Plumbing dispatch: the system that protects margin on emergency calls
- Emergency revenue is won or lost between rings—callbacks are where margin dies.
- Good tickets reduce rework, parts runs, and “we had to go back free.”
- This week: standardize intake fields and enforce one callback owner.
The emergency economy
Water and gas don’t wait. Customers call the first place that sounds competent now. That means your competitive weapon is operational: who picks up, how fast you return missed calls, and whether the tech shows up with enough context to fix on the first visit.
Callbacks are a P&L line item
Every missed call that rolls to voicemail during a busy patch is a dice roll. Some will wait; many will dial the next company. Tracking “missed call → returned in X minutes → booked” is as important as tracking average ticket.
Ticket hygiene pays for itself
Photos, access notes, tenant vs. owner, age of fixture, prior work—captured at intake, not reconstructed from a tech’s texts. Thin tickets create truck rolls that don’t bill well and callbacks that eat labor.
This week: dispatch reset
- List your last ten “bad jobs.” How many started with a vague ticket?
- Minimum intake checklist (seven bullets max)—CSR signs off before dispatch.
- Missed-call SLA with a named owner per shift; escalate if breached.
- Dispositions on every lead: booked, referred out, price shopper, etc.
- One follow-up rule for estimates: who owns it and by when.
When you’re ready to tighten the stack
If forms, phone, and dispatch don’t talk to each other, you’ll fight the same fires every Monday. The fix is usually fewer tools and clearer handoffs—not another dashboard.
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