MoreJobCalls Review: A Countertop Installer's First 8 Days After $30K Did Nothing

If you're searching for a MoreJobCalls review, most of what you'll find from me is a finished story with big numbers at the end. This one isn't finished. It's a first check-in, 8 days in, with an owner who'd been burned badly enough that it took a referral to get him to pick up the phone. I'm publishing it because that's what the start actually sounds like.

Andrew installs countertops in Spring Branch, Texas, outside San Antonio. So most of this page is him talking. I'll add context where it helps, and I'll keep his numbers exactly as he said them.

The $30K That Did Nothing

When Andrew and I first spoke, he was apprehensive, and he had a good reason. So I asked him how he felt now that he was on this side of it. He went straight back to the old marketing:

"It almost put us out of business, dude. We spent like 30 grand or something on it, and it was like nothing, you know? And this is way, way better than that. I mean, this in a week and a half is more than we got in like three months of doing it with the other people."

He wondered out loud whether he'd just tried too early, before he had the reviews to back himself up. I told him that's a myth, or at least half of one. Reviews are helpful, not required. I've worked with guys who had zero website and zero social media presence and still got people reaching out. But social proof still matters, because when somebody sees your ad, goes looking for you and can't find you, that person is gone.

What He Reported at 8 Days

Here's what he told me, in his own words, next to what he was comparing it to:

Notice what's not in that table: closed revenue from the list. Eight days is too soon, and I'm not going to dress it up. Andrew made a list of everybody and rated how likely each one is to close. His read:

"I think in a couple of weeks we'll know, we'll actually see money come in from this list, you know, cuz it just takes time with some of these people."

His trade explains why. "Most of these people are reaching out to me before they actually know what they want to do," he said. He gives them guidance on the project, prices out what they have in mind, and then "there's a bunch of other steps that need to happen." That's a different clock from a homeowner who's ready for a crew tomorrow. He said the ones he's rating "seven out of 10 or whatever" are probably going to close, in a week or two.

He did have some real movement already. One appointment from the day before was "pretty much closed," at "like 1,500 bucks. It's an easy one." And there were "at least two other" jobs that weren't on the list at all, which came through Google or past-customer referrals, where the homeowner told him "after I called you, I saw your ad." He closed both. More on those next. And "if this keeps going like this," he said, "it's very profitable, but it's also... I'm like maxed out on my time now."

Why the Google Calls Went Up

This was the part he brought up himself. On top of the list, "my calls from just people finding us on Google have went up a lot." He'd been asking callers whether they saw the ad, and he told me the honest answer: "Some of them say they haven't."

I can't prove the exact mechanism. There's no clean way to. But it's a pattern I've seen play out in accounts all across the country: phones start ringing more from Google and from the website, not just from the ads. My theory has two parts. Some people see your ad, then go research you before they reach out, because they want to make sure you're legit. And as you start showing up in more places, you pick up more traction everywhere else.

Andrew described the same loop from the other direction, and I think his version is better than mine:

"The people who didn't see the ad but reached out through Google, they then see the ad because they looked me up on Google, and they say when I get to their house, 'Oh, I saw your ad.' And I think that is helping me close the other deals."

That's where those two closed jobs came from. "Even though that's not like a direct lead from the ad, it's definitely helping me close those jobs."

"Everybody Seems to Have Seen It"

His wife was playing a game on her phone and his ad popped up. People he knows keep telling him about it. Some who've moved away still get it: "I saw your ad in North Carolina." One of my clients in Montana told me people at Costco say, "Oh, you're the guy from the ad."

It's funny, but it's also the point. We buy from people we know, like and trust. If the ad only gets you a name and a phone number, that person is cold, and you may never even get them on the phone. If they've already seen you and heard you talk before they ever reach out, you feel familiar when you show up. Nobody wants to buy from the guy who doesn't seem busy.

Here's what that sounded like at Andrew's appointments:

"I get almost unanimously from the clients, 'Oh, I saw your ad, I looked you up, and you had really good reviews, so we called you.' Like the guy yesterday, it was the first thing that he said. He said, 'I looked you up, I saw you had good reviews, you're doing my job. Don't worry, I'm not pricing it out. Just get this done for me.'"

To be fair, Andrew told me that kind of buyer is rare: "That's super not the way it usually goes." But it shows what the reviews he worked for are paying him back: "That's a whole stress thing I don't have to worry about."

The Problem He Has Now

Eight days in, the worry had flipped. Andrew went from marketing that did nothing to "I can't do any more." He doesn't want to overload himself, though he also said, "We need the work, so it doesn't matter. I just need to figure it out." He'd love to have someone he can rely on.

He wondered whether it would be heavier at the start and then even out. My answer was that I expect it to stay steady, and that's what makes hiring possible. It's a lot easier to hire once you know you have consistency. Get familiar with that first. When you're capped and turning down jobs, the hire justifies itself.

What I'd Take From This Call

If you run a home-service business and you've been burned by marketing before, here's what Andrew's first 8 days point to:

1. Get your reviews in order before anyone goes looking. His clients keep telling him the same thing: saw the ad, looked him up, saw the reviews, called.
2. Ask every caller how they found you. That's how Andrew spotted the Google calls moving, and it's how he knows that some of those callers hadn't seen the ad.
3. Don't only count the direct ones. Two jobs he closed never came from the ad directly, and he still thinks the ad helped close them.
4. Rate your list and work it. When buyers still have steps to take before the job, the sale takes time. Andrew knows who's a seven out of 10. If you want the response-time side of that, here's why the first hour wins.
5. Think about capacity before you need it. He was maxed out inside two weeks. Plan who you'd hire and when.
6. Judge it on the right clock. Eight days tells you whether the phone is ringing. It doesn't tell you what closes. He said so himself, and we'll check back in.

His Review, Verbatim

"I think there's definitely a you factor in here making this work. I mean, you get five stars from us, so, you know, I think it's definitely working."

And at the end of the call: "Thank you. And you did a good job. We appreciate your help." Then he offered to send referrals my way, and he already had two people in mind, both in California. Referrals are the highest compliment there is in this industry, so that one meant something.

The appointments are the part I put my money behind: 100 exclusive sales appointment opportunities in 100 days or less. Miss it and you get your full management fee back, $2,000 from us, and we work free until you hit 100. It goes to good-fit partners only, which is why there's an application and a strategy call. You can see every trade we work with on the trades page, or read the review from a deck builder who ran 8 appointments and sold 6 for what a call looks like a few weeks further in.