What Happens When You Answer Every Call: A 90-Day Case Study

What would happen to your business if you answered every single phone call? Not most calls. Not calls during business hours. Every. Single. Call.

We decided to find out. Over 90 days, we tracked the results of service businesses that implemented 24/7 AI phone answering after previously relying on voicemail, callbacks, and 'whoever's near the phone' strategies.

The results were eye-opening—and in some cases, business-changing.

We looked at five service businesses across different trades: one HVAC contractor, one plumber, one electrician, one pest control company, and one handyman service. All were doing between $400K-$1.2M in annual revenue—typical of our target customers.

Before implementing AI answering, their metrics looked like this:

After 90 days with AI answering every call:

Across all five businesses, the average revenue increase was $12,400 per month—a 23% boost from simply answering more calls.

Let's break down where that revenue came from:

The calls that used to go to voicemail were now being answered and converted. With an average of 40 previously-missed calls per month now being answered, and a 45% booking rate on those calls, businesses captured an additional 18 jobs per month.

This was the biggest surprise. After-hours calls—which had previously gone straight to voicemail—converted at a higher rate than business-hours calls (52% vs. 45%). Why? After-hours callers are often dealing with emergencies. They're motivated. They want to book immediately.

The HVAC contractor in our study captured 6 emergency AC repairs in the first month alone—jobs that would have gone to competitors who answered.

Even for calls that would have been answered anyway, having a consistent, professional phone presence improved booking rates. No more distracted answers from job sites. No more 'Can I call you back?' responses that never happen.

The revenue numbers tell part of the story. But the business owners we talked to were equally excited about the operational improvements:

On average, business owners reported saving 6.5 hours per week on phone-related tasks. That's time not spent returning voicemails, playing phone tag, or apologizing for delayed callbacks.

Four out of five owners mentioned reduced stress as a major benefit. The anxiety of knowing calls were going unanswered—especially after hours—was gone. One owner said, 'I can actually focus on the job in front of me now instead of checking my phone every five minutes.'

Customers noticed too. Review sentiment improved, with multiple customers mentioning 'easy booking' and 'quick response' in their reviews. Net Promoter Scores increased an average of 12 points across the group.

Every business owner had the same concern going in: 'Will customers hate talking to AI?'

Here's what the data showed:

The reality? Most callers don't care if they're talking to AI or a human. They care about getting their problem solved. And modern AI does that remarkably well for routine booking and information requests.

The most dramatic transformation came from Rivera HVAC, a mid-sized contractor doing about $800K annually. Owner Carlos Rivera was skeptical—he'd tried an answering service years ago and hated it.

In his first 90 days with AI answering:

Looking at the businesses that saw the biggest improvements, a few factors stood out:

Based on our case study, AI phone answering delivers the biggest ROI for businesses that:

If that describes you, the math is pretty compelling. Even conservative estimates suggest a 3-5x return on the investment.

The businesses in our study didn't change their marketing. They didn't lower prices or run promotions. They simply answered more phone calls—and let those calls convert into booked jobs.

It turns out that for most service businesses, the biggest growth opportunity isn't getting more leads. It's capturing more of the leads you're already getting.

Every call that goes to voicemail is revenue walking out the door. This study confirmed what we suspected: fixing that problem isn't just incremental improvement—it's transformational.