guarantee it’s almost always some sort of automation that’s doing it. I do feel like, yeah, at least they’re responding, right? Because so many people, unfortunately, you call, leave a message, you never hear back from them.
00:07:58:13 – 00:08:21:12
Right. So that’s good. So at your at your workshop at epic 2026, you’re going to be sharing how contractors can make automation feel personal and human, not robotic, which is one of the things that we kind of get worried about. So what are some of the best practices to keep communication authentic while still saving time? Yeah, absolutely. Great question.
00:08:21:12 – 00:08:42:13
So the thing about these follow up campaigns that, you know, you can run through Chirp or there’s other softwares that do it as well. My my goal, at the conference is genuinely to add as much value as I can. And whether people use us or somebody else, they can take away some of these strategies and use them in their business.
00:08:42:15 – 00:09:15:02
But number one, I would say when we’re triggering a follow up campaign through a tool like chirp, the text messages are completely customizable. So you can the wording can say whatever you want it to say. And so what I always recommend people is, listen, we could literally you could write down what you wanted. Your exact follow up process to be that you would personally do from your cell phone, exactly what you would say in those text messages.
00:09:15:04 – 00:09:43:02
And we could build that into an automated follow up sequence that you knew was happening every single time. And the point of the automation is not to take the human touch out of it. I always recommend that people still pick up the phone and call. The point of the automation is to know that it is running on in the background every single time, so that no lead is slipping through the cracks.
00:09:43:04 – 00:10:10:04
And now, you know, you make 1 or 2 phone calls and you mix that with 4 or 5 touch points to the automated follow up campaign. Now you’re at 6 or 7 touch points. And that’s really where you’re going to start to see maximum conversion. So that would be number one. The text messages are customizable. And when you’re creating those create them from your personality and be authentic.
00:10:10:06 – 00:10:39:16
The second thing that I would say, and this is one of the more powerful strategies that I see companies doing right now with AI moving so quick and with technology moving so quick, I truly believe that the thing that’s going to differentiate companies over the next 18 months is a relationship with their customers and human connection. I feel like people are already starting to crave it.
00:10:39:18 – 00:11:04:18
And so one of the things that you can do through text messages is you can actually send video. So let me give you some examples. We have people that will trigger an estimate follow up campaign through chirp. And one of those text message touch points is a selfie video of the owner of the company. Hey John, this is Aaron Gainor with Echo Plumbers.
00:11:04:19 – 00:11:22:00
Really appreciate you letting us come out to your house today. We put a lot of work into building this business, and we know you have a lot of companies to choose from. Let us know if you have any questions. We would love a chance to win your business. And this is just a recorded message from your cell phone.
00:11:22:00 – 00:11:43:19
It doesn’t need to be edited. And that’s just one area people can do this. We have companies that do this any time a job is completed. So any time a job is completed. Hey, really appreciate you letting us come out to your home today. We put a lot of work into building this business, and we know that there’s a lot of people to choose from out there, so it means the world to us.
00:11:43:21 – 00:12:03:12
Please let us know if we can ever do anything for you. Whatever you want to do, say, I’m just coming up with those off the top of my head. We have companies that do it anytime a job is scheduled. We call it the owner handshake. So any time a job is scheduled. Hey, what do they say? Hey, John.
00:12:03:12 – 00:12:30:21
Really appreciate your work with us. We put a lot of work into building this business. Confident that your technician is going to give you a five star review. And again, these are just videos from your cell phone. And it’s just a way where you can literally record a video. One time. And now any time a job is scheduled or any time a job is complete, or any time we’re following up on an open estimate that video is getting in front of the customer over and over again.
00:12:30:21 – 00:12:47:14
And we’re we’re building that, that relationship. So so that works. Well if your name is John. So what about if your name is David and your name. Yeah. So you have to be a little bit more generic video that actually brings up the good. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. I was just cutting up with you. Yeah. You know it is a good point.
00:12:47:14 – 00:13:10:21
You got to be a little of that generic. Well I was getting I was to, I was going to see if, if you were using AI with voice recognition and voice pattern and so forth to be able to customize. Hi David, but Papa, you know that that’s actually a really good idea. I think the flip side to that for me, is I believe that authenticity.
00:13:10:22 – 00:13:35:18
I actually know authenticity is the most powerful human emotion that there is. They did a study not too long ago where they put a thousand people, in a machine that measures emotion, and they put these people through different emotional experiences so that they could see, what level of vibration, each emotion, what level of frequency, each emotion vibrated at.
