It’s Friday at 6 p.m. The phone rings at CMG Landscaping’s office. A homeowner wants a quote, the team is stretched thin closing out the week, and no one’s free to pick up. Whether that missed call turns into a booked estimate depends on what happens in the next few minutes.
That’s one version of a bigger pattern in growing home services businesses: after-hours calls that go unanswered, phone performance nobody’s tracking, and data that piles up faster than anyone has time to read.
CMG Landscaping founder Chase Gallagher closes several of those gaps at once, without adding headcount to do it. His Philadelphia-area design-build company does $2M+ in annual revenue. He’s built a layered safety net that:
- Never lets a lead go cold
- Conducts a monthly review that replaces speculation with a number
- Asks direct questions of his data instead of having to sift through every conversation
1. Cover the phones, day and night
Before the team at CMG started using Quo, one office manager fielded calls forwarded to her personal cell phone number. That works somewhat, as long as a business is small enough, but it stops when volume outgrows what any single person can track, let alone answer.
Now, receptionist Diana answers calls from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., checking the Jobber request queue first and Quo if the lead isn’t already in Jobber. Outside that window, office manager Corey, a rotating set of sales reps, and Chase himself fill in. But a schedule doesn’t guarantee every call gets answered. So CMG runs two call flows: one for business hours, one for after hours.
During business hours, an unanswered call goes to voicemail, and an auto-reply text message Corey set up is sent, saying:
“Hey, sorry we missed you. We’re going to be right back in touch with you.”
How to add auto-replies in Quo
- Open Quo and click Settings from the left-hand menu.
- Select Phone numbers. If you have more than one number, choose the one you want to set the missed-call auto-reply for.
- Tap Automations and scroll down to the Auto-replies section.
- Under During business hours or After business hours, choose the trigger conditions for when you want to send auto-replies:
- If you want to automatically send a text when someone messages your Quo number, select On incoming message.
- If you only want to send a text when someone calls and doesn’t leave a voicemail, select Set missed call (no voicemail) auto reply.
- If you want to send a text when someone calls and leaves a voicemail, select Set missed call (with voicemail) auto reply.
- Type the message you want people to receive.
- Click Save.
After hours, Sona takes over when nobody on the team is available. Sona answers common questions and captures lead information. That way, CMG can confidently continue to invest in paid ads without leaving money on the table.
“I mean, I spent a lot of money on marketing,” Chase said. “So we better be answering the damn phone.”
How to set up Sona for after-hours coverage in Quo
- Open Quo and click Sona in the left sidebar, then click Set up on the inbox you want to configure.
- Choose Answer missed calls, so Sona only steps in when nobody on the team picks up.
- Customize the greeting Sona uses when answering phone calls. Quo starts you with a script that discloses Sona is an AI assistant and includes a recording notice. You just need to add your business name.
- Under Take a message, define how and when Sona should take a message that your team can follow up on. For example, you can ask Sona to capture specific caller information.
- Choose a custom Personality for Sona, including language, voice, and one of three tones: formal, neutral, or casual.
- Add knowledge. For example, paste the FAQ from your website or upload files with business details so Sona can answer accurately.
- Click Activate Sona. This builds the call flow automatically.
- In the call flow builder that opens, add a Business Hours step so Sona only picks up missed calls after hours; otherwise, Sona will also answer missed calls during business hours.
2. Let the data have the final word
Chase ties Quo’s monthly recap email directly to what he’ll spend on marketing. “If it’s not improving, I’m not going to spend more money on my paid advertising because it’s just going to be a waste,” he said.
Every month, Chase pulls the recap Quo emails him and reviews it with the team line by line. He can compare it with the previous month’s recap, analyzing what’s improved and what still needs work. Going through it together means everyone hears the same numbers at the same time, instead of comparing notes after the fact. It also doesn’t allow for excuses.
As Chase puts it: “I don’t care, Bubba. Give me the data. We’re going to go off what it says right here, and then we can improve from there.”
3. Get answers on demand
Chase connected Quo to ChatGPT, tapping into a different piece of his conversation data than the monthly recap. “Whether it’s once a week or once every couple weeks, I’ll hop in there and ask it questions,” Chase said. Instead of waiting for the next monthly review to flag something, he asks and gets an answer on the spot. Some of the prompts he uses include:
- “How many follow-up phone calls did [a rep] make?”
- “How many custom home builders or general contractors did we call this week?”
- “Who answered the phones best this week?”
How to connect Quo to ChatGPT
ChatGPT Plus or Pro is required to connect directly to Quo.
- Open ChatGPT.
- From the left sidebar, click More, then click Apps.
- Search for Quo, then click the app listing.
- Click Connect.
- Toggle on Reference memories and chats.
- Make sure you’re logged in to the Quo account you want to connect, then click Sign in with Quo App.
- On the next screen, click Allow.
Once connected, you can talk to ChatGPT like you would a teammate. Chase’s own prompts work as a starting list.
Chase didn’t have to build any of this from scratch. CMG already had everything it needed: Quo’s phone system handled missed calls and AI reviewed data nobody had time to go through manually. This saves his team 60 hours per month and over $70,000 per year.
Curious how to optimize your call routing in Quo? Our home services call flows guide covers ring groups, after-hours routing, and more.
