Every missed call is a missed paycheck. It sounds simple, but most trades business owners have no idea how much revenue is quietly walking out the door every time a customer calls after hours and gets nothing but a voicemail. Shelby Anderson does know, and she's built her work around making sure it never happens again.

As the Operations Leader at ServiceForge, Shelby helps trades businesses get found, get booked, and get paid through an all-in-one platform that keeps the phones covered 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. No bots. No missed connections. Just real people making sure every customer who reaches out actually gets taken care of.

In this conversation with Mandeep, Shelby gets into the real cost of a missed call, and the number is bigger than most owners expect. She breaks down what actually happens when a homeowner calls after hours and gets no answer, where they go next, and why that moment is often the difference between winning a job and losing it to a competitor who simply picked up the phone. She also makes a case that after-hours coverage isn't a luxury for businesses that have made it; it's a necessity for businesses that want to get there.

But this episode isn't just about answering calls. It's about what happens when a customer feels heard, helped, and taken care of from the very first interaction. In a world where everyone is rushing to automate everything, Shelby brings a refreshing and honest perspective on where automation genuinely helps and where it quietly costs you the customer relationship you worked so hard to earn.

Whether you're a solo operator or running a growing team, the way your business handles incoming customers right now is either building your reputation or eroding it. Shelby lays out what a truly reliable customer experience looks like from the first call all the way through to getting paid, and what trades businesses of every size can do to get there.

This episode is brought to you by Broccoli AI, helping trades and service businesses harness the power of artificial intelligence to work smarter and grow faster, and Grow Reviews, the reputation management platform built for home service companies ready to win more customers through the power of real reviews. We're grateful for their continued support of the Born For The Trades community.

If your phones aren't covered around the clock, this episode is exactly what you need to hear.

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