00:13:35:20 – 00:14:00:11
And, authenticity came in at the highest, even 4000 times more powerful than love. Which is pretty crazy if you think about that. So I understand your your idea there, but at the same time, I think there’s something powerful about just an authentic video from the owner of the company. Absolutely. Absolutely. Well, the way you were saying it, I was thinking, golly, man, they got it doing that too.
00:14:00:11 – 00:14:24:08
That’s pretty cool. As long as it sounded authentic, I’d be good with it. So anyway, that’s great, man. So what? Most contractors unfortunately focus on generating more leads, but your message kind of flips that around. It’s not necessarily about more leads. It’s about converting the ones they already have. Right. So what’s one simple change they could make this week to start improving conversions right away?
00:14:24:10 – 00:15:09:03
Yeah. So if I had to focus on one strategy that they could do this week to start increasing it conversions, it would come down to being more aggressive with following up on open estimates. So Google just came out with a case study at Google Live. And this was specific to the home services. And basically what the case study said is that 59% of consumers that filled out a lead form or made a purchase spent a week or less in their overall journey, a week or less, 59%.
00:15:09:03 – 00:15:43:22
So from the time they went to your website or from the time they called into you a week or less in their buying journey, 29% bought the first day, 30% buy from day two today seven. So what does that tell us? It tells us that we need to be more aggressive with our open estimate. Follow up. That first week when I go and talk at an event, one of the things that I like to do is ask people, if you go out and you give an estimate and it doesn’t close in the home, how many times are you following up?
00:15:44:00 – 00:16:07:17
Honestly, what do you think the answer is? I know it. The practices, the practices, they don’t ever follow up. The answer is probably, oh, I check with them three times and no, you don’t. Yeah. So I usually get what do they answer. What’s your what’s the answer. You’re hearing 1 or 2 times. 1 or 2 times.
00:16:07:19 – 00:16:45:13
Yeah. And that’s just not cutting it. It’s just not cutting it. And so what we see, have the highest conversion rate now is you want around five touch points the first eight days, five touch points the first eight. So that’s the magic number. That’s the magic number. Magic number right there. Right. So that’s what I would say today if you wanted to take away create a process in your business where if you go out and you give an open estimate and it doesn’t close, you’ve got five touch points with that lead over your first eight days.
00:16:45:13 – 00:17:07:01
And that can be a mix of phone calls and text messages. I would recommend putting in some text messages there just because sometimes people will respond to a text message better than they’ll they’ll answer a phone call. Well, and think about this too. I mean, things like voice mail, email, emails becoming less and less a tool.
00:17:07:01 – 00:17:23:11
It seems like most people are not even checking their email these days. You gotta kind of double check with people to with a voice mail or a text to make sure I sent you an email. Check it out anyway. Yeah, but, you know, even having a voice mail kind of a script like this, you’ve thought out before?
00:17:23:13 – 00:17:43:22
Not just, Yeah. This is Dave from that service company. You know, sounding 9000. It sounds like you haven’t even done this before, but having having a plan when you are sending in text. And that’s what I love about systems. I’m a systems guy. Just so you know, I’m mis major myself, so I’m a systems guy.
00:17:43:22 – 00:18:01:13
I love having a systemic approach to everything, including what are you going to say on a voicemail? What are you going to send in the email? I mean, having a, a campaign as, as we like to call it from a marketing standpoint, is is absolutely the right way to do it. Email has its place. I think email still works.
00:18:01:15 – 00:18:24:10
If you’re looking to do like some, some marketing promotional stuff. But when it comes to lead conversion, there’s just no comparison between what works better text or email. I mean, the the data is out there, 98% of people. Yeah. How often do you get a text and not at least look at it whether you respond or not, that’s a different story.
00:18:24:12 – 00:18:40:17
How often do you not at least see it? And that’s that’s the whole goal of conversion is to stay in front of people and have them see your message. Absolutely. Well that’s awesome man. So thanks a lot. That is that’s a powerful stuff. And I know you’re probably going to have a whole lot more. So thanks again for joining us on Cracking the Code.
00:18:40:17 – 00:19:08:21
And we’re going to see you soon in Vegas at Epic 2026. I’m really looking forward to it, man. Yeah, absolutely. Thanks for having me. Excited to join you guys. And grateful for our partnership with, IJA Contractor University. AI is really transforming lead conversion in the trades. If you’re tired of watching expensive leads slip through the cracks, don’t miss Justin’s breakout session at epic 2026.
00:19:08:23 – 00:19:46:12
It’s happening February the 13th. That’s a Friday at 11 a.m. at the Lazio in Las Vegas. Check out epic 2020 6.com to see if there are any tickets left. And hey, do us a favor like, share and subscribe so we can help more Hvac contractors make success clear, simple and stress free. Until next time, keep on cracking.
